How can i purify water

Collect water from areas of moving water in rivers and streams, or the top few inches of a lake. Stagnant standing or non-moving water is a breeding ground for insects, bacteria and viruses and should be avoided.

The next step in the water purification process is filtration. Filtration by itself does not purify water. It must be followed by boiling or disinfection to purify water for drinking. Most water filters are made of a screen with many tiny holes in it. These filters can remove protozoa and some bacteria, but they cannot filter out viruses because viruses are too small.

Filters also remove bigger contaminants like leaves, silt, dirt, and sand. If the water is cloudy or has floating material in it, you should filter it even if you plan to boil or disinfect it.

The final step of purification is disinfecting the water which can be done by either boiling or treating with a disinfectant.

This is the most important step as these methods will kill any remaining organisms in the water, especially those that could make you sick.

Boiling: Boiling is the best way to kill disease-causing organisms, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites. The high temperature and time spent boiling are very important to effectively kill the organisms in the water. Boiling will also effectively treat water if it is still cloudy or murky. Your water is now ready for drinking! You can make tea or coffee if you like it hot. Let it cool down first before you put it into your container.

Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Use water purification and disinfection tablets. Water purification tablets are made of either chlorine dioxide or iodine and kill bacteria and viruses in water. To use these tablets, fill a pitcher or jar with water and add enough tablets to treat the water.

One tablet typically treats 1 quart 1 L of water. These tablets generally need anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours to work. Iodine tablets are generally not suitable for pregnant women or people with shellfish allergies. Clean the water with a small amount of bleach.

Bleach must not be expired in order to work effectively. Purify with iodine. Plain liquid iodine can also be used to kill pathogens in water, but many people are turned off by the taste. To clean water with iodine, simply collect the water and add a 2 percent iodine solution. Stir in four drops of iodine per quart liter of water and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Method 2. Use a commercial water filter. A commercial water filter is the easiest and most effective way to filter sediment, pathogens, metals, and other pollutants from water. These filters contain special materials like charcoal, carbon, ceramic, sand, and cloth that are specially designed to filter out dangerous pollutants. Filter out pathogens with pine trees. Certain plants are effective at removing pathogens from water, and pine trees are among the best.

To remove viruses and bacteria from your water, remove a small branch from a pine tree. Strip the bark from the stick and place the bare stick into a bucket. Slowly pour the water, letting it trickle onto the stick and into the bucket. Remove heavy metals with cilantro. Just as pine trees are effective at removing pathogens, so too is cilantro excellent at removing heavy metals from water. Fill a pitcher with water and place a handful of cilantro leaves into the pitcher.

Stir the water and let the leaves sit in the water for at least an hour. Since filtration does not deplete all the mineral salts, water that has been filtered is considered healthier compared to water purified using other methods. Compared to reverse osmosis, filtration is considered effective when it comes to selective elimination of much smaller molecular compounds such as chlorine and pesticides.

The other factor that makes filtration less costly is that it does not require a lot of energy needed in distillation and reverse osmosis. It is an economic method of water purification because little water is lost during purification. Distillation is a water purification method that utilizes heat to collect pure water in the form of vapor. This method is effective by the scientific fact that water has a lower boiling point than other contaminants and disease-causing elements found in water.

Water is subjected to a heat source until it attains its boiling point. It is then left at the boiling point until it vaporizes. This vapor is directed into a condenser to cool.

Upon cooling, vapor is reversed into liquid water that is clean and safe for drinking. Other substances that have a higher boiling point are left as sediments in the container. This method is effective in removing bacteria, germs, salts and other heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic. Please give a solution for this issues. Thanks in advance. Hey, i am doing a school project i need to know how i can filter and purify water in one step instead of several thanks!

I have a question. We have a high water table in my neighborhood. With a lot of rain lately, the sump pump is running constantly. This is a bit misleading …. Germicidal action only occurs when using the short wavelength UV-C. This wavelength does the job on bugs in water, but can also fry your skin in seconds. So be careful. Save the black lights for gazing at neon pictures of Elvis. How about arsenic? I had my water lab tested three years ago and it measured 10x above the EPA min.

I also believe nothing of what I hear and less than half of what I read. My reasoning may be wrong but it seems that rev. I told them the last time I heard that advice was on my meeting trips to Mexico when I was gainfully employed. Place green organic material around the sides of an open top 55 gal drum and a large mouth container in the center.

With a preferably black plastic bag and a string form a cone that covers the mouth of the drum attaching the string to the center of the cone, making sure the string reaches the container and tie a small rock or lure at the end just inside the container.

Will be safe. Most imp. I have put black plastic trash bags in my emer. Endless uses for those. Now another very imp. Note that this distilled water has no minerals: it is quite corrosive! With regular use it will dissolve the enamel from your teeth. Hence, add some salt or a bit of antacid tablet to the water. Similarly, do not buy distilled water in the supermarket for use as drinking water. You can do he same thing with a hole in the ground.

The Dew on the plastic will collect in the container.