Boiling water for drinking--needing some straight answers

[John in WI]

I didn't realize how little I knew about wilderness/disaster survival until I started re-working my bugout bags and other gear!

I have some filter straws in the bags as the main source of drinking water, should the need arise. However, my backup was going to simply rely on boiling using a 1l camping pot.

I thought it was just that simple. Collect some water, boil it (FEMA says 1m at rolling boil, or 3m at higher altitude). But after some more reading, this seems like it's reserved for "normal" water sources that may have been compromised. Tap water that is clear but might otherwise have been contaminated.

My bugout plan would be to make a 70mile trip. Hopefully this would be completed by car, and within a short time. However, what if it isn't? There are a number of lakes and small streams along the way. One of the lakes (Lake Winnebago) is famously green in color.

Would it be possible (not necessarily pleasant, but safe) to boil that up and drink it? How long would be recommended? Is the filtration step required? Because i can't imagine something like a coffee filter would be nearly small enough to filter out viruses, cysts, and other nasties. It seems like more of an aesthetic issue than anything else.

Thanks for any info. This summer, I want to spend a couple weekends practicing skills and making sure the gear actually works as hoped. Coming down with dysentery or giardia doesn't sound like a fun way to spend the summer.

 

[jimLE]

In situations like that. I'd filter then boil no matter what.but yet,I don't remember for how long.im thinking for at least 10 to 15 minutes.and if you can.get a small and portable still for 1 quart to one gallon of water.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Type of Pathogen	How long to boil to kill	Temperature needed
Giardia species	Time of boiling is 5 minutes	55 degrees C
E.coli	5 minutes	60 degrees C
Salmonella, campylobacter, and Shigella species	3 minutes	65 degrees C
Hepatitis A virus	One Minute	98 degrees C
Enteric viruses	20-40 minutes	56-60 degrees C

More on enteric viruses
PII: B9780123744104003861 | Elsevier Enhanced Reader


There are 81 non-polio and 3 polio enteroviruses that can cause disease in humans. Of the 81 non-polio types, there are 22 Coxsackie A viruses, 6 Coxsackie B viruses, 28 echoviruses, and 25 other enteroviruses.[3]

Poliovirus, as well as coxsackie and echovirus, is spread through the fecal-oral route. Infection can result in a wide variety of symptoms, including those of: mild respiratory illness (the common cold), hand, foot and mouth disease, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, aseptic meningitis, myocarditis, severe neonatal sepsis-like disease, acute flaccid paralysis, and the related acute flaccid myelitis.

 

[John in WI]

Type of Pathogen	How long to boil to kill	Temperature needed
Giardia species	Time of boiling is 5 minutes	55 degrees C
E.coli	5 minutes	60 degrees C
Salmonella, campylobacter, and Shigella species	3 minutes	65 degrees C
Hepatitis A virus	One Minute	98 degrees C
Enteric viruses	20-40 minutes	56-60 degrees C

More on enteric viruses
PII: B9780123744104003861 | Elsevier Enhanced Reader


There are 81 non-polio and 3 polio enteroviruses that can cause disease in humans. Of the 81 non-polio types, there are 22 Coxsackie A viruses, 6 Coxsackie B viruses, 28 echoviruses, and 25 other enteroviruses.[3]

Poliovirus, as well as coxsackie and echovirus, is spread through the fecal-oral route. Infection can result in a wide variety of symptoms, including those of: mild respiratory illness (the common cold), hand, foot and mouth disease, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, aseptic meningitis, myocarditis, severe neonatal sepsis-like disease, acute flaccid paralysis, and the related acute flaccid myelitis.

extremely helpful. Thank you. 20-40 minutes is a significant energy demand. I need to think about my plan some more.

 

[TexPrep]

I found that the lifestraw and others like it will make the water safe to drink but it wont get the funky taste out if the water has a lot of detritus like leaves and what not.
And the color will still be off. In an emergency and it's all you got a bit of a funky taste can be tolerated.

The Wife and I just bought a Big Berkey but we haven't tried it out yet.
From what I've read it does a far better job than the LifeStraw.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Got a travel Berkey myself. Great water purifier.

