Water Purification methods for your Bug-Out-Bag

Water Purification methods for Bug –Out –Bag
The most basic need of humans during a crisis or emergency survival situation is the need for clean water for consumption and hygiene. Therefore your Bug-Out-Bag must contain a method or methods for fulfilling your hydration needs.
Water has a natural tendency to dissolve numerous amounts of substances. Occurring extremely seldom in nature is pure water. When push comes to shove however and you have to break out the Bug-Out-Bag you will need reliable methods for making water safe to drink. Basically for the purposes of a nomadic hunter gatherer(Bug-Out-Bag user) in an urban situation of survival you could rely on a handful of water purification methods or a combination of one or more.

One that’s extremely common and used where fairly clean sources of water are available is the use of iodine tablets. Iodine tablets will kill most parasites but will not remove impurities such as chemicals or solid pollutants. Even household bleach has been used to free water from parasites. Boiling water for at least a minute will also accomplish the same. For bug-out-bag purposes this presents a couple of advantages.
For one thing iodine tablets are lightweight and compact. You could easily store several gallons worth of water purifying tablets in a small container. A couple of week’s worth or even a month’s supply would not take up much room at all. The drawbacks with iodine are the taste and again it not removing all contaminants from the water. Water that’s been treated with iodine can be made more palatable by adding vitamin c to it and some water purification tablets come with a neutralizer that eliminates the bad taste. That being said iodine tablets are a great addition to a bug-out-bag.

If however you come across less than clean water that is suspect to chemical or contamination by solid particles this is where filtration must be used. Common filtration units readily available may not be a solve all but they are now available in light-weight compact designs and function extremely well. The main thing is to do your research when purchasing one of these filters. I personally would recommend a combination of chemical treatment and filtration methods.

Recently I came across a extremely awesome looking technology that filters water using solar power. This company has units ranging from small briefcase sized to large units for pumping and filtration of deep wells. They are called First Water Inc and I really enjoyed reading about this promising and awesome technology. This type of system could be used in your fall back location that every person should have planned out in advance. More information regarding planning a suitable fallback location will be covered in the future.