Story Smithing: Survival Water Filtration

What micro-organisms can be found in contaminated water and how can your character get rid of them? Want to know what man-kind has used to filter water since 2,000 BC, and will likely be used long after an apocalypse? Can this protect your characters from parasites? Find out on this episode. 

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Transcript

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What microorganisms can be found in contaminated water and how can your character get rid of them? Want to know what mankind has used to filter water since 2000 BC and will likely be used long after an Apocalypse? Can this protect your characters from Parasites? Find out in this episode. Welcome to Writing Rural with Alley, the Fiction Writers Weekly Inspirations Station for Rural Life and Lifestyles. From historical to post-apocalyptic, helping you bring your rural stories to life. I'm Alley in this episode number 77, Survival Water Filtration. Stick around to the end to find out all the ways things could possibly go wrong. A quick disclaimer. I am in no way, shape, form, or fashion a medical anything. Nor do I teach survival training. This podcast is intended for fictional writing and entertainment and nothing else. Okay, let's get into this. Clean, safe drinking water is something that humans have wanted for as long as written history, and frankly, likely longer. And safe water comes with a long list of things that could go wrong for your character. This includes, but is not limited to, gastrointestinal illnesses such as diarrhea, chlorea, dysentery, gastrointestinitis, if I pronounced that right. Infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. Also, paracetic infections such as tape worms, round worms, hookworms, and flukes. I am not sure what that is, but Google assures me that I don't want it. Or in modern times, chemical exposures or poisoning. Certain chemicals can have neurological effects, affecting the brain and central nervous system. With the importance of clean water so critical to life, filtering out impurities, aka the stuff that will make you sick, is vital to your character. That's where the survival water filtration, sometimes called DIY water filters, or even Bushcrafting water filters comes in. I will explain the simplest make of this, but this can become complicated if your your character wants it to, or if you want to do that to your character. Your character will need some container that will allow the water to flow through it down into another container, normally smaller than the first, that will catch the clean water. I will call the first container the filter and the second container the bucket, simply because it's going to be easy to explain. Inside the filter, your character will place a layer of gravel-sized rocks. This is called the drainage level or drainage rocks. Above that will be a layer of gravel-sized rocks, and above the pebbles is where the sand will go. The layer of pebbles needs to be thick enough that the sand will not slip through it and clog the spaces between the gravel-sized rocks as that would slow down the water flow or even clog up the drainage rocks, blocking the clean water from making it into the bucket. Modern wastewater people will be technical and talk about a bio-layer. It is a layer of water that sits on top of the sand and forms a bio-layer. This helps in breaking down organic matter and pathogens. Frankly, I've used these filters all my life and only learned about this while researching for this episode. So unless your character is a wastewater employee, they likely won't know much about this either. The sand layer can be replaced with charcoal if there is no sand. In my part of Tornado Alley, we don't have a lot of sand, but lots of wood that we can burn and turn into coal. If your character's in the desert, they have plenty of sand, but likely very little that they can burn and turn into coal. What materials are available to your character is something to keep in mind when you're writing. Many, if not most people who do this today use both sand and charcoal to filter the water. Why? Because it is about removing the most things that could potentially hurt the person drinking it. Most people want as many things filtered out as possible. Historically, there are Egyptian scrolls dating back to roughly 3000 AD that used gravel and sand to remove impurities from the water. In the 17th century, charcoal became something to be used with and sometimes to replace the sand in filtering water. In fact, charcoal is still used in many modern filters as a way to make the water taste better. Did you know that natural unfiltered water, and frankly, filtered water too, has a taste to it. It's true. Most large cities and bottled water companies aim to have as little taste as possible to their water, mostly because that makes the most amount of people happy. I admit that when changing wells, there can be a two-week adjustment to get used to the new taste, but it's normally fine, unless your character gets into a well with a lot of sulfur. This will smell like rotten eggs and it doesn't taste good. However, it is normally safe to drink. I know. I've had this type of well before. I do not miss it. There are variations to this in history and today. Historically, one of the ways the filter was made was with a tripod of sticks tied together at the top similar to a teepee. Then a cloth would be tied into three layers at different levels and the sand and gravel placed on them. Then water could go through these into the bucket below. In modern times, many of the off-grid homes have 55-gallon barrels that have been converted into this type of filter with a spigetch at the bottom. This is usually used for rainwater, but it can be used to clean pond and river water, too. A historical variation of this is a wooden barrel used as a filter. Think of it like a wine barrel but used for filtering water. I have seen five-gallon buckets be stacked together and have holes drilled through them to make three layers of a filter with the spiget at the bottom. If they are glued together, if anything happens and they need to change out some of the filter, they will have to get new buckets. So caution is advised for this one. In the doomsday prepper world and the survivalist communities, there are also modern ones. Many of them use