The bounties of nature, the serenity of silence, and the beauty of still waters during archery hunting—all these things are breathtakingly beautiful but wait! Can you drink this water? Is it safe? How do you know that there is no harmful element in this pond that looks mesmerizing? Lakes and water bodies are natural and beautiful, but there may be algae, pathogens, and harmful bacteria that humans may not sustain.
The best way to ensure a safe drink is to either carry your water or filter it. Of course, taking water for days can be an extra load, and it is better to be a light traveler as possible. Here's a simple way to make a survival water filter to avoid any health hazards and enjoy your outdoors and beauty!
How can a water filter help?
When water passes through a filter, all harmful materials are reduced to a minimum, making it safe to drink. Buying a high-quality water filter from a utility store or household shop will ensure more reliable drinking water, but this filter may not be a practical choice for outdoors. Many commercial water filters are not portable, or they require a regular change of the filter sheets. So then how can you filter water when you are out in the open?
How to make a water filter in the wild?
When you are in the open, you need the best possible way to use your limited resources and create a method to remove sediments, animal waste, and bacteria from the liquid. Imagine if you gulped down a small fish or the water is contaminated with dead organisms, and you feel sick later-it could be a stressful situation! Survival outdoors means you make the most of the things that you can gather and build a comfort zone where you don't have to worry about amenities such as water and food!
To build a filter and ensure a safe drink, you can only make use of the pebbles, sand, and other materials that you can find around you. If you are hunting near the ocean, which is quite a long shot; however, you might not be able to filter saltwater. You can get around filtering water in the woods or from a lake quite easily!
For all those out in the wild for a few days, you can rely on gathering freshwater from the atmosphere. In the forests, condensation is quite heavy, and if you set up a utensil that collects water, you can stay hydrated for a day easily. In case that is not the case, you can follow these steps to make an active filter.
You will need two utensils for a basic filter. Take water in one of them and cover the second with a piece of cloth. On this cloth, put some pebbles and pass the water from the first utensil into the second one with the fabric and pebbles on top. Now that the first filtration is done remove the pebbles and cloth from this utensil. Now cover the empty utensil with the same cloth and put a layer of sand. Sand is finer than pebbles and will collect any solids in the water as you pass it through.
The second filtration leaves your water clearer than before, as many small contaminants have been lifted. Now remove the cloth and sand and cover the empty utensil will the same cloth with charcoal on top. Charcoal is usually present at hunting sites, or in areas where people often go for outdoor fun. Campfire charcoal will a good filter as it picks out the minute contaminants from water. After these three filtration steps, the drink in your utensil will be safe and good enough to keep you hydrated for a long time!
Another method of making a water filter is also possible in case you have just one human-made utensil like a plastic bottle. You can make a filter in the bottle and then store the filtered drink in hollow wood, or you can even drink the water coming out of the bottle filter by cupping your hand. Here's a simple way of creating this 'one-bottle water filter.' With your knife, make a hole in your bottle's base and place a small piece of cloth inside to cover the base. Now add a layer of charcoal inside the container and top it with an equally thick layer of sand. The third layer at the very top will be pebbles. Voila! Do you see what we did here? As you pour the water from the top, it passes through the pebbles, sand, and then charcoal to give you clean drinking water!
This filter is easy and does not require a long time to set up. If you have been detained forcibly or run out of drinking water in the wild, there is no reason to fret. Try out this simple filter at home even, and you will be surprised at how it works every time!
So there you have it! A filter from four simple items that you will find around you in any outdoor scene! And another one from a bottle and the same materials that are lying around in the forest, but hold a lot of value when they come together! Hunters, hikers, and climbers often remain stocked for their trip, but in case you meet an unfortunate shortage, you should know how to survive in the wilderness.
Forests and open places are naturally equipped with all amenities, but because of our disconnection from them, we don't know how to survive in case we are put in a situation! Simple ways of using the few resources available can make every adventurer fearless! When you go for a hunting trip or a camping trip, why not try the water filter even if you have your freshwater stock? It will prepare you for a time that we certainly don't hope to see. Try it out!