Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It?

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I thought that this would make a good companion thread to the tent city one.

In a survival situation you will have three major priorities to act on immediately known as the rule of three.

1) Shelter: In cases of extreme weather you will need to build a shelter within a few hours. Even if the weather is good and you have time to make a good shelter, do this first.

2) Potable water: Without clean drinking water, you could die in as little as three days.

3) Food: You will need to eat and after three weeks, you probably won't make it without food.

What I want to address here is water and some of the common ways to purify it for safe drinking.

Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? What You Should Know

You can purify most water by boiling it. Boiling water will kill any biological contaminants like water-borne viruses or bacteria, but it will not remove other contaminants like heavy metals, salts, radiation, or chemicals.

Instructions for Boiling Water

. . . Instructions for Boiling Water
The EPA has instructions for purifying water by boiling. Simply place your water into a pot and put the pot over a heat source. Let it come to a rolling boil. You’ll see large bubbles breaking the surface at this point, not just steam and tiny bubbles. Boil the water at a rolling boil for at least a minute. If you’re high up in the mountains, altitude can affect the heat transfer, so boil it for three minutes.
Now remove the water from the heat source and let it cool to room temperature. Store it in clean containers. Boiled water can taste a little flat, so you can either pour it between clean containers a few times or add a pinch of salt to improve the water’s taste.

Other Methods for Purifying Water
You can’t always boil water. Perhaps your power is out, and your oven isn’t working, or you can’t find enough wood to build a decent cooking fire. You do have other options, including:

• Purifying with bleach
  
• Iodine
  
• Water disinfection tablets
  

The website has a lot more information and covers most aspects of purifying water with the basics on hand. This could save your life at some point, esp. if you find yourself on an extended "camping trip".

purificationlife.com

[Snarl]

What I want to address here is water and some of the common ways to purify it for safe drinking.

Pretty important to have a source of it, too. All too often, people overlook that little detail in their survival plan. 

[BIAD]

It's the simple-but-vital stuff we never get around to learning.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

What I want to address here is water and some of the common ways to purify it for safe drinking.

Pretty important to have a source of it, too. All too often, people overlook that little detail in their survival plan. 

Yes, that would have to do with where you choose to set up a shelter. A desert or very dry region would present a problem with locating water, but dew will fall (or frost form) in most of those areas before dawn. Also, the water quality before you process it is important as some water can be too dirty to deal with. Water is something you'll need lots of and is really top of the list other than avoiding an immediately deadly climate with a shelter of some kind. That's why I posted this.

[Proob4]

I think it would depend on how polluted the water was in the first place right? Let's say just for funzies. You fill up a pot of just tap water. Have a buddy drop a turd into it, let in sit in the water for a minute, discard the turd and boil the water. Would you drink it after you're done boiling it? 

[Snarl]

... discard the turd and boil the water. Would you drink it after you're done boiling it?

[Brotherman]

I can get all the water i want. The catch is, am i prepared to kill for it and survive if possible. 

I think more important then anything is be prepared to fucking survive, too many unrational crazy people and then those that know whats up. People can work together but when the Nintendo shuts off and red bull becomes a legacy those people will be fucking crazy and irrational, some of them may understand how helpless and desperate they are. 

If it goes down before water or food or shelter when thrown out into the storm its very important to want to survive. That want forces decisions. And then the term ashes to ashes dust to dust or become thy keeper of their brother, be kind as you never know or not your in the company of an angel etc. 

If you want to live fight for it

[MisterSpock]

Distilling water will remove pretty much everything.

But I don't know why you'd care about the usual minerals in water, boiling is more about removing harmful elements.

Distilling water is not much harder than boiling it, just a few extra pieces of basic materials.

[727Sky]

This takes longer but.... Have a cover that is suspended above the pot you are heating the water in ... The cover should be funnel shaped but inverted. The steam from the water hits the cover and condenses.... due to the shape of the cover the condensation drips into a another container below the pot and fire. Or... just find a bamboo grove and inside the stalks is all the fresh water you will need.

[Snarl]

If you want to live fight for it

Mindset is everything.  

[Snarl]

Or... just find a bamboo grove and inside the stalks is all the fresh water you will need.

It is such a basic need, but far harder to manage than so many believe.

I'd challenge anyone to try and make their own potable water for a week ... just so they can understand the level of effort we're talking about.

So much weight ... so much wait ...

[EndtheMadnessNow]

I can get all the water i want. The catch is, am i prepared to kill for it and survive if possible. 

I think more important then anything is be prepared to fucking survive, too many unrational crazy people and then those that know whats up. People can work together but when the Nintendo shuts off and red bull becomes a legacy those people will be fucking crazy and irrational, some of them may understand how helpless and desperate they are. 

If it goes down before water or food or shelter when thrown out into the storm its very important to want to survive. That want forces decisions. And then the term ashes to ashes dust to dust or become thy keeper of their brother, be kind as you never know or not your in the company of an angel etc. 

If you want to live fight for it

Let There Be Water

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

Boil water, add 1/8 teaspoon bleach per gallon and let set appx. 24 hours, filter best you can (layered cotton cloth or coffee filters or layers of pebbles, sand and activated charcoal- whatever you have) for best drinking water. Life straws are a must have until you get a system in place. 

If you're not anywhere near a creek, river or spring you can collect rain water, collect dew and condensation, etc. Also remember hot water heaters, radiators and backs of toilets have water.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Boil water, add 1/8 teaspoon bleach per gallon and let set appx. 24 hours, filter best you can (layered cotton cloth or coffee filters or layers of pebbles, sand and activated charcoal- whatever you have) for best drinking water. Life straws are a must have until you get a system in place. 

If you're not anywhere near a creek, river or spring you can collect rain water, collect dew and condensation, etc. Also remember hot water heaters, radiators and backs of toilets have water.

You cover the bases. Here is a link to how you can make activated charcoal.

Steps to Make Activated Charcoal at Home

Activated charcoal can be made at home by chemical activation procedure, provided you have the required materials and equipment. Though any organic material can be used as a precursor or raw material for producing activated charcoal, you should select a nontoxic carbon source with absorbent properties. Let’s discuss in brief how to make activated charcoal by using coconut shells as the raw material.

 . . .you need:

• Coconut shells (without meat)
  
• Burning sink, drum or an elongated iron container to burn the shells.
  
• Oven
  
• 25 percent concentrated solution of calcium chloride (CaCl2) or zinc chloride (ZnCl2) available in brewing supply shops or drug stores. To make this solution, dissolve 250 g CaCl2 in 1000 ml of water and increase the proportion in the same ratio as per your requirement.
  
• Sterilized water
  
• Plastic pail
  
• Draining tray
  
• Zipper bags
  
• Blender
  

LINK