Polyester Water Filter

This is an inexpensive, light weight filter for your emergency backpack. It is to be used to filter water before you boil it in an emergency situation. The video below demonstrates that this filter works wonderfully. This filter can be washed and reused for up to 3 years.

It can also extend the life of an expensive water filter by using it as a pre-filter before you run the water through the expensive filter.

Take a plastic empty water bottle that has a smooth neck (highly recommended) and cut off the bottom. Find or buy an article of clothing that is made of 100 percent polyester non-stretchy tight weave fabric. Cut it into 2 inch to 3 inch strips. Get the polyester a little damp and role it into a roll. Make each layer snug but not too tight (If you stretch the fabric, the holes increase in size making it a less effective filter). Make the diameter of the roll big enough to insert into the water bottle. It needs to form a fairly tight seal against plastic.

Then you pour the water into the bottom of the water bottle where you cut it off and it will filter through the fabric and out the top part of the bottle.

If the water has a large amount of sediment, you can do 2 water bottles one on top of the other.  You can also put a layer of charcoal between the 2 bottles to eliminate bad odors or odd taste of the filtered water.

The water should have the appropriate amount of bleach, four drops per quart added or heat to a rolling boil (think of the ever-useful survival saying “big bubbles, no troubles”) to ensure that all of the organisms have been killed.

Kill virtually anything in 10 to 20 minutes using Acidified Diluted Bleach

In an emergency situation cleanliness is more important than ever. Hospitals will be overflowing. You can't afford to get sick. Endospores can survive without nutrients. They are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, desiccation, high temperature, extreme freezing and chemical disinfectants.

The American Society for Microbiology did a study that shows Vinegar increases the killing power of bleach. "Diluted bleach at an alkaline pH is a relatively poor disinfectant, but acidified diluted bleach will virtually kill anything in 10 to 20 minutes," says Norman Miner, a researcher on the study. "In the event of an emergency involving Bacillus anthracis spores contaminating such environmental surfaces as counter tops, desk and table tops, and floors, for example, virtually every household has a sporicidal sterilant available in the form of diluted, acidified bleach."

Miner and his colleagues compared the ability of alkaline (pH 11) and acidified (pH 6) bleach dilutions to disinfect surfaces contaminated with dried bacterial spores, considered the most resistant to disinfectants of all microbes. The alkaline dilution was practically ineffective, killing all of the spores on only 2.5 percent of the surfaces after 20 minutes. During the same time period the acidified solution killed all of the spores on all of the surfaces.

Miner recommends first diluting one cup of household bleach in one gallon of water and then adding one cup of white vinegar.

So in addition to storing water and bleach for emergencies I suggest you also store vinegar.

These three items will allow you to effectively keep all surfaces clean and sanitary thus eliminating the risk of sickness.

Source:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/asfm-vik021306.php