 

[TexPrep]

Got a travel Berkey myself. Great water purifier.

So it's as good as they say?
When I tested the lifestraw I was a bit disappointed in that the water still tasted like shit.
I'd be curious to see how the Berkey handled it.

 

[Proud Prepper]

So it's as good as they say?
When I tested the lifestraw I was a bit disappointed in that the water still tasted like shit.
I'd be curious to see how the Berkey handled it.

Berkey's are great. I have 3 of them. Use 2 of them everyday.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Berkey definitely improved the taste of the water.

 

[TexPrep]

Berkey's are great. I have 3 of them. Use 2 of them everyday.

We haven't tried it yet but we mainly got it for emergency situations.
We also picked up two extra sets of filters.
If we have to hit the BOL they'll be great but the water from the artesian wells is drinkable without filtering.
I'd still filter it knowing the filters would last forever with the water already being clean.

 

[JimCosta]

If moving, spray a couple soda bottles with black paint and tie them on top of your pack where sunlight can heat the contents
or lay them on the ground for several hours. Now no need for a fire. (Or lay them on something black.)

Consider filtering the water first through a tube-sock filled with sand.
Bottle the water from the second or third filtering.

Remember, you are preparing for a survival situation.
You are after clean water, not award winning, 101% purified by all scientific standards
and voted the sweetest taste this side of the other side. It's free survival water.

If still squeemish purchase a small bottle of iodine (no cost, no weight, no space).

Water should be one of your #1 survival problems/goals. Knock it out and move on.

Now you can save yourself or 100 people with this knowledge.

 

[DrHenley]

The best way to kill pathogens in water is with Chlorine Dioxide.

 

[Proud Prepper]

Yes Chlorine Dioxide Solution is one of your most important preps. You can make it yourself, dirt cheap for all its beneficial medical uses.

 

[AzulShiva]

If the water comes from a somewhat clean source use copper vessels to kill bacteria. Or simply put a piece of copper into a bottle and leave it overnight, no need to boil anything. Best to buy copper ingots and cut them into strips, since they are 99.9% pure copper and will include only trace amounts of toxic elements. Copper will keep your water clean and prevent algae etc from forming.

I got some water filters from Lifestraw (those LifeStraw Water Filter Bottles) and one from Lifesaver (this one LifeSaver Portable Water Filters | Shop | LifeSaver Jerrycan 20000UF), they are by far the most convenient way of getting clean drinking water. I use them all the time when out of house, and you can never have enough of them. You can fill them with the most disgusting, filthy sludge and out will come perfectly clean, drinkable water. Doing that will obviously dramatically reduce your filter lifetime.

I'm buying one everytime I have some extra money, because in a shtf scenario those will be more valuable than anything else. You'll get a gun for one of those, and the owner will let u f*** his daughter.

 

[Arcticdude]

Any place that I travel around here i drink right out of the streams and springs. The high mountain lakes are clean enough to drink from too. I'm not too worried about water issues around where I live, but I I still carry a couple filters in my everyday carry bag. I tried one of these filters out one time and drank out of a remote cattle trough. The water tasted fine, of course it was spring fed so the water was good to begin with.

 

[ShellShock11C]

Couldn't you just take a military canteen cup and boil in that?

 

[DrHenley]

https://www.nps.gov/articles/2wayspurifywater.htm

Yes Chlorine Dioxide Solution is one of your most important preps. You can make it yourself, dirt cheap compared to all its beneficial uses.

I find it amusing that the government goes out of their way to tell you how dangerous chlorine dioxide is to drink, yet strongly recommends putting it in your water for purification.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

Water filters are nice and all that but plan for redundancies. Filters break and then what?

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Water filters are nice and all that but plan for redundancies. Filters break and then what?

https://www.h2odistributors.com/pages/info/how-to-make-a-water-filter.asphttps://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Water-Filterhttps://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/how-to-make-a-diy-water-filtration-system/https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/books/article/water-wonders

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Water filters are nice and all that but plan for redundancies. Filters break and then what?

Make one yourself…having stocked the items necessary like Mountain Dragon shows above…or have a good stock of pool shock of sodium hypochlorite, but no algicide.