Emergency water purification recommendation

I have a year round stream, so I have access to a basically limitless supply of very high quality but non-potable water. What is the best way to be able to purify this to potable standards in an emergency that takes out the power and my well (and associated filtering)?

I would imagine that I would only need a few gallons a day, and then only a few days a year, so I don't want to implement a large scale or expensive solution. Just some means to purify a small amount of water for basic needs until the power comes back. (Preparing for gridcrash is something I think about, but that's a different question.)

I'm looking for a turnkey solution that I can leave on the shelf most of the time, but implement when needed. I've been looking at filters, but there's a bewildering variety out there, at many price points (some kind of crazy expensive!) and with lots of fine print about how safe, exactly, the water is after filtering.

Can anyone recommend a good solution here?

I use the platypus bag camping...  https://www.amazon.com/Platypus-GravityWorks-High-Capacity-Emergency-Preparedness/dp/B00G4V4IVQ/ref=sxin_3_osp15-74032dde_cov?ascsubtag=74032dde-deb4-4ed1-afba-3c5706ca30db&creativeASIN=B00G4V4IVQ&cv_ct_cx=water+filter+camping&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osp.74032dde-deb4-4ed1-afba-3c5706ca30db&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_wn=osp-search&keywords=water+filter+camping&linkCode=oas&pd_rd_i=B00G4V4IVQ&pd_rd_r=57909c55-6722-4e35-b70c-2d621d1984f4&pd_rd_w=ckmqP&pd_rd_wg=luLzw&pf_rd_p=140a205b-f67a-4c02-ac82-821d6da2ec96&pf_rd_r=XX86FAJR0ATTY1RPMXBE&qid=1583201565&tag=ogl02-20
And an under sink ceramic filter for my dug well before we UV filtered... Both would work for you

Hi Joshua,  A few idea off the cuff: For small quantities, you could boil some water to purify it then run it through a charcoal filter. The water tastes flat (less so if you shake it to introduce oxygen back into it) but you know it will be safe to drink.
Also, some sporting stores sell those tablets (iodine?) that can purify some drinking water.

David Baillie wrote:I use the platypus bag camping

What do make of the fact that it doesn't filter viruses: https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/camping-and-hiking/backpacking-water-filter/platypus-gravityworks

This review says "It does not filter out viruses so if you plan on traveling to countries where they might be an issue, consider a different option", and indeed I doubt there's anything too nasty in my rural creek, but I guess I'd feel better with a product that DID claim virus filtering as well.

Viruses in north American water are usually not a concern where I use it ecoli is. You could chlorinated with bleach if it was. Then let it sit to let the chlorine evaporate.

Just boil it, no need for anything fancy for the use you are thinking.

You have many options. Do your research on each approach.  You never explain why the water is not potable.

Boil it

1o to 12 drops of bleach per gallon

Carbon filter

Ceramic filter

You might use the above individually or on combination.  For example, boiling will kill off most life forms, but it will not remove heavy metals. Also, the various filters vary in quality

I use a high quality ceramic filter.  Even then, I filter through a cloth first.

If I was in a situation without many resources, I would filter in this order: cloth, sand, charcoal.  Afterward boiling or bleach are still good options.

John F Dean wrote:You never explain why the water is not potable.

I don't know that it's not, just that it's from a surface stream with the potential dead animals and feces and who knows what. It looks like a spring water commercial, but that doesn't make it safe :-)

Thanks for the other thoughts. I am researching this carefully.

Sawyer filters are top notch.  I love mine.

Another vote for Sawyer filters. Extremely good filtration with those.

Have you looked into slow sand filters? Those work very good too.

Boiling. Charcoal. Bleach. As usual, it depends.

Mike Barkley wrote:
Have you looked into slow sand filters? Those work very good too.

That is another project I really want to build, but with winters here, I would have to start over every spring.  Not sure how anyone else deals with that.

Water Purification

After sending the sending the creek water thru a sand/biochar filter, i would then use one of the purification system below.

Chemical: Chlorine/Iodine
Heat: Boil/Pasteurize
Filter: Ceramic
Microbial: Water Kefir, ferment some good bugs and they will kill the bad bugs* (this process is not 100% effective)

Trace Oswald wrote:

Mike Barkley wrote:
Have you looked into slow sand filters? Those work very good too.

That is another project I really want to build, but with winters here, I would have to start over every spring.  Not sure how anyone else deals with that.

I recently saw a video of some folks who made an outdoor hot shower by running a hose through their compost pile. For a comfortable shower, you'd need a very big pile, but to generate enough heat just to keep a small quantity of water above freezing, you might only need a reasonable sized pile, with a tiny pump to circulate the heated water into the filter water.

Or maybe a small solar rig to generate a few watts of power to add a little heat and motion to the water, to keep it from freezing.

Filtration & purification are 2 different things. Obtaining clean drinking water depends on what it is contaminated with. Fractional distillation is a bit complicated but works very well. The other methods mentioned here are simpler & quite effective too.

If I were in this situation I would build a sand filter and after filtering the water I would boil it.

Here is a thread on water filters:

https://permies.com/t/2375/water-filter

Here are some threads on how to build one:

https://permies.com/t/6576/bio-sand-filter-sodis-solar

https://permies.com/t/687/slow-sand-filter

If you decide to make a sand filter, take some pictures and get a BB {Badge Bit]:

https://permies.com/wiki/143949/pep-plumbing-hot-water/simple-sand-filter-plumbing-straw

Did some research;
From Myths about water
Fact: Purifiers such as Chlorine Dioxide kill almost every single micro-organism that can thrive in water, like bacteria and parasites.
Chlorine Dioxide is great for sheltering-in-place and for treating barrel water or water collected from a natural source whilst hiking.

Purifiers alone, however, cannot remove turbidity from water, and for this reason, it’s recommended that both filter and purifier be used together to ensure the cleanliness of water.

If you have time to set the system up, Mollison has designed a low-tech system that can filter out anything (including nuclear fallout):



Have not seen or read about anything comparable.

If you only need drinking water for a couple of days/year i think the ceramic filter would
be the way to go as its easy to use and relitvely cheap.

Big berkey. Pricey but great quality. We have city water but filter all of our drinking and cooking water with the berkey.

Be careful where you buy it though. If you buy it from an unauthorized dealer and something is wrong with it, you are outta luck as far as warranty from the manufacturer.

If you have a well I would purchase a hand pump. You can unscrew your pump and install hand pump in a couple minutes and it stores forever.  Use the stream for bathing in.

Another vote here for SAWYERS!

Inexpensive, lightweight, super simple and extremely high filtration, in my opinion there is nothing comparative at this low price point.  Plus they are deployed in disaster relief efforts around the world.

(the below information is taken from the Sawyer website, link at bottom)

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