is the water at my bugout safe?

[the7thsense]

ive got a shelter built at a bugout location, the problem is there is no water source in the location so its a 15 minute trip to the nearest stream.. the stream runs through farmland and villages at points. would boiling be sufficient to purify it from agricultural chemicals and whatnot?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Probably not your looking at needing a activated charcoal filter to remove some chemicals

Example
https://www.paragonwater.com/activated- ... r%20reduce.

[GillyBee]

You may enjoy this article on water purification systems and new solutions aimed at the third world It will give an idea of the challenges and maybe some solutions too.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/envir ... cation.htm

[jennyjj01]

ive got a shelter built at a bugout location, the problem is there is no water source in the location so its a 15 minute trip to the nearest stream.. the stream runs through farmland and villages at points. would boiling be sufficient to purify it from agricultural chemicals and whatnot?

I'd suggest it's not ideal. That stream could have anything in it. But then so can any harvested water. If a situation was bad enough to warrant bugging out to countryside, it might be bad enough to take the risk.

Good question, though. I wonder how many of us have drunk 'risky' water deliberately and would confidently do so again.

Tell us more about your bugout shelter. On your land, or with permission? Defensible? Remote?

[Frnc]

You can filter it and use puri tabs. Boiling it might be a waste of firewood. Unless you fancy a brew of course, or are hydrating some pasta or something.

[ForgeCorvus]

Boiling won't remove agri-chemicals, heavy metals, microplastics or any other contaminant. Your water won't have anything living in it though..... I live in Norfolk and nearly all 'found' water around here contains one or more of the above.

You'd need a filter with the correct grade of bio-char (activated charcoal) to take out those in-organic hazards, if it has a "Pore Size" of less then 0.01 microns Absolute then its also capable of taking out Viruses (as well as Bacteria, Cysts and all the other nasties).

[Frnc]

Always look for a spring. If you look on a map you can see where a stream comes out of the ground, even in a city. Just be careful that it's a true spring and not emerging from under a road or something.