Water, water, everywhere...

[djf]

One of the main things that gets talked about Prepper-wise is the availability of drinkable water.

We've all heard the old adages over and over about being able to live weeks without food, but only days without water and minutes without air.

Turns out there is a DIRT CHEAP (as in FREE!!!!) way to disinfect enough water for daily use and all it takes is BEING PREPARED and having some nice weather.

SODIS. Stands for Solar Disinfecting.

I guess the little cooties that live in the water really don't like to get a tan! In fact, the UV in sunlight means LIGHTS OUT for just about every pathogen that lives in water.

But you need three things: clear plastic bottles water and finally SUNLIGHT! Six hours or more is recommended.

Filter the water as much as possible Place in clear plastic bottles. Note that different plastics have different characteristics, they must be UV transparent. PET bottles work best, they will have the plastic triangle designator with a 1 inside, and will be described as PET or PETA. This is the kind of plastic used in the 32 oz Gatorade bottles. Remove the labels, of course.

Place bottles in DIRECT sunlight for five or more hours. If you get ambitious, it might not hurt to shake them a couple times during the process. It can't simply be in your window because glass blocks UV rays. Note also that the process works best if the water is lukewarm, so if you can place the bottles on something black that will help warn the water, so much the better!

Drink up! Cook away! Soak your feet or whatever!!

For more info, see SODIS on Wikipedia.

[djf]

For years, every time I drink a Gatorade, I save the bottle and fill it with water and put it in storage. Guess I lucked out because they are the perfect plastic for this!

[djf]

prepper ping!

[SamAdams76]

This might sound disgusting to some but I'm wondering if we shouldn't urinate into empty plastic bottles. That is the ultimate recycling. I suppose if we put them in the sun for a while, all the bad stuff will get killed and only pure water will remain behind. Where does all the urine that gets flushed down toilets today go? I strongly suspect it heads to a waste-water treatment plant where it is funneled right back into our drinking water supply.

I don't like drinking plain water much anyhow. I prefer beer and coffee.

[Kartographer]

The problem is this method does nothing for chemical contaminates, which are just as likely and can be just as deadly as most biological contaminates.

[TASMANIANRED]

Sunlight purification would just make sterile urine.

However with the nitrogen content it would make a pretty good fertilizer.

[hinckley buzzard]

Urine is sterile alrerady, unless you have a UTI or bladder infection.

[djf]

True. But that’s kind of a choice people need to make based on simple intelligence and awareness.

I’m not going to collect water that flows out of a Dow treatment plant to drink. Or collect water near a cattle farm or place that might be contaminated with large amounts of agricultural runoff.

This method has one BIG advantage. It kills the pathogens that cause water borne diseases that can kill you literally in a day or two!

[mamelukesabre]

give me a break. Just boil the water ya nuts.

[djf]

Do you have enough fuel set aside to boil gallons of water every day?

Not everyone does, I would bet most don’t.

[Army Air Corps]

There is a lot of stuff in urine you wouldn’t want to ingest including uric acid and acetone.

[Pinkbell]

There ain't enough sunlight that could ever make me drink water like this:

[djf]

Solar Disinfecting in Indonesia



For more info on what to do when things go wrong, see the thread about Oral Rehydration Therapy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2574489/posts

[MachIV]

Bear Grilles supposedly drank his own wee once.

[MachIV]

British Berkey or sometimes referred to as “Big Berkey” filters are probably the ultimate.

[5th MEB]

Unless you are getting your water downstream from a chemical waste dump or contaminated mine tailing's; the chances of you being able to drink enough naturally, chemically, contaminated water to cause you any harm as close to 0 as makes no difference. Now remember we are talking about fresh water, not salt or sea water here. All natural water is contaminated with chemical and mineral contaminants; it is the nature of the beast, water is the perfect solvent and over time it will dissolve any thing. The biologicals in water are the true danger to some one in the field and proper precautions should always be taken.

[djf]

Eventually, all filters plug up or for some reason or another, lose their effectiveness.

Sun ain’t going away soon...

I dunno. Just thought it’s worth posting. It’s a Freebie. It’s an option. It’s way, way, way better than dieing from cholera!

[5th MEB]

Boiling does not always work, it is time and altitude sensitive. Boiling water at sea level is at least 212 degrees F, at 8 or 9 thousand feet it is hard to get over 160 degrees F. The proper boiling time is also critical for a lot of organisms; Giardia being one of the hardest to kill and it is one tough little mutha, and it will kill you.

[PieterCasparzen]

MAKE A SOLAR STILL.

[enduserindy]

..And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

Couldn’t help it.

[djf]

Giardia is pretty common here in the Pacific Northwest.

There are all kinds of streams and rivers that flow as clean and clear as you could wish for, little bacterial (pathogenic) contamination.

But giardia is in almost all of them. And it is invisible to the naked eye.

Another thing that people might want to think about is a cheapo microscope. You’d be amazed at the things you might see even in supposedly clean water! I once looked at some of the water in my dogs dish about 8 hours after I filled it. What a zoo!!