View Full Version : Water Purification Long Ago?
Has anyone any idea how explorers and soldiers long ago used to purify water? I'm thinking early explorers in Africa, Asia, India and 1800s and 1900s for example. What did folks do before all the water tablets and purifiers?
Monk
I Know that the french, romans and some parts of the middle east used to use 1 part red wine to 3 parts water for purifying (apparently red wine has phenol compounds obtained from the wooden casks that kill certain water borne bacteria)
I also remember a program where ray mears used spagnum moss and some charcoal from his fire for a boshed up water filter but i dont know if it was something used hundreds of years ago :?:
As for India , Africa etc i dont know if they did bother (apart from boiling of course ), dysentry was and still is a problem is these countries
now to convince my wife that i need to take a few bottles of red wine with me everytime i go for a jaunt in the woods :o): for purification needs only of course :wink:
maybe they just boiled it ?
they just boiled it, they may not even have known that it wa the water that made them ill
I think they mostly boiled it, and lots or WW2 vintage military manual demonstate how to make platoon-sized water boilers from oil-drums etc. But also many of the African explorer's journals suggest they drank mainly native beer. Same in medieval Europe as the brewing process actually produces a healthy product - it was pretty weak stuff, so little risk of drunkeness.
Ted W
I knew there was a justifiable reason for listing beer under 'Essentials' in my kit lists... :uu:
There were many and varied ways used to purify water. Turning it to beer was one popular solution employed. (I wonder why?) Bear in mind thought that out guts are not as well equipped to dealing with many of the nasties (apart from man made pollution). However, boiling was widespread. Boiling is a major use of fuel though, so you can see why clean wells and springs were regarded as sacred.
Boiling and drinking beer..ok. I recall reading somewhere about using herbs or maybe charcoal but then as pointed out, maybe they didn't know enough to boil the water. Just interesting...I do remember hearing one time someone claimed that he read the Japanese Army in WWII used to use some herb for water purification but I have never ran across this info.
Monk
A blast from the past....... :welcome:
One of the reasons the British Army did so well on campaign was the good old British liking for tea.
To make the tea you have to boil the water.
This was also a raeson alchohol was used so much in the past. Most brewing methods start with boiling water.
Very true, in fact if I remember right, Michael Palin said that it is best to drink tea rather than coffee as tea is always brought to the boil in places like India, and this is how he has never got a rumbly tummy from drinking in places like India.
Maybe that dead parrot should take a leaf out of his book!
I'm thinking early explorers in Africa, Asia, India and 1800s and 1900s for example.
a good source for the thinking and techniques employed by explorers of the 1800 and early 1900 can be found in the book 'The art of travel' by Sir Frances Galton published in 1854
it was the explorers bible of the time and many of the famous names in early exploration would not leave home without a copy:
To purify water that is muddy or putrid - With muddy water, the remedy is to filter, and to use alum, if you have it. With putrid, to boil, to mix with charcoal, or expose to the sun and air; or what is best, to use all three methods at the same time. when the water is salt or brackish, nothing avails but distillation
Putrid water should always be purified by boiling it together with charcoal or charred sticks, as low fevers and dysenteries too often are the consequences of drinking it. The mere addition of charcoal largely disinfects it. Bitter herbs, if steeped in putrid water, or even rubbed well about the cup, are said to render it less unwholesome. The Indians plunge hot iron into putrid water.
it must be noted of course that this was written in the 1800 and so the advice does not tally with modern recommended practice
1 part red wine to 4 parts water was used as well.
The tannin in the wine kill many of potential parasites
Quote:
Putrid water should always be purified by boiling it together with charcoal or chared sticks, as low fevers and dysenteries too often are the consequences of drinking it. The mere addition of charcoal largly disinfects it. Bitter herbs, if steeped in putrid water, or even rubbed well about the cup, are said to render it less unwhoesome. The indians plunge hot iron into putrid water.
it must be noted of course that this was written in the 1800 and so the advice does not tally with modern recommended practice
I wonder what herbs he was talking about, there's herbs and there's herbs. Any mention in the book Stuart, would be interested to know.....
Waters used to be much purer before logging, cattle farms and other nasties. I have heard that the indians of the amazon used to drink straight of the main river in the old days.
And also, if you are accustomed to drinking straight off the rivers, I assume you are not so easily harmed as if you have always drunk bottle water.
