Using Emergency Water Filters in Disaster Situations

As a municipal employee or business owner, there may come a time when you are called upon to help coordinate emergency recovery efforts following a natural or manmade disaster. At that time, one of the most crucial undertakings will be to educate the public in ways to create a clean drinking water supply. Although people have been told that they should maintain a supply of bottled water for emergency situations, the majority will not have done so. It may be up to you to help them create safe water which is free from contaminants by using some type of emergency water filter.

In order to be prepared to help others, you must first understand some basic procedures to use to filter contaminated water for general use. Ideally, people will be able to boil their water. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms that can cause disease. After boiling, water can be run through a clean cloth or coffee filter, both of which make excellent emergency water filters that will eliminate particles. However, if there is a widespread power outage, boiling water may not be an option.

Cleaning water without boiling it can be trickier. To do so people need to use a combination of both settling and filtering. If water appears murky and has a funny color, these methods can reduce the contaminants it contains to safe levels. Allowing water to sit while heavier particles settle to the bottom is a good way to get rid of the larger contaminants. Follow this settling process up by running the water through an emergency water filter made of a clean cloth secured to the top of a large container. The water may need to be filtered more than once and then allowed to settle again before being clear enough to drink.

Another safeguard can be treating the water that has been run through an emergency water filter with chemicals in order to disinfect it further. Using 8 drops of household bleach (unscented if possible) per gallon of filtered water, stir well and allow the mixture to sit for at least a half hour prior to use. If the water seems flat after all of this processing, it can be poured from container to container a few times in order to aerate it again.