Please share this video with anyone involved in humanitarian projects! Www.bridging-humanity.org teaches others how to create useful things made from trash so they can become self-sufficient. In this video we demonstrate how to make a water filter out of natural products. In the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster it is helpful to know how to filter & purify drinking water. The best thing to do to kill bacteria is to boil your water for 1 minutes. Add a pinch of salt & cover with a lid to speed up the boiling process. You can also use the SODIS method by filling a plastic water bottle with contaminated water, put on the cap, shake & leave in the sun for 6 hours. Chlorine is commonly used to kill bacteria but I believe that chlorine is harmful to the body & prefer to use other natural anti bacterial products. Use chlorine bleach at your discretion. Recommended dosage of bleach is 8 drops of chlorine per gallon of water. Instead of chlorine I prefer to use apple cider vinegar. Use a 1/2 cup of vinegar per gallon of water. Shake well & leave in the sun (covered) for 30 minutes. You can also use iodine (lugol solution). Use 20 drops of lugol per gallon of water. Shake & let it sit in the sun for 30 minutes. Shaking water is good because it adds oxygen to the water. Hydrogen peroxide can be used as well. Use one full dropper of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water. If you do not have any type of absorbic acids like lemon/lime juice or vinegar, you can use a clear bottle filled with water, put the top on & set it out in the sun for 6 hours. The UV-A rays in sunlight will kill the viruses, bacteria & parasites. Things made with silver or colloidal silver http://www.naturalnews.com/colloidal_silver.html are great for killing bacteria. In fact colloidal silver solution can kill over 650 different types of bacteria in 3 to 4 minutes. It is used by www.pottersforpeace.org to make clay water purifying filters in developing countries for the poor. You can add 1/2 a teaspoon of silver colloidal to a gallon of water or use a silver pitcher to purify water. Peppermint, holy basil & oregano can also kill bacteria. Lemon, lime or other acidic products are also good including 1000 Mgs of crushed vitamin C. Dried & ground moringa seeds also used to disinfect water. Here are some examples of products you can use to make a water filter: active charcoal, cotton, coffee filters, cupcake filters, gravel (limestone/lava rocks remove harsh minerals), sand, grass, loufa, sponge, corn husks, spagnum moss & coconut husks. Storage: Important! You must have a lid to seal your water so it does not get recontaminated. Dried out gourds with tiny holes in the bottom were used by indians to strain water. Gourd canteens were also used for storing water. Clay storage devices have been used since ancient times & work well for preserving water (must have a lid). Also keep track of which containers were used to transport contaminated water so that you don’t accidentally pour good water in a dirty container & recontaminate. Run water through your filtering device twice or more for best results. In this experiment we used an empty 2 liter soda bottle. We removed the bottom & punched a hole in the cap. In an emergency situation use the materials you have available to you for filtering your water. In this video is we turned the bottle upside down & layered cotton, oregano, cotton, charcoal, coffee filter, limestone gravel, coconut husks & corn husks. If you are able purchase water test strips, it is helpful to test your water before & after purification so you can monitor the effectiveness. If the pH level is less than 6.5 then you can add a teaspoon of baking soda to increase the pH. I saw improved results with the pH & alkaline levels when I tested the water after each filtering process. Visit www.livestrong.com for other helpful water purification tips. After you have filtered the water a few times & if the water tastes a little unpleasant from adding things like vinegar, iodine or lime juice then consider adding fruit juice to mask the flavor. Or use the filtered water to make tea. In a perfect world the best kind of water to drink is spring water & to shake it or stir it before you drink it. This will oxygenate your water which promotes a healthier metabolism. Stay safe & stay tuned for more videos from Bridging Humanity!
