15 Ways to purify water for survival

In a survival situation, it’s important to know many ways to purify water.

Clean water is always important.

The human body was designed to need water.

In fact, no one can go more than 3 days without it.

That makes purifying water in survival situations very important.

It is not just for you that you need to purify your water supply.

It is for your spouse and family members.

When clean water is hard to find in a survival situation, you need to know the following tricks to get that pure clean water your body craves.

The following tips may not totally purify your water.

Purifying means removing:

• biological
• chemical
• mineral
• and metal contamination

Filtering only removes biological issues that may affect your health.

Here are various ways to purify water.

15 ways to Purify Water

#1. Boil the water

It is the oldest and most effective way to get clean drinking water.

As long as the contaminants are living, then this method will kill them all and get your water cleaner than it was.

It is also a very quick method as it only needs a few minutes to clean out those contaminants.

#2. Use bleach

That is if you have it on hand.

Yes, bleach is dangerous to you but only if you drink too much of it.

To purify your water supply, all you will need is between 8 and 16 drops per gallon.

The drawbacks to this option are that it only kills living contaminants and it only has a shelf life of 6 months.

After that, it may not kill anything or purify your water supply.

#3. Use a sand filtration system

It works to clean out the dirt found in your taps or other water supply.

It is not hard to make this filtration system as all you need is a couple of containers and sand.

Unfortunately, this does nothing to clean out any living contaminants and the water may still need boiling or bleach to make it healthy again.

#4. Iodine

This may be better than bleach as it has an unlimited shelf life.

It will work long after the bleach has lost its effectiveness.

The amount you will need will be 16 to 32 drops per gallon approx.

But iodine is expensive and it may not be affordable or available during times of survival.

It might be a good idea to stock up on it.

#5. Purification tablets

A very good option to use when other options are not available.

These tablets are made from one or some of the following ingredients:

• chlorine dioxide [1]
• tetraglycine hydroperiodide [2]
• and sodium dichloroisocyanurate [3]

Plus, they are small, affordable, and easy to stock up as they do not take up a lot of room in a cabinet or drawer.

#6. Water filters

They come in all sizes and shapes and can be used for most taps or drinking situations.

Plus, these filters stop a lot of contaminants from making it to your glass.

The good news is that they also last a long time and you may not need a large supply to keep your water clean.

#7. Solar Distillation

A little tougher to do but it is an option when you run out of other methods to use.

The good news is that you can use this method to turn salt water into drinking water.

Image credit: wikipedia

The sun helps remove the salt.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that you will still have to boil the water before you drink it.

This method does not get the living contaminants at all.

#8. Survival straw

These are becoming more popular because of their ease of use.

Plus, it does not take up a lot of space when you are short of storage areas.

What survival straws are is a filter that fits inside a straw.

When you drink, it filters out what contaminants it can.

There are a variety of these products so you can pick and choose the ones you like best.

#9. Water bottle filters

Similar to the above method.

Water bottles do come with built-in filtration systems, just not all of them.

Find the ones that do and use them.

However, not all of these filters are good and some are expensive.

But there are a lot of them on the market right now so take some time to get the best ones you can afford.

#10. Solar Disinfection

If you are desperate, this is the option you need to use.

This is also a slow method to disinfect your water as it takes about 2 days for it to work.

Make sure the water is placed in a clear plastic container and then set it out in the sun.

However, the weather must be ideal for this system to work and you need to not need water immediately to use this.

#11. Activated charcoal filters

A very good system to use, if you have enough of them on hand to last you for a while.

They can come in pumps that filter out large amounts of water at one time.

They will fit into a backpack band if you can’t find any in the stores, you can still make your own.

As long as you have the right tools and supplies.

#12. Stone boiling

It is a version of boiling water, but you are heating a stone in the fire. and then placing it in a pot of water.

The drawback to this method is that it may take several attempts to get that water to a rolling boil.

You also need something to handle the hot stones and place the cool stone in the fire.

It will take some skill to use this method.

#13. UV water purifiers

These are little devices that use UV light to get rid of a lot of contaminants in your water supply.

The container of water cannot be that large for this to work effectively.

They work by emitting enough radiation to kill bacteria’s DNA and making the water safe to drink.

You can find them at different marketplaces online and they may even be affordable.

Unfortunately, it only works on living organisms.

#14. T-Shirt filters

Just about any cotton shirt should do if it is tightly woven.

This may be one step above the solar disinfection system mentioned earlier.

But if you have nothing else, your T-shirt will filter out some contaminants.

Just make sure you have extra shirts you can use when you are in survival situations.

This is not the best option but it will help somewhat.

#15. Xylem Filter

This is a slow but effective method to use.

All you need to build one of these filters is:

• a small piece of wood made from pine, (or other conifer wood)
• some flexible tubing
• as well as some strong glue that works for both wood and plastic.

Then glue the wood inside one end of the pine block like a stopper.

Then pour water into the other end.

Let the water filter through the wood.

It will take some time but the water should be cleaner at the finish than at the beginning.

Before you Purify, you Need to Find it

In a survival situation, water sources may be few and far in between.

That means that while you have all these great skills of water filtering, etc., you need to find the water first.

If the taps in your home or other buildings do not work, you can always search for streams, creeks, rivers, and so on.

Then you can apply one of the methods listed above.

Or you can collect rainwater, snow, sleet, hail, ice, or even dew and purify it.

Just as long as the air around you is free from radioactivity etc.

Then you can try digging for water as those underground water sources can be very pure or at least safe to drink.

Then if you are living near birch or maple trees, you can tap their trunks and get the water out of them.

This works extremely well in winter.

Don’t be afraid of using brackish or salty water.

It can be filtered to remove the salt and other impurities.

Just assume that most water sources are not going to be clean before you drink them.

If you can, then boiling is the best method to use.

Using water filters is another top option you should consider first.

Keep in mind that bleach does not have a long shelf life so you may want to use that before you use other methods.

That way you can get the full effect of that harsh chemical.

Some final words

In a survival situation, you can still survive if you have enough clean water to drink.

The only question is which of the above methods will work for your survival situation.

Prepare for any water purification problem by having several of those methods ready to go.

Make sure to stock up on enough supplies that will allow you to continue to boil water when all else fails.

Originally posted 2022-11-13 15:35:38.