by Trent Barrett
A home made water purifier can be as simple as cloth tied around a water faucet, or as complex as a series of chemical filters put together for a large quantity of water to be run through them. Historically, the cloth was a typical solution, and even today in Africa, some tribeswomen are taught to pour fresh-drawn water through layers of cloth before using it to remove contaminants. The water at the end looks cleaner, and it does prevent some water-borne contaminants, like amoeba, it is very far from a good solution.
Online, you can find dozens of plans for home made water purifiers, from very simple survival-based filters to actual water distillation systems. But if you go the do-it-yourself route, you may be introducing your own problems into your purified water. If you don't do it properly, you are wasting your time; improperly-purified water still contains contaminants and, depending on the source, can even kill you. In addition, you may find that creating your own home made water purifiers costs more money than just going out and buying one commercially.
One of the problems with home made water purifiers is that they don't tell you when they are saturated with contaminants; on the other hand, commercial water filters usually do. If you keep using saturated filters without knowing it, you're not only getting un-decontaminated water; you're actually dissolving some of the previously-removed contaminants and getting a double dose. Unless you're using a distilled water system, you should assume that your home made water filter needs replacing, and that means you have to figure out your own saturation period.
Even with distilled water, you have a problem: you're removing everything from the water that is good as well as bad, like iron, copper, and calcium, which actually promote good health even in trace amounts. Distilled water also tastes flat, and you may get added contaminants you did not anticipate from your distillation system. More than that, you may not be removing chlorine; it evaporates with water and may well condense right down with it as well. Commercial filters eliminate this contaminant, while few do-it-yourself systems do.
If you are determined to make your own home made water purifier, make sure you get a kit that helps you do it properly. Any good distillation system will use a multiple-filter system. Water should sit for a while to let the precipitates fall to the bottom, then be run through filtered layers, first of sand or diatomaceous earth, then a layer of activated carbon, and finally a second layer of diatomaceous earth. Each filter should be separated from the others by a layer of gauze or mesh fine enough to keep the layers separate. The best systems will force water through the filter at pressure. Check your system when you've run some water through by allowing a glass of filtered water to sit for a day or two. Are there still precipitates? Does the water turn cloudy? Also, have the water tested for biological impurities. You often can't see microbes, but that doesn't mean they are not there and will not make you sick! In most cases, you'll find it is cheaper and easier to simply purchase a commercial system, where everything has been pre-tested for you.
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