Water Collection, Purification, Filtering, Storage and Use.

Collection:
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Sources include Oceans/Seas, Lakes/Ponds, Rivers, Streams, Wells, Rain/Snow, Ditches, Pools, Dew, Plants, Dirt

Some methods of getting water from Sources include Pumps, Buckets, Cups, Condensation, Natural fiber Towels, Real Sponges
Clean Plastic Sheets, Tarps can be used to funnel rain into buckets to then filter.

Purification/Filtering:
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What is in Water, that you want to get out of it before use.

Toxic metals (Lead, Mercury, Aluminum, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, etc.)
Additives (Chlorine, Chloramines, Fluoride) Yes Flouride is Toxic.
Chlorination By-Products (Trihalomethanes or THMs)
VOCs and other Organic Compounds (Pesticides, Herbicides, Pharmaceuticals, Fuels)
Bacteria and viruses (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc.)
Radioactive substances (Radon and Uranium, etc.)

Boiling Water well (hot and long enough) will Kill Bacteria, Viruses and Parasites
but it may not remove all chemicals such as Drugs, and Industrial and Farm type Chemicals
or reduce the Toxic Metals and may actually concentrate Fluoride due to Evaporation.

Filters vary by type in what they will remove or kill in the water they process.
Pre-Filtering your water will prolong the life of your Main Filter system, by keeping
it cleaner and slowing the clogging up process from contaminants.
Coffee filters, Green Grass, Clean Socks, T-shirts, Towels can all act as pre-filters
to help remove particles(mud) from the Water you put in your Primary Filter extending it's life.

The things that Filters "may" remove or reduce include Particles, Drugs/Chemicals, Viruses,
Bacteria, Parasites,

gravity-fed filters (put the "dirty" Water in the top, water goes through filter pulled
by gravity and collects in the bottom) - NO Electricity Required
Ceramic:
Ceramic Filters will usually remove most Bacteria and parasites and reduce Heavy Metals
Ceramic Filters with Silver in-bedded in them will also kill most Viruses

Carbon:
Carbon Filters will reduce Chemicals and Drugs by binding them to the Carbon.

Ceramic/Carbon/Silver Filters: have a slow filter rate, that keeps the water in touch
with the filter longer giving more time to Clean/Kill/Bind the bad stuff in the Water
to produce a cleaner filtered water.

Common Brands of Ceramic type filters include: Doulton, Berkey, and Propur

Pitcher style filters such as Brita and PUR Water filters are inexpensive
they use a Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) plant husks that are heated
to high temperature without Oxygen to activate it, make it adsorb more.
Zero Water and ClearlyFiltered Pitchers use Staged filters that remove
more than those that use only Carbon.

ClearlyFiltered pitcher
Filter lasts for up to 200 gallons (approx. 300 fill ups) and is designed to remove common tap water contaminants such as fluoride and chlorine. It is also tested and certified to remove 99.9% of giardia, cryptosporidium and many other common toxins found in unfiltered water. As with all Clearly Filtered products, the pitcher is made from 100% BPA free, non- leaching plastic. This filter has been independently tested to exceed all EPA, NSF & ANSI standards for drinking water.
Filters are made in the USA.

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Fine Mesh Synthetic Fiber:
The Sawyer MINI Water Filter is rated to 0.1 micron absolute, weighs only 2 ounces,
and filters up to 100,000 gallons

The Sawyer filter removes taste that comes from bacteria, dirt, and green matter.

Chemicals
The Sawyer filter does NOT remove iron, sulfur, other chemicals, or simple compounds.

Heavy Metals
The Sawyer filters are not made with charcoal. While other portable filters have charcoal, they lack in amount of media and

adequate dwell time. Therefore, they only remove small amounts of heavy metals, pesticides, etc. (when used in real life

applications). Try using better sources of water, if possible.
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Using any Water filter at below freezing temperatures has the risk of damaging the filter, always
allow time in a above freezing area for the filter to dry completely out before moving it into
air below freezing to avoid damaging the filter. If any water filter has been exposed to freezing temperatures
while it was wet/damp it should be considered possibly damaged and should be only used as a pre-filter to
reduce particulates and NOT relied on to kill or remove viruses/Bacteria/parasites.

Carbon only filters can freeze and when thawed still retain the ability to bind to chemicals.

DIY Survival Water Filters built with available Materials
[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]
How to Make a Survival Water Filter(still boil the water you run through this)
Survival HT Uploaded on Feb 25, 2010
[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Condensation:
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Dew can be collected in the morning off plants using a natural fiber Towel, ringing out the water into a container
when it becomes wet from wiping off leaves and grass.

a plastic bag placed over green leaves in the sun will collect moister inside the bag, if it is tied around a branch.

Solar Still, a plastic sheet placed over a whole dug into moist dirt will collect the moisture on the earth facing side of the plastic sheet, putting a rock in the center will cause all the water to run/drip to the center of the sheet to be collected in a cup/bucket. Dirty water can be added to the dirt in the hole to distill it into the collection cup/bucket.
Small rocks can be used around the edges of the hole to hold the plastic sheet in place, use a small light rock to pull the plastic down in the center, without pulling out the plastic from the edges. If rocks are hard to find, use small tree branches or objects you have with you to hold the plastic down at the edges and slope it to the center. The better the Seal you have all around the edges, the faster the condensation will build up on the plastic and collect in your container.