Improvised purification methods for obtaining individual drinking water supply under war and extreme shortage conditions.

Abstract

Supplying an adequate amount of drinking water to a population is a complex problem that becomes an extremely difficult task in war conditions. In this paper, several simple methods for obtaining individual supplies of drinking water by filtration of atmospheric water with common household items are reported. Samples of atmospheric water (rain and snow) were collected, filtered, and analyzed for bacteriological and chemical content. The ability of commonly available household materials (newspaper, filter paper, gauze, cotton, and white cotton cloth) to filter water from the environmental sources was compared. According to chemical and biological analysis, the best results were obtained by filtering melted snow from the ground through white cotton cloth. Atmospheric water collected during war or in extreme shortage conditions can be purified with simple improvised filtering techniques and, if chlorinated, used as an emergency potable water source.