Water Purifiers effective for pesticides, chemicals, pollutants, etc

[Triquetra]

Most of the threads on water purification talk about bacteria, viruses, dirt, Giardia, and little creatures. I was wondering about the dangers of pesticides and other chemical concerns getting water out of a creek, lake, or river. How much of a concern is this and do the water purifiers get these substances out? Also, in an event like Katrina, I would assume that the water is terribly polluted. I want to start trying out some survival skills and teaching my kids at the same time but don't want to be unnecessarily at risk. In a real emergency you don't really have a choice.

 

[skammer]

There is NO portable civilian filter or purifier rated for chemical decontamination. You pays your money you takes your chances.

I tell my students "the best way to ensure good water is to run 10 miles every 2 days" hmmmm scratches head.

Reason being if you are fit you can carry large amounts of clean water that weighs a ton. This theory would have been the ONLY way to ensure clean water (save an air drop) if you had to wade you or your family out of New Orleans.

Sobering to me anyway.

Skam

 

[cheung_victor]

Well you could try the fillters with the coal to get the chemical pollutants out. Then fillter it with a bonnie hat and other things to remove the dirt. Then boil the water in a mess tin to kill the pesticides. One more thing i want to add, Skammer what do you do as a job of past time? You said you teach your students?

 

[skammer]

Well you could try the fillters with the coal to get the chemical pollutants out. Then fillter it with a bonnie hat and other things to remove the dirt. Then boil the water in a mess tin to kill the pesticides. One more thing i want to add, Skammer what do you do as a job of past time? You said you teach your students?

I teach winderness survival to SAR teams and the general public. What do you do for a past time, besides highschool and aircadets?

Skam

 

[Triquetra]

It may be a stupid question, but if we're talking about more of a base camp in a disaster situation, how would some of those home purifiers like a Brita work. They claim to get out a lot of those things, or more important how hard is it to make a home distillation system for water. I've read that distillation, reverse osmosis, charcoal filter all get out different things and that none get them all. It seems that it would be fairly easy with a pot with lid and some tubing to steam distil your water. Don't know what all stays in the steam though.

 

[skammer]

It may be a stupid question, but if we're talking about more of a base camp in a disaster situation, how would some of those home purifiers like a Brita work. They claim to get out a lot of those things, or more important how hard is it to make a home distillation system for water. I've read that distillation, reverse osmosis, charcoal filter all get out different things and that none get them all. It seems that it would be fairly easy with a pot with lid and some tubing to steam distil your water. Don't know what all stays in the steam though.

It is my understanding that chemicals can make the jump in steam so distilling may not work. Don't hold me to this however I am going on memory. :foot:

Charcoal household filters work on an assumption of chemical concentrations being pretty low to begin with. I wouldn't trust them to remove anything other than some stuff from clean tap water.

Skam

 

[Triquetra]

I figured that the home filters probably had to work with low concentrations. I'm going to do a little research on distillation and other methods to see if I can find again where their strengths and weaknesses are. Seems like I too remember that some things go along with the steam.

 

[RicBrannon]

Most of the threads on water purification talk about bacteria, viruses, dirt, Giardia, and little creatures. I was wondering about the dangers of pesticides and other chemical concerns getting water out of a creek, lake, or river. How much of a concern is this and do the water purifiers get these substances out? Also, in an event like Katrina, I would assume that the water is terribly polluted. I want to start trying out some survival skills and teaching my kids at the same time but don't want to be unnecessarily at risk. In a real emergency you don't really have a choice.

Cucharadedragon,
There isn't anything out there that is 100% effective but there are some things that work well and I'd rather be with them then without. Try Katadyn filters. I have used a Katadyn pocket for over 10 years and have not had any issues to date, it has a silver impregnated ceramic element that filters down to 0.2 microns which is effective against most living organisms and the silver works as an antibacterial to kill a lot that might get through, which isn't much. It does get some chemicals simply because of the depth of the filter element but it would seem that Katadyn has come out with a new Combo filter called the Katadyn Combi with the silver impregnated ceramic in the first stage and an activated carbon cartridge in the second stage. This will take care of a lot of everything. The silver impregnated ceramic for living stuff and activated carbon will get a lot of the chemicals.
Like I said nothing is really 100% but it's better to have the best you can get then nothing at all. Hope this helps. Links pasted below.


Ric

Katadyn Pocket:
http://www.katadyn.ch/site/us/home/outdoor_products/our_products/endurance_series/pocket/

Katadyn Combi:
http://www.katadyn.ch/site/us/home/outdoor_products/our_products/endurance_series/combi_plus/

 

[RicBrannon]

I figured that the home filters probably had to work with low concentrations. I'm going to do a little research on distillation and other methods to see if I can find again where their strengths and weaknesses are. Seems like I too remember that some things go along with the steam.

Some chemicals will distill out but not all. But most that will not distill out will be taken out by activated carbon.
Try these guys if you are looking for a good distiller, http://www.herbandvitaminshop.com/ I got one from them about 8 years ago and it's still going strong and I have distilled 2 gallons a day sense I got it. It distills a gallon at a time and runs the distilled water through an activated carbon filter at the end. The water out of this thing tastes great, like water should taste.

Ric

 

[Triquetra]

Thanks for the links!

 

[wildstar]

I teach winderness survival to SAR teams and the general public. What do you do for a past time, besides highschool and aircadets?

I think Victor is a young student and I am proud of him to learn about wilderness survival. I think he just wanted to know what you taught. I hope you are asking him about his past time is sincere and not abrasive/ sarcastic. Otherwise, it would be a good way to turn young people off this forum and a bad example for a teacher.

 

[skunked]

skammer, that was maybe a tad abrupt.

 

[OwenM]

skammer, any steps prior to using a purifier that will help remove, or minimize, chemical contamination?

 

[skammer]

Victor should not be insighting trolling posts like:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364923

If Victor wants to be treated like an adult.

Nuff said.

Skam

 

[skammer]

skammer, any steps prior to using a purifier that will help remove, or minimize, chemical contamination?

Off the top of my head the only thing I can think of would be to filter it through a homemade sand charcoal filter of significant depth. This is a stretch however.

Chemicals are an area of water treatment that is very specialized and not something anyone can deal with off the shelf.

I am open to any ideas as I am at a loss on this one. The most advanced portable filter on the market won't touch NO's type contamination.

Skam

 

[randjack]

Please go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/disastersandemergencypreparedness.html
for the NIH site dedicated to Katrina issues.

Skam, you are correct. There is no effective way of purifying NO water. Distillation without fractionation merely gives you purer solvents and hydrocarbons in your water.

There is no effective municipal water plant in the US that can make this soup poatable. Even military reverse osmosis units have a hard time, because the solvents and hydrocarbons destroy the reverse osmosis filters.

There is no solution other than trucking or piping it in.

 

[skammer]

Neat site cheers Jack.

Skam

 

[OwenM]

Thanks for the answer. Like you said earlier-sobering. I thought I was pretty well covered with a purifier...
A NO-like scenario isn't going to happen where I live, but it's something to think about.