Water is the most thing you can have in your list of basic survival essentials. The human body can last about 3-4 days without water. You not only have to think about your water supply, but you also need to think about how to purify the water. Water purification involves the removal of pollutants, toxic metals, bacteria, and parasites. This is not even the complete list of impurities water purification removes from your drinking water.
The CDC reported the following statistics:
“Burden of waterborne disease in the United States
We estimated that 17 waterborne pathogens caused the following in 2014:
- 7.15 million illnesses
- 601,000 emergency department visits
- 118,000 hospitalizations
- 6,630 deaths
- $3.33 billion in direct healthcare costs for hospitalizations and emergency department visits
CDC estimates that each year 1 in 44 people gets sick from waterborne diseases in the United States.”
Here are a few ways to purify your drinking water, even if you do not have access to electricity:
- Boil your water – By bringing your water to a rolling boil for 1 minute, you effectively kill viruses, bacteria, and parasites that may be in the water. This is the easiest and most readily available method to purify drinking water quickly. Boiling water does not get rid of toxic metals.
- LifeStraw, the portable filtration system – Weighing only 2.7 ounces, the LifeStraw can pack a considerable punch! It is capable of filtering 10,000 liters of water in its lifetime. All you have to do is find a water source and drink the water through the straw. However, you cannot create a reserve of water using the straw. Water goes from the source to your mouth.
- CamelBak Eddy+ – The concept with this water bottle is very cool. Scoop up the water from the source, and drink at your convenience. This particular water filter has two stages. The first stage filters 99.999% of bacteria and lasts for 1ooo gallons. The second stage filter removes organic chemical matter but only filters 25 gallons.
- Big Berkey Gravity-Fed Water Filter – This water filter receives rave reviews online. It is easy to use. All you have to do is pour the water in the top and allow it some time to filter down into a holding tank. You can access the filtered water at the fixture on the side. The only drawback that I see is that after 6000 gallons, the filters need to be replaced at $90 a filter.
- LifeStraw Community High-Capacity Water Purifier – This water purifier is excellent if you need a large amount of drinking water. It supposedly can filter enough water for 100 people for 3-5 years! Though I haven’t personally used this purifier, I like that it doesn’t require you to change a filter every so often.
- Water Pitcher Filters – You can choose many different water pitcher filters. The concept is simple. Pour your water into the top, and it will filter out the impurities. This product also has customers gushing over it. The filter will need to be replaced after 150 gallons.
These methods of purifying and filtering water are used mostly where electricity is unavailable. But, you never know what could happen! A few LifeStraws packed away for a rainy day could prove to be a lifesaver.
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