Water

by Jason
(Llano County, Texas)

If you boil water for 30 minutes you won't have any water left, just a room full of steam. All Baterica die at less than 165 F, water boils at 212F, so a raging boil is good enough to kill everything in it. If you don't have a heat source strong enough to get a raging boil, boil it for five minutes. If you're unsure and don't have a thermometer, then use your finger. If it burns like hell and leaves a sun burn like damage then you're good, if not let it go a little longer.

To filter water, use a shirt, sheet or anyother thing, don't worry about dust and dirt. The boil will kill anything in and the dirt may actually contain minerals you might be lacking in an emergency situation.

Final note, all water done this way taste aweful, don't worry as long as its too hot to touch without burning yourself(a real burn, not a ouch that's hot burn) you'll be okay. Its the dirt and things that make it taste bad, but as long as you used something to strain it(like a shirt or sheet) it shouldn't be crunchy.

I was taught NOT to use bleach unless you know what you're doing.

Source: I live in an area where our public and well water is always has something wrong with it and have gone through state run training courses in making clean water. I was also a Nuclear Machinist Mate in the USNavy, part of our training was water purification.

Which leads me to another point if you live by the ocean, this method won't work. The salt will still be there, you need a tank of some kind that can boil the water to steam and then catch the pure steaam and condense it back into water, then reheat the pure water to 168F to be sure its safe, as the steam will create a vacuum lowering the water's boiling point, perhaps lower than 165F. The second heating is needed as some steam may have water drops in it that may contain bacteria in it.