> TEOTWAWKI Blog: Tip of the Day: Removing Viruses from Water

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5/21/11

Tip of the Day: Removing Viruses from Water

There are a slew of horrible things in untreated water that could leave you potentially "spraying the rocks" as Dave Canterbury would put it. Or worse. 

Protozoa. Bacteria. Parasites. Viruses. Wikipedia has details on these waterborne nasties. Normal water filters will remove the first three, but they are unable to filter out tiny waterborne viruses. That's bad, and can lead to  such delightful infections as adenovirus, SARS, gastroenteritis and Hepatitis A. So, unless you're confident the water is virus free for some reason, you'll need to take extra measures to kill off viruses in untreated water.

In order to kill viruses, you've got three options - boiling, chemical treatment or UV exposure. If proper procedures are followed, each of these will kill viruses and any other creatures living in water, making it safe to drink. Nom nom nom.

Did you know that a clear plastic bottle + a few hours of direct sunlight will give enough UV exposure to do the job? It's called SODIS - solar disinfection. Read here for more details >