water purification

[zacdrumwarrior]

so heres the thing, i watch man vs. wild, survivor man, and anything i can involving wilderness survival and everyone says that if there is a pool of stagnant water and there is a dead animal in it, then you shouldnt drink it. well what about fish? i mean i have found alot of little ponds and stuff that are stagnant and have a dead fish in them. should i not drink that water? should i boil it first? does draining water through a tube sock full of sand do crap like this book i have says it does? help me out guys.

[gringo]

I've never heard of draining it through a tube sock of sand. Unless you can be certain the sand is clean, I doubt it will do you much good. Most sand has microbes as well. Some of them are dangerous. That's why sand you buy at the hardware store has been purified.

I wouldn't drink any water from a pond without boiling it first, dead fish or not.

[Tony uk]

I would look for some other means for getting water if you had any, but if you boil it for some time then it should be fine to drink, you can also add a water tab to clean it out even more if you have any :)

[wareagle69]

actually sand isn't the worst idea, but personally i would alwways have a water purifyer handy some of them like pur claims that you can pull water thru their device and drink it, might taste like me arse but who knows, as we type i am running an experiment i just pulled a litre of water out of a crick after my dogs stirred up the water i am using a product called katadyn we shall see how this works out

[Sarge47]

so heres the thing, i watch man vs. wild, survivor man, and anything i can involving wilderness survival and everyone says that if there is a pool of stagnant water and there is a dead animal in it, then you shouldnt drink it. well what about fish? i mean i have found alot of little ponds and stuff that are stagnant and have a dead fish in them. should i not drink that water? should i boil it first? does draining water through a tube sock full of sand do crap like this book i have says it does? help me out guys.

On "I shouldn't be alive, the Science of Survival, John Hawke demonstrated a natural filtering system for stagnant water while in the amazons. Start out about 12 inches from the edge of the puddle, pool, whatever and dig down 12 inches. Allow the water to filter into the hole you dug and it's supposed to be okay. Just the same I'm not expecting to go into the Amazons any time soon.

[Rocky789]

Well it still really depends on where you are, who knows where the closest farm is to your area and all it takes is a little bad pesticide in the pond to kill not only the fish but leave you with a sick stomach. But sometimes you gotta do what you can, and I definately know that I have drank some worst things, but I also had water purification with me, if you dont filtering and boiling is my only suggestion.

And wareagle69, if its katadyn you are using then you shouldnt have any problems their filters are really good, and I completely stand behind their micropur line as well, I sell both of them and in all my time have never run into a single problem from them either in my own use or with customers coming back after trips overseas.

[Sarge47]

Well it still really depends on where you are, who knows where the closest farm is to your area and all it takes is a little bad pesticide in the pond to kill not only the fish but leave you with a sick stomach. But sometimes you gotta do what you can, and I definately know that I have drank some worst things, but I also had water purification with me, if you dont filtering and boiling is my only suggestion.

And wareagle69, if its katadyn you are using then you shouldnt have any problems their filters are really good, and I completely stand behind their micropur line as well, I sell both of them and in all my time have never run into a single problem from them either in my own use or with customers coming back after trips overseas.

I have the "Sweetwater II" filter system, but have not used it yet. What can you tell me about it?

[Rocky789]

Ok the sweetwater is made by MSR, I sell that one as well, MSR of course is a really good name for gear and its flow rate is about average for most pump filters, it has a pretty good micron size and does a good job as far as that is concerned, one tip I have is to get the added prefilter they make (cant remember what it is called but I think its something like sweetwater microfilter) but it basically attaches to the end of the tube that you put in the water and makes sure no large debris or sediment get sucked into the filter which can over time destroy it a lot faster then without, only complaint I have ever really heard about it is that pumping can be a little difficult but really its a good filter and I think ive sold this one more then any other filter we have. So overall its a good filter, one that you can really depend on and its worth the money and should last a long time with good care (cleaning and replacement filter cartridges are needed over time).
Lol I feel like I should have a sign saying come ask me about all your gear, I love gear so I actually love talking about it though.

[wareagle69]

rocky 789.

what i am using is the katadyn tablets, didn,t die yet so?
after about 4hrs (suggested time on instructions) the water smelled very much like chlorine, next morning smell had dissapated. now i am keeping the bottle cap on, but water tasted fine.

[albanian-american]

the best idea of all is to go into the most contaminated water that dirty dark and full of parasites, put your hands in it and drink the water, lol

[Fog_Harbor]

so heres the thing, i watch man vs. wild, survivor man, and anything i can involving wilderness survival and everyone says that if there is a pool of stagnant water and there is a dead animal in it, then you shouldnt drink it. well what about fish? i mean i have found alot of little ponds and stuff that are stagnant and have a dead fish in them. should i not drink that water? should i boil it first? does draining water through a tube sock full of sand do crap like this book i have says it does? help me out guys.

The sand in the sock thing only strains the sediment out of the water, it doesn't purify it - you still need to boil it.

The thing where you dig a hole and let the water from the puddle seep into it also strains the water, but unless i was desparate and dehydrated, I'd still boil it first.

If you do use the tablets, bleach, iodine, or something similar, it SHOULD smell of the chemical just a little bit - if it doesn't you may need more because whatever is in the water may have overwhelmed the chemical.

The only sure-fire method to purifying water is to distill it, and that takes more equipment and time than you would have in a real survival situation.

Hope that helped.

[ZTGuy]

On "I shouldn't be alive, the Science of Survival, John Hawke demonstrated a natural filtering system for stagnant water while in the amazons. Start out about 12 inches from the edge of the puddle, pool, whatever and dig down 12 inches. Allow the water to filter into the hole you dug and it's supposed to be okay. Just the same I'm not expecting to go into the Amazons any time soon.

Been lurking for a while, and finally decided to join what I've come to see is a great and informative forum. Not to sound like a know it all on my first post, but I think Sarge47 is right on the money with one way of getting potable water. I've recently learned that some very dangerous bacteria are NOT eliminated by boiling the water....some are even strengthened by boiling. I learned this because recently my dog became really sick with vomiting and diarrhea. My vet had no idea what caused it, and thought it might have to do with his pancreas. Well, I did some research and learned that the pond in our back yard was wrought with cyanobacteria (a bacteria NOT eliminated by boiling), which is a by-product of what I've discovered is "blue-green algea" throughout the pond. Since I'm into the outdoors and "survival", I've now taken it upon myself to learn about any/all signs in ANY water source of bacteria immune to boiling, so I can identify it and improvise should the need to drink arise. When trekking about, I carry a BCB canteen system, and I've taped a bunch of water purification tabs (all within a zip lock bag) to the inside of the plastic cup that fits atop the canteen (the metal one fits on the bottom and comes in handy when boiling is required....quite an awesome system). Anyway, just my .02. Take care all.

[Xplosive22]

I would just like to say that I recommend either a water purification pump/filter or boiling over using the purification tablets. The tablets generally keep or leave a bad taste and in some cases iodine can cause an allergic reaction (if you are allergic). Not to mention the discoloration it causes and the time they take (35 min. usually).

Also about the tube sock. Even if the sand were able to properly filter the water you would still get bad water running off the outside of the sock into your container. I recently used my shirt to filter the gunk from a fairly clean spring but that was just to remove what I could. Anything water that you have doubts about should be treated accordingly.