Clay and straw water filter

You'd still have to use something to kill bacteria etc, this is just for clarity and taste. Pretty neat though.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Clay-Sawdust-Water-Filters/

This design supposedly removes 99.8% of bacteria, made from cow dung, coffee grounds and clay:
http://e2rceramics.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/claypotfilter_final_web.pdf
http://www.studio-h.org/do-it-yourself-water-filters-clay-coffee-cow-poop
http://en.howtopedia.org/wiki/How_to_Make_a_Coffee-Clay_Water_Filter

Anyone know how long you can use one of these before you have to replace it?

Muzhik wrote:
Anyone know how long you can use one of these before you have to replace it?

No idea, you'll have to ask the author.

There is a transcript of the show Catalyst featuring Tony Flynn and his filter here

Also found his original media release which has a downloadable pdf with instructions & pictures here

No info on how often they can be used but his email address is in the file!

very cool!

i never knew manure was so awesome. i've just been learning about cob as well.

one i saw that i thought was cool was a clay pot painted with a silver solution on the outside and fits into a 5 gallon bucket. water weeps through clay pot, filtering out sediment. silver solution takes care of other pathogens (bacteria, virus, etc). resulting water is clean and drinkable and the whole system is cheap.

not sure who sells them in the states, but developed for and used in a lot of poor countries.

think certain types of iodine works great for water purification.

Another cheap alternativ is a slow sand filter they can aparently handle large volumes of water and remove  most pathegens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioSand_Filter,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHilE1ukkjY,http://www.shared-source-initiative.com/biosand_filter/biosand.html

I have been all over the internet trying to find a place to buy one of these terra cotta water filters.  I bought one from the company ecofiltro and it fell apart immediately.  Anyone know another place to source this?  I know I *could* make it myself, but without access to a kiln I'd rather just support a craftsperson in making one.