There are many ways to purify water, in the midst of a disaster purification of water is a challenge.

  I have always been water centered, it sounds a little strange but I have always drank a lot of water every day. I wake up in the morning then shortly after I drink a pint of water, I can feel the effects immediately. My wife started me on drinking a warm pint of water with lemon in it, it was also good. I do take water for granted, to an extent, we live in a unique place, we do not have potable water to our house. All of our water for drinking is mostly bottled, we do have a small reverse osmosis system on our kitchen sink, it puts out 1 gallon an hour, not nearly enough for cooking. We have a whole house filter and an electronic water softener, we are able to use the raw water for cooking and coffee as well as hygienic purposes, non-potable water to the sinks. It's fine, we have adapted and we have learned to live with it, with 15 gallons of water for the water cooler plus two or three cases of pints we do have good water on hand all of the time. My attention turns to the disaster in Texas, it is indeed a water disaster in so many ways, what if we run out of water? How many ways is there to purify water? More importantly, how can I purify water in an emergency?

This is a typical under sink Reverse Osmosis System, fairly in expensive, most electric generating plants and
processing plants use RO systems. 

  A major catastrophic event is able to occur any place in the world at any time, only 1/3 of us will be prepared for it. The area I live in could very easily have been impacted by a failure of the Oroville dam, even though it is over 100 miles upstream from us, there is a lot of water behind the tallest dam in the U.S. We live a very earthquake prone area, however, there again earthquakes happen in every country and every state in the United States, one of the most powerful occurred in New Madrid Missouri in the early 1800,s. One of the biggest faults runs directly under New York City, no spot is immune. Blizzards, hurricanes, tornado's, wild fires, tsunami's plus man made disasters, none of us should rest under the umbrella of false security, lack of water will kill each of us. Most of the stock of everything we need to survive a catastrophic event is stripped off the shelves of every grocery store within 100 miles of the affected area, it is best to be stocked up well in advance. We don't do that, being human we always wait until that last drop of water drips out of the last plastic bottle, the question is then asked: "how do we get more water?" We are then in the market for an emergency water filtration system, or other ways to purify water, unfortunately, in the grips of a disaster it is too late to assemble equipment for water treatment, so what then? For people living in a large city, dependence on responders is paramount rescue centers provide food, water and shelter, non-profits and government agencies set them up. The same can be said for medium size cities and suburbs, water is always the second item people search for, loved ones are the first. If we are fortunate enough to live in a more rural area with access to a flowing river, creek, lake or pond water treatment will work.

We will wait in line for water when it is scarce, be certain you have some way
to strain and boil water in your disaster kits.

 Purification of water when a supply is readily available is fairly straight forward, what kind of water purification system will work in this case? Boiling, let's go through it:
  Boiling river or pond water is effective in killing pathogens, bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Begin by cleaning up the water, strain the big inclusion out of it by straining through an item like a paint strainer or cheese cloth at least doubled up. After it has been "de-chunked" let it sit until the water clears up, the smaller particles will settle to the bottom of the container. Bring the water to a full boil, let it boil for at least one full minute, longer won't hurt a thing, in fact above 5,000 feet elevation boil it for a minimum of three minutes. To me that sounds short, I prefer to let it boil for a full 5 minutes, I got sick once from drinking contaminated water once I had boiled, I don't think it was long enough. It is the true Montezuma's revenge, and it ain't a nice experience. Let the boiled water cool naturally, pour it into containers that can be sealed, I still add a cap full of unscented bleach to the water for insurance. To improve the taste of the water a small amount of salt, say a "pinch", may be added per quart or liter, pouring between containers adds air and will also improve the taste. I once lived in a town where the water tasted like sulfur, we kept a pitcher of water in the refrigerator, that will also improve the taste.
  If boiling is not possible, then after straining and cleaning the water to a desirable opacity household bleach will successfully work for water treatment. Using a clean dropper, there may be one in your emergency kit and using regular unscented bleach add 2 drops per quart (liter) of water. Add 6 drops in a gallon, 12 in 2 gallons, 1/4 teaspoon in 4 gallons and 1/2 teaspoon in 8 gallons. The Romans used oil of oregano, it's a very good disinfectant, it's also extremely expensive. (No one recommends using it to disinfect water, it's just an interesting note.)

Yes it is, the real quote, I did flub it in the blog. 

  I have discussed water purification in a predictable environment, unlike what the people in Texas are facing, that is an entirely different situation. It is important however to stress the importance of drinking water, we do take it for granted, most of us have no idea how badly we need it until it is no longer available. Mark Twain said, "water is for fighting over." It sure can be, we live water wars in the West, in an emergency, it can occur rapidly. All it takes for our supply of water to be interrupted is for a power outage to occur, they occur during almost every catastrophic event, a flood compounds the problem. Water containers can be purchased from most hardware stores, if we buy them now and fill them with potable water now we will be far ahead of the sure to come disaster event. Hmm, sounds like a good Christmas present for the kid's families.
Thanks for reading, leave a comment or a suggestion.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com