Basic Water Filtration for Survival

If you have ever been in a survival situation, you know that water is essential. Trying to survive with out water is like trying to drive with out any oil in your vehicle. Most water sources can be unsafe to drink because of bugs, parasites or even because the water is dirty. This will not hydrate you, but make your chance of survival even harder. Never drink sea water, unless using a special filter, this device won't work for it. Even after using this filter, I would still boil the water just to be 100% safe because this method will only make the water more palatable. If using gravel or sand it will most likely make it 100% safe and boiling will be unnecessary, but don't take these risks unless they are necessary. Only use this in an emergency situation.

Materials:
. 3 Long sticks
. Rope (If necessary)
. 3 Bandanas or shirts
. Water catcher (Garbage bag, water bottle, Leaf, etc)
. Fire (To boil any excess bacteria or just to be safe)
Optional: (Better filter)
. Gravel or grounded stone
. Sand
Dirty water to test it

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Start by taking the long sticks you have obtained, put the sticks into a tripod formation. If you need to tie them up at the top to hold it together do so. Make sure the tripod is secure and won't fall over.

Ready your bandanas or the any fabric material you have, that can be used as an improvised filter. Start by folding the bandanas in to a triangle, then connect each end to the stick by tying it around. Do this three times, this will form three different levels of filters.

Now that you have build the main filter, it's time to add a way of collecting the filtered water. I used a frisbee to collect the water that comes out the bottom. Anything that holds water will do for collection.

After using the filter I constructed, I found it to be useful, however there are some things to take note of. You need to clear or clean the bandanas after a lot of use, due to the dirt build up. As well it would be better to use more bandanas to filter it so it can be used long before cleaning the filters. I used a bottle of water mixed with dirt to test the filter. The water turned out clear when it came out the bottom.

Even though the water might look clean, I would still recommend boiling it before consuming it.

A better improved filter would be one that has more than three layers of filters, uses sand or gravel in one of the layers. Another improvement would be to add thicker layers so it cleans the water better.