plastic water bottles and advise cloth at the top and cloth at the bottom. The reason is that with so little room, sand is normally at the bottom and no one wants to drink sand. They have cloth at the top to catch any debris. This could be leaves, twigs, or rocks. Remember that no matter how your character does this, layering the filter is important. If they mix everything together, it will not filter the water. Okay, it will filter the water, but not nearly as good as it should. Also, your character should look at and smell the filter from time to time. If it smells bad or just off, or if the layers are discolored or growing any mold, they need to immediately change all of the layers to new ones. Sometimes that might not be possible in some story scenarios. In these cases, they will do their best with what they have. Almost anyone can make this work the first time that they do it. All that is really needed for this is the knowledge of how to do it. That means even child characters can do this one. There are a few drawbacks to this method. First, it can take a long time to filter the water, especially if it's in a 55-gallon barrel. This isn't good if they need clean water fast. It cannot remove all of the chemicals, even if it filters out most of them. It also doesn't filter out viruses. Dissolved chemicals such as salt and other compounds could make it through the filter. Also, while it helps reduce unpleasant smells and taste, it doesn't get rid of them altogether. At least that's what the research said. I've got to tell you, I've made this for the sulfur water, and well, it tasted a lot better. But that could just be because I thought it tasted so awful to begin with. A few tips for this method. First, if your character has a larger filter with thicker layers, it will do a better job at filtering. This one is unlikely to happen in a survival situation. Second, sometimes the water will be put through a filter a few times to make it cleaner. And last, and maybe most importantly, if your character can, they should boil the water before putting it through the filter. I know it's not always an option, but when it is, the boiling will be able to get rid of most disease-causing microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites, and viruses. The survival water filter does not get rid of viruses. This is one that can be used in many ways in our stories. It is perfect for survival and post-apocalyptic stories. It can be used realistically in historical stories. It can be used in off-world water purification methods. This gives your characters a skill that they need, and it gives them something to fear if the water cannot be filtered. Fun fact. Most modern off-the-grid survival water filters are made with children's play sand. The reason being is that most companies will wash this type of sand before bagging it to keep kids safe from anything that could in the sand. Now for everyone's favorite part, what could possibly go wrong? Before we get into the best part, if you enjoy this podcast, I hope we'll take a minute to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcasting platform. If you're listening on YouTube, subscribe and hit that like button. Drop me a comment. I love to hear from you and answer questions. Don't forget to share with a friend. Now for everyone's favorite part. Likely to go wrong, your inexperienced character makes a survival water filter to filter river water. However, instead of layering the sand pebbles and rocks, they mix them all together, reducing the efficiency of this filter. Also likely to go wrong, on a hot day, your character leaves the survival water sitting out in the sun. The warm, moist sand starts to grow mold inside of it. Possible to go wrong. Your character makes a survivor water filter and does not layer it well enough to hold the sand back. This lets the sand run down and into the drinking water. Also possible to go wrong. A large storm comes up in the night. When your character checks in the morning, they find the survival water filter has been damaged. This might be an easy fix, or it could be complete destruction of the filter. Unlikely to go wrong. Your character filters the water through a survival water filter, and when they check the water is cloudy, they will need to filter it again. If it is still cloudy after it has been treated two or three times, the filter is either not made properly or has been contaminated, and they will need a new one. Also, unlikely to go wrong. Your character makes a survival water filter and leaves water in it overnight to filter while they are sleeping. In the night, the temperature drops below freezing and the water freezes the whole filter. Also unlikely to go wrong. Your character is in a survival situation and needs to move from their location to a safer location. When they try to take the survival water filter, they find the water has waded down and makes moving it difficult, if not impossible. They will You have to do one of three things. Leave it behind. Bring the structure and find new sand and pebbles, or bring it in sections. Sections would be a lot of extra work. Also unlikely to go wrong. Your character has a survival water filter that is very heavy with the weight of the water inside of it. One day, their child was playing near it and crashes into it, causing it to tip over on them. The child could be hurt, badly injured, or worse. Improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities. Your character builds a survival water filter in direct sunlight. Within days, this leads to a growth of algae in the filter. Algie can clog the filter, and some types are toxic or even deadly to humans. Also improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities. Your character makes a survival water filter but has nothing to hold the water in once it has filtered. Not wanting to waste water, they lay underneath it to catch the water in their mouth. This might be a long time since these types of filters are slow. Also improbable, but still tactically in the realm of possibilities. Your villain contaminates the survival water filter. This could be with chemicals or even by secretly placing a dead animal in the middle of the sand. The bacteria of a decomposing body can infect a person and potentially will be to death. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Happy wordsmithing. Happy work, something.