We’re living rough times nowadays. We used to think water was the simplest, healthiest, most available resource we can all benefit from. This is no longer the case. The water we have nowadays has been proven over and over again to be less than safe to drink. Nowadays everyone is trying to purify their water, as it usually comes packed with all kind of bad substances.

I’m not talking about bottled water only; the water you find in nature also contains germs, bacteria, parasites and other microorganisms that can lead to hepatitis, giardia or hookworms, to name a few. But rest assure, it is possible to purify water by yourself and make it safe again.

I.                 Boiling

The oldest trick in the book when it comes to water purification is boiling. But as simple as it is, you have to do it right. Bring the water to the boiling point and let it boil for about 5 minutes. This way you can be sure that all the harmful ‘ingredients’ are dead. The unpleasant part with this procedure is that by boiling the water, the oxygen will be gone and it will not taste like spring water necessarily. You can try to adjust the taste by using two recipients and pouring it from one to another a few times. Another trick is to bottle the water and shake it a little.

II.               Purifiers

You can find chemical purifiers to buy at the store; there are several of them to choose from. One of them is iodine and it’s either a liquid or a tablet. If you are using tablets, two of them should be enough for a quart of water. Stir it well or shake the bottle and leave it rest for 20 minutes. After that, it should be safe to drink. Don’t be alarmed if the color turns a bit darker and the water has a funkier taste; it’s the iodine. Still, it is safe to drink.

A trick to get rid of the nasty flavor is to add a drink mix as powder, after the iodine did its trick.

The other purifiers are to be used the same way. To name a few: halazone tablets, chlorine and potassium permanganate. None of them is too costly and they are easy to find at almost any store.

To fix the color the water gets after purifying it, you can bleach it, but don’t overdue it; you don’t want to get rid of one danger and fall into another. Also, make sure that the surface you use in the process of chemical purification have been entirely decontaminated.

After the 20 minutes of waiting are over, clean the lid and threads with water. The best thing about using purification tablets is the fact that you can do it anywhere, since it’s easy to carry them around; it’s the most practical and least time-consuming method for trips.

We’ll continue next time with more purification methods!