It’s no secret to anyone that humanity has managed to spoil everything around itself that it has managed to reach. For decades, environmentalists have been sounding the alarm and striving to save what remains on the planet. Of course, the water reserves of the Earth also really suffered from our irrepressible activity; and if in the global sense, international and local organizations are engaged in their protection and protection, then we often have to take care of the quality of water “for domestic use” on our own.
The easiest way out
Water from a water supply system has long been unsafe. Even if you need to defend and freeze it for watering flowers, what can we say about people and pets! Plants are even equipped with natural methods of protection against unnecessary "additives", and even then they are not enough. In mammals, such a natural filter does not exist. So to the full height there is a problem how to clear tap water.
The simplest and most effective (but rather expensive!) Way is filtering the water. A great many filters have been developed: you can choose the one that takes up less space, or the one that has more "performance", or the one that removes the maximum number of extra "fillers". However, all of them have both a certain set of undeniable advantages and disadvantages, which sometimes outweigh the advantages. In direct proportion to how the filter purifies the water, there is also its cost. Having studied the diversity of the proposed devices, you come to the sad conclusion: the best - the most expensive. But also the most reliable. And if you need clean water - choose a nanofilter. It disinfects, cleans the liquid from your tap, removes everything extraneous, but does not make the water dead, keeping everything you need in it. The only drawback is the price. But once you can invest!
Life without a filter: frost will help
However, the filters are different, and their reliability can not be verified. You can only trust what is written in the attached instructions. And the manufacturer is not always honest. Therefore, not everyone is satisfied with filtered water. How to purify water by other methods? You can recall the long-tried methods that have so far been justified. One of the most uncomplicated and reliable is freezing. True, some experimenters violate the rules of this simple method and get the output that was before. In fact, tap water is not poured into a suitable container to the top and placed in frost. When up to half the volume of the water freezes, the crust breaks through, and what remains liquid merges mercilessly. The ice melts - and you have quality drinking water. And be sure - it is really clean, because it is primarily pure water that freezes, and all that is unnecessary remains in the “cream”.
Necessary clarifications
Yet freezing is not the most reliable way that quality water is obtained. How to purify water in this way is known to many, but most forget that at the same time it loses salts, which also go away with unnecessary discharge. Therefore, the purified liquid will either have to be salted, or absorb the necessary amount of salt after its use.
Ancient way
Everyone has long known how silver purifies water. Indeed, disinfection with this metal is very effective. However, new information slightly discounted this method. It is clear that in extreme conditions, when you don’t want to sit in the bushes for half a day due to the suspicious river (or even bend away from bacteria in it), silver will definitely save you. However, at home such water is not very suitable. How to purify water with silver is not a question; however, it refers to heavy metals, it can accumulate in the body. There is even the disease “argyrosis,” and this is silver poisoning. Not only that: in order to kill bacteria, there must be so much silver in the water that it becomes dangerous to humans; and in homeopathic concentrations, it only stops their reproduction. This, of course, is already a plus, but clearly not enough to get clean and harmless water. Although a silver spoon already dipped in pure water will keep it as such for a very long time and will not harm health.
Boiling also helps, but ... relatively
This is another well-known way to purify water. It is advisable to defend it vulgarly before its use, as lovers of indoor plants do. For a day, all harmful (we will specify: only volatile!) Components from it will disappear. The main thing is not to close, and especially not to screw the vessel. The next day, the standing water boils for an hour - and we have the desired result!
However, if chlorination was carried out, the proposed drinking water during boiling will only be enriched with chloroform. And heavy metals in the form of salts will not go anywhere from it.
Additional home clearance
In principle, if you combine sedimentation, freezing and boiling, you get almost pure drinking water. How to purify water completely? By introducing into it the usual ascorbic acid at the rate of half a gram per five liters and waiting for an hour. Do you have any vitamin supplements or are you an opponent of chemical additives? You can replace them with fruit juice of any of the shades of red. Only, excuse me, the juice should be real, squeezed out with its own handles, and not bought in a package at a nearby kiosk or supermarket.
"Road" methods: natural
Within the city (and a smaller settlement), we all prefer to buy purified water or use filters. However, suppose you are on a trip, and the water you took with you was not enough. It’s clear that there is no refrigerator for freezing with you, you’ll have to drag a pretty amount of firewood to boil it ... But you need water! How to purify water in such "wild" conditions?
If there is a person who knows the stones among travelers, let him find silicon. The method is long (five days), but proven and reliable.
Rowan water will disinfect you a little faster. One and a half dozen leaves per 3 liters of the most suspicious water will reveal to you a real miracle: in a couple of hours it will be quite usable. They say mountain ash is able to make consumed even water from the swamp.
For thrifty travelers
Need faster? First-aid kit on a trip with everyone! A few drops of iodine (and if there is vinegar - even better, to him in the company) - and after a few minutes you can safely drink water. A teaspoon of regular peroxide will give you the same result. You can use red dry wine in the same quality if it is left after barbecue. The method was tested in the ancient Greeks and the inhabitants of the mountain Caucasus. And a little wine will go - a tablespoon per liter of water. One has only to consider that the "shmurdyak" is unlikely to be useful to you for water treatment purposes.
Well, if the first-aid kit is forgotten at home, the wine is drunk, and the water is needed, look for an ordinary clove among your things. If it is heated in a fire, then put into water, after five minutes all viruses and microorganisms will die in it. The “blacksmithing” method has also been tested repeatedly!
If salt water is caught
The problem of how to purify salt water is most often encountered by those who rest in the summer as a “savage”. It's a pity! Because the easiest way to deal with fresh water is frost. And if winter and sea open spaces are at your disposal, it is enough just to freeze half or two-thirds of the pan of water, drain the unfrozen salts, and, if necessary, repeat this fascinating process two to three times.
But if summer is not around and there is no freezer in the vicinity, you will have to do distillation. In principle, this is not too hard, but long and tedious. Two tanks are not so difficult to find. A distillation (necessarily metal) tube is more difficult, but also possible. Unsure water is poured into the cavity of the pipe, a fire is laid under its bend, pots, pans or iron cans are put on its ends, and receiving vessels are placed under them. And sit by yourself, maintain a leisurely light. Water evaporates, cools on the walls of metal traps and flows down them into the substituted bowls.
As you can see, all these methods are for people who find themselves in extreme conditions. They are suitable for hunters and fishers, geologists and lost tourists. In ordinary life, you need to know these methods, but I would not want to use this knowledge. So do not even think about, for example, how to treat wastewater. Yet they are too dirty for artisanal purification. If you want to install an autonomous system in the country or in your mansion - call a specialist. He will calculate how much your personal complex cleaning station will cost you, and will drive the team for its installation. And so - it’s easier to connect to a common system!