Hey there, I've been thinking about my GHFW and BO bags and I realize that I currently don't have means for disinfecting / purifying / treating / whatever the heck it is you do to water to make it safe to drink. I'm familiar with iodine / chlorine tablets from using them in boy scouts, but as I understand it they have a shelf life of around 4 years? I've done some forum lurking and there seems to be some consensus that in a (sub)urban emergency environment (cough Hurricane Irene cough) one would have to worry about chemical contaminants in addition to the biological ones, which would require the use of a filter. In my admittedly brief search for information about filters I've only really found information about filters for use in the back country, which don't seem to talk about filtering chemical very much (if at all). Really what I'm asking is what kind of treatment is necessary for the kinds of situations one would encounter? Also, (what started this whole line of thought in the first place), has anyone heard of this filter before ( Link and Link )? Good, bad other?

when deionized water was needed by my science classes, I used a vertical column ion exchange resin pack, that was designed for most of the common dissolved compounds.... the front end (+ charged/cation) metal ions were usually the target... the refil pack was pretty pricy, but lasted a year or so (I'd go through about 3 gallons per school year in my class, the Honors/IB classes a lot more, but have no idea on total production) If you had an idea of the possible source of contamination you could be selective in your resin pack choice

as Izzy commented, those of us in Florida typically store water, and the commercial bottles are the way to go... just get a hand operated pump from your route delivery guy.. I do still have a shallow well, and 5gal bucket filter for .1micron critters

I've been toying with the idea of converting an old fish cooker to a heavy duty rocket stove... 2 1/2" or larger pipe, short 6" fuel inlet (with divider shelf at diameter... wood/fuel on top/air underneath) and a 8" stack to draw... could use one of these fuel efficient stoves to run a small still

haven't given up on my solar desal plant, just looking for a kiddie pool

The issue of water purification in an urban bug out, likely on foot, from an office or entertainment venue, with only a small EDC/GHB and a 1-2 day walk home, is a particular interest of mine. Especially because I live, work and recreate in a metro area where this is my likeliest disaster scenario. What follows is my strategy: If I'm lucky enough to have access to my car kit, even if I cannot drive out, I'll have my General Ecology First Need XL Puifier. This unit will, according to EPA test ratings, remove bacteria, cysts, viruses and most chemicals. I believe, based on my own research, that this is as good as it gets for generally available civilian, backpack portable water purifiers.YMMV. If I'm limited to the small backpack or briefcase kits I carry, I go with a mixture of very small and lightweight components. Initial filtration is with coffee filters in a folding Survival Resources (SR) filter holder. Once I've got that in a SR 1 liter water bag, I'd add Katadyn water purifier tablets. Final stage is to run the pretreated water thru a Seychelles Advanced water bottle purifier or a Seychelles Advanced Water Purifier Straw. Both of the Seychelles units are very lightweight and compact. I believe that these set-ups, along with a four way silcock key, will allow me to scavenge enough clean water to get me home. I welcome everyone's comments. Constructive criticism can only prove or improve my preps. Cheers.

This week I purchased an extra water filter for my atmospheric water generator. This way, in the event of a water emergency, I can replace the current water filter when it needs to be replaced. Just like having extra light bulbs on hand, except an extra water filter is much less visible so it's easy to forget to keep an extra on-hand.

Distillation is not as simple as some think, nor as fool proof. For instance, methanol is quite toxic and it is not real easy to remove methanol from water via distillation unless you know exactly what you are doing.

sorry I got off the OP's topic with the deionizing resins and following up on Izzys comments... I think Acropolis5 is on the right track for urban use..

a .1micron absolute tubular filter and chemical purification is probably what my reality would be, however for one carrying a couple of filter bottles, one tubular and one charcoal might be an good option for posssible groundwater contamination

good call on the sillcock key.. we used them at school, but never crossed my mind to carry one...

You may want to check this out. I dont have any personal experience with it but I'm thinking about trying it.

http://www.aquapail.com/

I don't carry one. They're heavy for a single-use item. I haven't met a silcock that I couldn't open with a full-size multitool.

Hopefully someone will write a review of the Aquapail here, or a link to one.

My route home from work on foot (40 miles) is somewhat suburban but tends more toward rural between suburban towns.

So my planning has been for water bottles to carry known good water plus 2 means of water filtration plus a small metal cup for boiling water over a small fire if needed.

My expected reason to be on foot is EMP immobilizing everything. So chemical contamination of creeks and stock ponds on my route is not going to change due to the emergency.

Silcock tool sure seems like a good idea.

Well, you never know. Without electricity for pumps and other machinery, who knows what kinds of nasty industrial stuff backs up or overflows into local waterways upstream for your route? Maybe someone trying to siphon fuel without electricity has an accident that spills fuel into a storm drain? Or someone pushes a vehicle killed off by EMP off the road into a drainage ditch and it leaks fuel?

Normally, I'd say I was getting carried away with my imagination, but if we're going to go as far an envision something as dramatic and extreme as an EMP, then might as well be thorough, I say.

In other news, I'm still looking for radiation-resistant clothes that are formal enough to wear to the office everyday. (Actually, I'm not making fun of the EMP scenario, just pointing out that there are other equally unlikely but nightmarish scenarios out there to contemplate, and the radiation one got a whole lot more real in a hurry.)