Whether you’ve forgotten your water bottle or are trying to survive when you’ve become lost in nature, seeking water and making sure it’s safe for consumption is a handy skill to learn. While you might think it’s as easy as finding water and drinking it, you’ll need to ensure it’s clean.
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Unsure how to make water drinkable? Take a look at a few methods and tactics to ensure the water you’ve found outdoors is safe.
Where to find water
While making sure water is safe to drink, you’ll first need to locate it. In order to find water that is relatively clean, here are a few tips to consider:
- Make sure you collect water from a running source, such as a river. Still water in nature is usually a breeding ground for harmful viruses and bacteria.
- If you’re in a bind, you can tie a plastic bag to plant limbs to trap condensation and collect a few droplets where possible.
- When searching for water, be sure to set up container-like structures when leaving your “homebase”. You never know when rainy weather will strike, so this is a great way to capture rainwater when you’re away.
Boiling water
It can be hard to determine whether water is safe to drink, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. In order to kill bacteria and sanitise, you’ll need to gather the water and boil it for at least three minutes to ensure you kill harmful microbes.
The great thing about this method is that it can effectively clean water you’ve found that’s muddy or cloudy, so it’s transformed into a drinkable (and safe) substance to consume. Be sure to let the water cool off for an appropriate time.
Filter water
While you might think simply placing a cloth over your bottle when you collect water to separate the dirt from water is enough, this is often not the case. There are still tiny harmful particles in the substance that can be hazardous to consume.
By using items such as sand and stones stored in a container, you’ll be able to remove a large amount of harmful bacteria from the water. Be sure to take a look at an easy tutorial to make this water filter.
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