Drinking Water Purifiers for Emergency Preparedness

Without any good water to drink you wouldn't survive very long in a survival situation.  For emergency preparedness drinking water purifiers should be at the top of your list.  Without good drinking water your chances of getting a disease that relates to water, such as giardia or crypto, could easily effect you and your family. With the many drinking water purification systems out there choosing the best for you will depend on your personal situation all though keeping in mind that there would most likely be others around you in a disaster situation that would also need good drinking water.  Some of these drinking water purifiers do better than others as far as purifying your water as well as how much water can be purified at a given time.  If have have the more expensive home water purifiers hooked up to your tap water they would work out fine as long as the city water or your well water is still coming in the lines.  If not, then you might want to also consider other alternatives water purification systems.  Here is a few different drinking water purifiers you can consider for your emergency supplies:

English Berkefeld

There are a few different types of drinking water purifiers made by Berkefeld that are excellent for large groups of people if needing lots of water for drinking.  These are good being that they are gravity fed, have water filter cartridges made of ceramic and the water filters quickly for the demand.  These can be used amazingly with straight pond or stream water and in a short time you can have pure drinking water.  There are three Berkey water purifiers that are commonly sold:  The Big Berkey which can filter 30 gallons of water per day which has four ceramic filters to do the job.  The Imperial Berkey which can filter 120 gallons a water a day which has six ceramic filters to do the job and then the Crown Berkey which can filter 165 gallons of water per day with 8 ceramic filters to do the job.  The ceramic filter elements that are used make the removal of particulate matter and find sediment extremely efficient which normal media style filters will plug quickly. They have the added benefit of being cleaned and reusable having the capacity to filter thousands of gallons of water.  These drinking water purifiers are so efficient that they can remove food coloring from water without removing the beneficial minerals your body needs. With nominal particulate filtration rating efficiencies of >98% down to 0.2 - 0.3 microns (Spectrum Labs), >99.7% at 0.3 - 0.5 microns, 99.9% at 0.5 - 0.8 microns and 99.99% at 0.9 microns, these are powerful filter systems.

Water Filtering Bottle

There are a couple different makes of the drinking water purifier bottles which are great to carry in your 72 hour packs.  They carry around 20 oz. and removes Giardia, Crypto, sediment, chlorine, lead, taste and odor.  Each filter lasts for about 200 refills. These are great to have if having to travel during a emergency situation and chances of the water around you being contaminated.   Fairly cheep for the water it can filter and they are usually priced around $20.00.  These can easily be bought online.

Pocket Water Filters

Pocket water filters are pretty small and are very light in weight for carrying.  These drinking water purifiers are very good for on the go. They are pricey but will do a good job for you if wanting a high quality backpacking water purifier.  There is a ceramic cartridge that removes waterborne pathogens through chemical-free filtration. It is fast and can treat and fill a 1 liter container per minute.  Many of these are made by simply taking them apart, able to easily clean the filter and then putting back together again if using water that is quite dirty.  Some of them have a thread stop that will keep you from over-tightening the parts and also an inlet foam pre-filter that will remove large debris.  They are built with an inlet float that keeps the intake host of the bottom of the stream extending the life of your cartridge.  Some even have a nice feature that lets you know when its time to replace your ceramic cartridge so you know you aren't drinking unfiltered water.  These nicer ones that will do the job cost over a $180.00 but you can find some that a cheaper that will work conveniently.

Water Purification Tablets

Water purification tablets work well and are relatively cheap but the only drawback for using these tablets for your drinking water purifiers is that once you open the bottle they have to be used up in a short period of time. Once oxygen is exposed to the tablets they lose their potency for purifying your water and would be unsafe to use them. But for emergencies it would be worth having a bottle or two around in your 72 hour kits if was to save someone's life, even if you had to dispose the bottle later.