Posts Tagged water filters
Waterborne infections
While reading through a government report on waterborne infections, something interesting came out. Cryptosporidium accounted for about 65% of all waterborne infections.
Here is the breakdown:
Cryptosporidium accounted for 65%
E. Coli accounted for 6.3%
Campylobacter 6.1%
Giardia 2.1%
Shigella Sonnei – 8.5%
Norovirus – 8.3%
Now lets combine that with some more information.
Here is another US Government report on Microorganism size and susceptibility to filtration report.
| Organism | Average sizes |
| Viruses | 0.03 |
| Enteric bacteria (E. coli) | 0.5 × 3.0–8.0 |
| Cryptosporidium oocyst | 4–6 |
| Giardia cyst | 6.0–10.0 × 8.0–15.0 |
When I’am concerned about the water that I’am filtering, I try to take the area that I’am in, into consideration.
Is the water down stream from a rural or heavily populated area?
Has there been any recent flooding in the area? The flooding goes hand in hand with populated areas. If the sewage lines or septic tanks were recently flooded, then the risk of contaminated water increases.
If the water from a running stream, or a pond / pool of water?
If you have any questions, post them in this forum thread about Water Filtration.
Survivalist Water Filter Options
Why should Survivalist worry about water filters? Because when the city water supply stops, the water in the local lakes and streams may not be safe to drink. Most survivalist have stockpiled water, and that is fine – there is nothing wrong with stockpiling water. But you need some kind of solution for after your stockpiles of water run out. A lot of people might say “I’ll just dig a well if I need water” – ok, lets get back to reality. Most of people are not going to dig a well overnight.
Here is short list of waterborne diseases and parasites:
Cryptosporidium
Cholera
E. Coli
Dysentery
Salmonellosis
Polio
Legionnaires’ disease
The first filter for us to look at is the Royal Berkey. The Royal Berkey water filter is made out of 304 stainless steel, has a capacity of approximately 3.25 Gallons, and has 2 filters (with each filter being able to filter an estimated 3,000 gallons of water).
Assembly of the Royal Berkey is pretty easy, and only takes about 10 – 15 minutes. The thing with stainless steel, you can leave it stored at a retreat for years, and not worry about mice or rats chewing holes through it. One of the problems with storing items at a retreat is rats and mice will chew into it. I have no idea how much food has been ruined at the camp because of rodents.
The next filter to take a look at is the Berkey Light water filter. Instead of being made out of stainless like the Royal Berkey, this one is made out of plastic, Plastic has its advantages, such as being light and easy to transport.
One disadvantage to plastic, rodents can chew holes through it. So if you have a problem with rodents at the retreat, then you might want to go with stainless.
Berkey Water Filter Contest
When disaster strikes, will you and your family have plenty of safe drinking water? If your one of the lucky 8 winners, that problem might be taken care of (at least for a little while).
Jeff “The Berkey Guy” (the owner of Directive21.com “LPC Survival Ltd.”) is holding a contest where there will be 8 winners
Here are the prizes:
We are giving away 4 Berkey Water Purification Systems to 4 different forum members, You can pick the system of your choice from this list:*
Go Berkey Kit
Berkey Light
Travel Berkey
Big Berkey
Royal Berkey
Imperial Berkey
Crown Berkey
All systems with come brand new, with 2 black berkey elements.* The Big Berkey w/ 2 Nine inch White ceramic filters is available also as a choice.
We are also giving away 3 Sport Berkey Water Bottles to four different members. If you are one of the 4 chosen, you will receive 3 Sport Berkey’s Free!
How to enter the contest:
Visit this forum thread on the Berkey Water Filter Contest and find out how to get signed up.
Example of a Royal Berkey Water Filter
Berkey Light Water Filter Overview
Over the past few months I have been putting a lot of thought into the “safe drinking water after a disaster” topic. My personal solution is divided into 3 stages:
Short Term – this is your bottled water. Regardless if its 1 pint plastic bottles, or 55 gallon drums, this is your short term solution.
Mid Term – This is something like a berkey water filter system – where you can take water from a river, lake, pond, or steam, filter it and make it safe to drink.
Long Term – private well. You have your own private water supply of safe drinking water.
For this article we will be discussing the Berkey Light Water Filter, which was supplied by Red Barn Workshop.
Over the past few months I have been seeing people talk about the Berkey line of filters, now I understand what the hype is about. Overall, I am impressed with the unit, how simple it works and how simple the design is. The filters use gravity to pull the water through them. This means that no external pressure has to be applied – which is great for a survival situation. With any pressure system – something is required to supply the pressure, such as a pump, every pressure system has to have some kind of seal to hold the pressure in,,,, this all means there is more stuff to fail and break. One of the good things about the Berkey water filter system – the only moving part is the faucet.