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ribaldr ago

If one can maintain a home/house/basecamp, (stationary, that is rather than a roving scavenger), water filtration is key. Lifestraws are good as you say but are ideal for lightweight and mobile situations and are limited to just the one suck at a time. (I fill a nalgene with untreated water and lifestraw it out when in the elements.)

Stationary situation- the Berkey water filter. You can get filters and a spigot and rig two five gallon buckets (also essential survial gear!) to make a proper system. Passive, no moving parts, no electricty, and you can have a gallon or two purified on standy always. It filters phara poisons. Everything else is fucked if you don't have water.

glassuser ago

Bereky is good. Probably top of the line for anything any of us is likely to be able to afford. For long term sustainable filtering, you should look into a slow sand filter. Basically you pack an appropriate container with a small layer of gravel, a small layer of coarse sand, and a very thick layer of fine sand, and rig the outlet so that the water always stays above the top layer of the sand. More info (yes, CDC, but you can verify this data with lots of other sources): https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/sand-filtration.html

You can also post-filter with charcoal. It's not as effective by mass as activated carbon, but it will do in a pinch.

For longer long term filtration, look up filters made from rammed terra cotta mixed with rice hulls and coated with colloidal silver.

fukyboi ago

Thanks, I added that suggestion.