ArkAngel
04-12-2006, 18:52
So if you have cloudy/particles in the water, is it always best to try and filter this out first using say a sock with grass in it or something like and then boil it? or would boiling on it's own suffice and just not look too appetising? :eek:
BorderReiver
04-12-2006, 18:58
I think the large cholera outbreak in Soho in 1854 shows that in those days people didn't realise that water was a carrier of the causative organism.The cause was put down to miasma in the air.
At least in cities folks weren't that aware.
I watched a good programme about the history of the tea break, and why we drink tea with milk and sugar.
The mill workers needed rehydrating and water was full of bugs so needed boiling, make tea.(coffee originally, tea was too expensive and was for the upper classes!(until transport got cheaper?))
Boiling water made the cups crack, can't add cold water first(bugs!) so use milk still gets bugs but at least you can tell by the smell.
The sugar was added to give the workers a bit of a boost at midday.
Apparently that is why the NATO cuppa is with milk and two sugars!
So if you have cloudy/particles in the water, is it always best to try and filter this out first using say a sock with grass in it or something like and then boil it? or would boiling on it's own suffice and just not look too appetising? :eek:
It is worth filtering before boiling as apart from making it look better some of the bugs inside the particles can survive the boiling. Or boiling clear water is more efficient.
chrisvreugd
04-12-2006, 21:25
there where times that they just drunk beer, the whole day! :beerchug:
...or wine....
Of course, most of that was "small ale" which was only brewed for a few days.
But they still boiled the water to start.
To echo Andy's words, yes, that's one of the reasons for a fascination with tea among Englishman. I know that at the moment, England is one of, if not the highest tea consuming country in the world. (But don't quote me on it, it's late and I don't much feel like finding a URL to back up that sentiment)
But can some explain what "kye" is? I was reading one of those standard World War Two biographies a while ago about the corvette sailers in the Battle of the Atlantic. The author said that they would "kye up" before and after a bridge watch because the North Atlantic weather is so awful.
Anyone know?
Thanks
Adam
Sometimes threads tie in together too :D
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8624&highlight=whisky
Strong alcohol sterilises too.
Cheers,
Toddy
Addyb, mornin.
Kye = Thick Cocoa, with condensed milk.
Ceeg
I wonder what herbs he was talking about, there's herbs and there's herbs. Any mention in the book Stuart, would be interested to know.....
I know of a lot that are *reputed* to sterilise water but I don't know of any hard research on this. If anyone has any links it'd be appreciated.
Problem is that herbs have uses and effects other than just water purification. Pennyroyal for instance, cleans water but is a real *no-no* for pregnant women.
Cheers,
Toddy
A traditional way of purifying water: take a tube (wood, bamboo) and fill it with
different grades of sand and grivel. It takes quiet long, but what comes out at
the bottom should be very clean.
Thanks, Ceeg.
Ogden, there is a substantial difference between filtering out turbidity versus bacteria from water. Using a bamboo filter will remove silt and whatnot, but only boiling or filtering through one of those ceramic type setups will actually remove the really bad stuff in the water. I know this because a couple of weeks ago, the coast of British Columbia had a tap water ban in effect for nearly two weeks in some cities, and closer to a month in others. It rained here a lot, and the silt and whatnot washed into the reservoirs and made the water very turbid. So, we all had to boil water. I can remember being at work and getting a call from one of our other servers, and I had to go around and remove all water glasses from the tables in our restaurant. They were NOT pleased, as we couldn't even serve most hi-balls because the ice machine uses the same water.
Anyway, that's my rebuttle!
Cheers,
Adam
bambodoggy
05-12-2006, 16:10
A traditional way of purifying water: take a tube (wood, bamboo) and fill it with
different grades of sand and grivel. It takes quiet long, but what comes out at
the bottom should be very clean.
As far as I know this method will only filter your water to an extent and may not render it safe to drink.
Even after you have done this I would still advise boiling the water to kill off what the filter has missed.
In the northern forests a roll of birch bark can be very useful with a little cordage tied round it to hold it together when makeing one of the above filters.
Cheers,
Bam. :)
The method of filtration using allum / slaked lime is still taught.
The powder is spread evenly over the top of water that has high levels of particular matter. It forms a slick across the top of the water and slowly sinks. Any particular matter that is underneath will be caught by the sinking blanket / layer of allum is it progresses towards the bottom of the water recepticle (generally this is a large 200 gallon container). Without checking my notes I cannot tell you the exact amount of time this takes, but eventually you will have clear filtered water ready for purification / sterilisation.
