| In this age of fertilizers, pesticides, and chemical | | | | by adding in charcoal, if you happen to have some. |
| waste, even the purest-looking mountain stream may | | | | Next, you need to boil your water. This is a bit |
| be contaminated with dangerous chemicals that can | | | | trickier, because it requires a fire, and if you are not |
| harm your body and make you sick. Add in the | | | | careful, you will end up burning your water container |
| traditional contaminants of bacteria, viruses, and | | | | by placing it directly on the fire. The solution is to set |
| animal wastes, and you will no doubt conclude that | | | | a few rocks in the fire and allow it to heat them up, |
| trying to drink water found in the wilderness without | | | | and then to place them in the container with your |
| purification is not only unwise, but near suicidal. | | | | water. |
| Water purification methods can be either modern or | | | | But wait -- what container? How are you going to |
| primitive, and the basic rule to follow is that the more | | | | get a water container in the middle of the |
| primitive a method, the more time and energy it will | | | | wilderness? The answer is - not easily. If you are |
| take. Because of this, it is always wise when traveling | | | | lucky, you can find a natural depression in a tree or a |
| in the outdoors to carry some modern method of | | | | rock that form a basin. If you are not lucky, you will |
| purification. | | | | have to improvise. You can burn out a piece of a log, |
| These methods can be in the form of either chemical | | | | use an animal skin (be very careful when skinning the |
| purifiers, such as the time-tested iodine droplets | | | | animal!) or you can fashion one out of tree bark. |
| added to a sample of water, or filters, which can | | | | Once you have a container, heat up your rocks, use |
| screw onto the top of a water bottle and purify | | | | green sticks to pick them up, and put them in the |
| filter a liter of water in five minutes. | | | | water container. If the rocks cool down, take them |
| Unfortunately, it is quite likely that you will find | | | | out and put in new ones. This is also a good method |
| yourself in a situation where you have no option but | | | | of improvised cooking. You can use it to make soups |
| to resort to primitive methods, which usually means | | | | or stews. |
| boiling and filtration. | | | | So, while to a person who has no experience, it may |
| Let's start with filtration, which you can actually do | | | | seem impossible to secure your own safe water in |
| without if you need to. However, for muddy water it | | | | the wilderness, it is actually not as hard as it might |
| is a good idea. You can improvise a filter by taking | | | | seem. However, the key to success in these |
| the leg from a pair of trousers and tying off the leg | | | | techniques is practice. Practice now, and then when |
| of it. Pour the water in and let it drip out into a | | | | you are actually in trouble these techniques will come |
| container below the leg. You can improve this filter | | | | to you naturally. |