Can all water be made drinkable?

[a1993h]

Found a really cool patch of birch forest with a slow running stream running through it. Its in a very boggy area and it may be pollluted with fertiliser etc. I know its not immediately drinkable but im wondering if it can be made so by filtering/boiling??

Thanks

 

[chris_r]

Your best hope of removing chemicals from water is by filtering it through charcoal. Although how you'd measure your success is another matter.

 

[SimonD]

never boil to remove chemicals buddy.

"Boiling will not provide any safeguard against other things such as heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals etc that may contaminate a water supply. It may remove chemicals which have a lower boiling point than water but what about the others? Neither does it remove turbidity, foul tastes and odours."



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[blacktimberwolf]

Why not take a sample & have it analysed, sorry, I've no idea of the cost, but at least your'll know what's in it & then find out if it's possible to filter out these substances.

 

[SimonM]

From how you describe the stream as slow moving, I guess you are looking at a low level woodland which has run off from agricultural land and possibly industrial waste too?

If that is the case, then I'd say that making the water drinkable is beyond what a bushcrafter would carry.

I'm in a similar position with my permissions (1 has old lead workings polluting the stream, the other is surrounded by agriculture) so always take my water in with me, leaving a spare bottle in the car if I need it.

Not ideal, but could you afford to take time off work due to self inflicted D & V?

Simon

 

[chris_r]

You could just try a taste test. Take some safe drinking water, add some iodine and then filter it through charcoal. If you don't taste the iodine when you're done then you've probably done a good job.

 

[Wayne]

Boiling will concentrate some chemical pollution due to evaporation. You would need to filter your water first through charcoal as already suggested then a ceramic and silver matrix. This will remove some chemicals and the majority of organic pathogens. The you will need to distil the water carefully to remove anything with a higher boiling point. Still will leave behind some chemicals. You could try a reverse osmosis pump as well.

Sounds like a huge flaff. I have a well on my commercial site yet I still bring in water to make sure its absolutely safe for my clients to drink.

 

[_mark_]

just get a travel-tap from drink-safe they're cheap and effective.

 

[rik_uk3]

You don't need to boil water, heating to about 80c will kill off jimmy germs. Other stuff like heavy metals and chemicals need good filtering so you may need something like depending on the water source.
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-water-filters/

Or from forum member Lurch
http://lakelandbushcraft.co.uk/acatalog/Lifesaver.html

Where I camp on a regular basis the river is coming straight off the mountains and away form arable farming so I just heat treat the water as its crystal clear already and no harm done to date or after heavy rain run it through a milbank bag then heat treat.

 

[hoppinmad]

+1 Wayne "try a reverse osmosis pump as well"
expensive but the way to go IMHO

 

[yomperalex]

would a solar still remove everything?

Alex

 

[a1993h]

I doubt it really does have chemicals though. There is a fast flowing part of the river and its in the countryside beside a smallish town. If i use a charcoal filter and boil it should it be safe and what would be the chances of it being polluted?

 

[forestwalker]

There are stuff that is not possible to clean out in the field. Best would probably be a triple system:

1. Solar still or some other (low) temp gas phase recapture system
2. A peat/charcoal/sphagnum filter (chelates some heavy metals, etc)
3. Boiling (or close to) to sterilize

I don't know of any field portable system I would trust for radiactive contamination (the sphagnum/charcoal one might be one of the better options here)

 

[HarrogateTobias]

You could just try a taste test. Take some safe drinking water, add some iodine and then filter it through charcoal. If you don't taste the iodine when you're done then you've probably done a good job.

thats a really good idea.. never thought of that

 

[_mark_]

just get a travel-tap from drink-safe they're cheap and effective.

I'll reiterate!

http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/

 

[Zingmo]

I doubt it really does have chemicals though. There is a fast flowing part of the river and its in the countryside beside a smallish town. If i use a charcoal filter and boil it should it be safe and what would be the chances of it being polluted?

You may be able to check out the water quality at the Environment Agency website. See if you can find a sample location upstream. The same site maps a lot of potential pollution sources.

Z

 

[chris_r]

thats a really good idea.. never thought of that

I'm full of enchanting little nuggets, which is I pack a fresh roll each trip and keep it in a small dry bag.

 

[lannyman8]

best bet would be to dig a deep hole some way from the river/stream, the earth between the two would act as a filter, then do as above filter boil etc etc etc....

 

[Zingmo]

the earth between the two would act as a filter, then do as above filter boil etc etc etc....

I beg to differ. No amount of filtering can ever remove chemicals which are dissolved in the water. If you are in any serious doubt then carry water in.

Carbon filtration isn't as simple as it sounds either. As has been said before you would have to test the water coming out to be sure it had worked, then you would have to test every time because at some point the carbon will be exhausted.

Never skip the boiling; it has been shown that even hundreds of meters of rock cannot filter out cryptosporidium

Z

 

[Steve M]

Distilling will not remove everything. If it did, we'd have no whisky Specifically, it does not remove anything that has a lower boiling point than the water itself. This includes alcohol, petrol and many many other things. Wild water is unlikely to contain such things, but farm/dump water is. I'd leave your source well alone.