A good reason for filtering water before adding any form of chemical to purify the water is that the chemicals will adhere to particular matter suspended in the water, this will make it less effective at purifying the water.
Chlorine has been around for a while (Sir Humphry Davy named it around 1810), I cannot tell you however when they first started to use it for purification. Humphry Davy also worked with Iodine and had actually mentioned that it's characteristics were similair to those of chlorine.
On battle group type waterpoints they use a machine called a VVD (Variable Volume Doser), that works as a second stage filter and a purifier. Water is dosed at a rate of 5ppm with calcium hypochlorite, by the time it is in a container it has a level of 2ppm and is considered to be of sufficient quality to be able to drink. The water is decanted off into smaller containers and dosed with sodium thiosulphate, this is effectively the detaste process.
If 5ppm doesn't sound like a lot to people, your average swimming pool has a chlorination level of 0.5ppm, hence the need for a detaste.
OldBaldGuy
06-12-2006, 06:40
In many parts of the world I doubt that they did anything.
I know that when I was growing up in the western US and doing a lot of camping in the 50's, we never did a thing with water, at least mountain steam water, except drink it. In fact, I used to always bring a five gal bottle of nice fresh stream water home with me at the end of a trip. Closest it got to being "prepared" was to use it to make coffee. I must have consumed a jillion gallons of stream water over the years, and never got sick in any way. I have no doubt that critters peed and pooped upstream, even going so far as to die in the water, but apparently giardiasis (and others) hadn't been invented yet. As late as the 70's I have seen "cowboys" (real honest to goodness cattle workers) flop down on the bellies and drink from a stagnant looking, slime covered, critter swiming in it pond right alongside of their horse. Of course I do not advocate that, and now days won't even drink from a stream without treating the water.
But as far as the really old timers go, I doubt that they did much at all...
TheGreenMan
06-12-2006, 06:48
...in fact if I remember right, Michael Palin said that it is best to drink tea rather than coffee as tea is always brought to the boil in places like India, and this is how he has never got a rumbly tummy from drinking in places like India.
Maybe that dead parrot should take a leaf out of his book!
I was once travelling on a bus somewhere up in the hills of Maharashtra State, India, and the bus made a stop at a roadside café in the early hours of the morning (And surprisingly busy at that time of day). Everybody (Men only) was drinking glasses of coffee. On the stove was a huge pan of boiling water, I can’t remember exactly how the coffee was made, but I have a dim recollection that it was a liquid form of coffee, but I may be mistaken. The coffee turned out to be quite safe.
I didn’t pay great attention to the coffee making, as I was rather distracted by the atmosphere of the place, which reminded me of a Wild West saloon. When we walked into the establishment, all heads did swivel, the loud conversation did momentarily stop. The only thing that was missing from the saloon analogy was the honky-tonk piano (This would have been too much to hope for).
I don’t recall seeing a ‘Norwegian Blue’, in the café, or anywhere else in India the whole time I was there (Though, when standing on a street corner in Mumbai, a bear in chains did walk by within a couple of feet of me – nobody batted an eyelid, as if this were the most natural thing in the world).
But I digress!
However, I do remember a German guy who was in a room next to mine in a guest house, who had a frightful time, and very nearly became an ‘ex-parrot’. Periodically I would hear loud exclamations of “schweinhund!” which would be immediately followed by sounds of the most ghastly anal explosions. This went on for some days.
I did have a brief episode myself (One must, at least once, because it’s traditional!), and this was swiftly remedied when some Konkani speaking friends gave me ‘local medicine’. The churning stomach stopped within minutes.
I don’t remember the water in the well at the guest house being treated, by either ancient or modern means (This is sad attempt to keep this post ‘on topic’) to make it safe to use, but I do remember the turtle that was living in it!
Best regards,
Paul.
TheGreenMan
06-12-2006, 06:52
there where times that they just drunk beer, the whole day! :beerchug:
...or wine....
Hello Chris,
I did hear once that the Elizabethans got round the problem of infected water supplies by drinking pints of ‘sack’ instead (Sack is a type of sherry):
‘'A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and delectable shapes; which delivered o'er the voice - the tongue - which is the birth, becomes excellent wit.
'The second property is the warming of the blood. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach should be to forswear thin potations, and to addict themselves to Sack.' - William Shakespeare (Henry IV Part II)
Best regards,
Paul.