Does anyone know if rubbing alchohol, swabs, or drinking alchohol can be used for water purification?

Are there any other methods besides iodine 10%, bleach, potable aqua, and cloro-floc?

You´d need a pretty high concentration of alcohol to kill germs. That wouldn´t be suitable for keeping hydrated (actually it would dehydrate you).
There are methods like filters or boiling for purification.

NO! rubbing alcohol is poisonous when ingested.

All alcohal of whatever type (isopropyl, methanol, ethanol etc) are poisonous. Ethanol (the type found in beverages) is least poisonous and only mildly effects the nervous system temporarily. All other types of alcohal are deadly in even very small dosage. Relatively high dosages of ethanol are tolerated by most humans and will result in (mostly) enjoyable intoxication temporarily (and strong and un-enjoyable hang-overs next morning). At high dosage ethanol will kill most germs - unfortunately it will also cause dehydration since it is a strong diuretic. Not what you would want in survival situation for your water source. (as if being drunk in a survival situation weren't bad enough) My understanding about the origins of the Gin & Tonic drink was that the quinine was effective in killing the germs responsible for malaria and Gin was added to make the quinine water palatable. (Not sure I would agree that the Gin is a flavor any better than quinine).

It's dangerous to drink rubbing alcohol.

But the reverse (rubbing with drinking alcohol) is not so ......
In my area of origin (Lorraine), some 30 years ago, elderly people still had the right to distill alcohol from fruits (in Lorraine, mainly mirabelle plums), without paying taxes.
And they had so large stocks of mirabelle alcohol, they used it for everything, from cleaning windows to rubbing their rheumatism.
Don't worry, they always kept a good supply for drinking !! <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />


Alain

The only way you could use alcohol to purify water was as the fuel for an alcohol stove to bring the water to a boil...any other combination would guarantee you a trip to morgue in one of those nifty rubber zip up bags.

All good answers. Thank You your quick responses. The chemical means I have recorded so far are bleach, iodine 10%, iodine 2%, polar-pur, cloro-floc, potable aqua, and potassium permaganate. Though I only carry a pur hiker filter, potable aqua, and the means to boil in my larger kits I would still like to know any other means out there just in case I come along such chemicals or materials in a survival situation.

You could mix water and pure ethyl alcohol with a concentration that kills the germs. BUT you end up with a stiff drink instead of drinking water (so technically this may not be called purification). For a survival situation this is obviously not the way to go.
Apart from that - at least over here - alcohol for fuel puposes is denaturated to make it unfit for drinking.

Here in Sweden we use Puritabs or Inix Aquacare or we just cook the water befor we drink it =)