I live near the ocean in calfornia, and am worried about loss of water in an earthquake etc. Are there stills available for salt water which would be able to be powered by a heat source sugh as a camp stove burner etc? If electricity is lost I would like to have a way to produce potable water this way. Anyone know of sources for stills or plans? Thanks for the help!

You would need a reverse osmosis pump as carried on ship's liferaft kits. The water would still be very suspect. Everytime it rains here our beaches aren't even safe for surfers because of contaminant runoff. There are local problems of sewage, excess nitrogen from farming and equestrian manure and the accumulated filth washed down from adjoining communities. We did very well after the Northridge earthquake. Bottled water was easily trucked in and though rationed in the immediate area was readily available. The nice thing about California (so far) is that as destructive as our own earthquake,fire,rain and landslide cycles are they are local. If THE BIG ONE comes and overwhelms even adjoining regional resources a supply in place makes better sense.

Welcome ianjbs! What part of california you from. Nor cal, so cal, cen cal?

I would rely on storing bottled water before trying to desalinate salt water. My suggestion is to try your chosen method before you need it and see if it really works.

http://www.watercone.com/product.html
http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/ro-counter-detail.htm

As an aside, I've traveled to an island which produces its water by desalination. The inhabitants know that the water is _potable_, but they don't consider it _drinkable_. They all buy bottled water.

Phil

hey lm, i'm from socal, santa monica, just west of los angeles...

Those countertop RO systems are for getting junk out of tap water or well water. They're not intended for sea water and sea water RO machines are a lot more expensive and need much more energy. They do have some on that web site and places like West Marine have them too.

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/seawater-commercial-detail.htm

Katadyn makes some portable units but again, the practical ones are pretty expensive and need electric power.