Water from a natural source isn't always safe. If it exists in nature, something has already found a way to live there. You might think hot springs around yellowstone would be pretty ideal since that essentially boils your water for you. But then you get introduced to the minor celebrity prokaryote thermus aquaticus.
I posted a quick rundown of water purification a while back in a previous exposé of HBB thread 2pidity. (It seems to be a regular occurence)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uthgaard
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Aside from this, water purification is simple and accessible to anyone. A fully effective water filter can be made from bituminous and anthracite coal, sand, plastic, garnet and gravel. Same accessible stuff that's in military water filters. Chlorine and citric acid will neutralize any microbes and the pH. Reverse osmosis is the only part that might seem a little tricky, but guess what? A $50 pool filter has the same RO element and the pump.
You can get water from anywhere. Ponds and lakes are surface representations of the water table (that's how far down you have to go to get water). If you're 25 miles from water, you can take a topographic map, find the water gradient from the difference in elevation between the nearest pools, dig about that far down. As long as it doesn't smell like sulfur, you've got a well. If it does, move about 10 yards and try again.
Simple stuff. Now no one from p99 should ever die of thirst.
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