One of my fun skills as a communications engineer was that of developing hardware, software, and techniques for remote monitoring and alarming all kinds of things and thus getting into places that normal civilians are not allowed. That experience along with a relative’s life long practice of creating delightfully delicious distilled spirits has made me aware of the dangers of blindly accepting certain procedures as the total answer to a problem.
The Northwest is known for its clean soft water from mountain snow melt. However, when the reservoirs are low or muddy, wells are used to supplement and reduce the turbidity. Generally these wells are located near ancient or active water ways. These water ways are also the location of existing or long gone industrial sites. Sites that have been subject to man made chemicals seeping into the water table for many years. These chemicals are difficult to remove from the water and are usually not easily identified by taste or smell. Some, not all, communities with chemically polluted well water, discreetly spray their water, at the well sites, into the air in chambers and ignite the more volatile gases before it enters the normal water treatment process.
From my now departed relative, I learned that depending of the mix of grains or “other” organic biomass of the mash the initial output of the distillation process are poisonous esters. These esters are spilled off and not used by the “honest and knowledgeable” distillers / distributers. Again, the percentage spilled off depends on the biomass makeup. Distillation is also the process of recovering gold from gold mercury amalgam. The mercury is boiled off and if you want to keep your sanity and health, is condensed and collected under water. Caution, when trying this technique at home, retort explosions are common and usually mildly fatal. There are many lakes in the Northwest that are organically and naturally polluted with mercury. Read your State’s Fish and Game Regulations for a list of lakes with fish containing high percentages of mercury. Pregnant woman please take note, the state says you can’t eat as much mercury as the rest of the population!
When you blindly use a still to purify water, your results depend on the water quality you put in it. Remember the old computer adage, “Garbage in equals garbage out.” I am not saying that distillation does not work. What I am saying is that “It is not a panacea for what we have done to our water.” You can modify the still to reduce these toxins but it takes a bit more knowledge, skill, and hardware. Something that will be lacking in the survival situation. But you are probably immune since many of you are drinking this water currently through your communities water system.
Edited by turbo (01/31/05 12:40 AM)
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