Purify Water To Survive

This week we’re making another simi primitive slash survival water filter. We’re using a plastic bottle, some sand, charcoal, gravel, and some cedar boughs for this one. These sand and charcoal water purifiers have been used for thousands of years and they’re actually very good at removing sediment and clarifying dirty water. Here I show how to make a DIY charcoal survival water filter, and use sunlight to sanitize the water. The lab results weren’t exactly what I’d imagined though!

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According to the CDC, waterborne disease killed over six thousand people last year in the US alone. Waterborne pathogens such as e. coli, cryptosporidium, and giardia are prevalent in many surface water sources. There are several primitive methods for water purification including surface wells (gypsy well), boiling, and other primitive water filters which utilize some combination of course substrate, plant materials, and charcoal. I recently found a research article from MIT (link below) that showed the xylem tissue of gymnosperms effectively filtered out all bacteria from contaminated water. In this video I set up a filter using those findings but also, using a never before seen method using grape vines as both a siphon and filter in one. A lab analysis confirmed the presence of e. coli bacteria in the water to be filtered. The water that passed through the grape vines had no detectable e. coli bacteria! You can’t do any better than that with the best whole house water filter. This has practical uses in backpacking, survival situations, wilderness living, camping, etc.