How to Filter Water Outdoors: 15 Ways to Stay Safe 

If you want very pure water, steam distillation is one of the oldest and most thorough methods. It removes biological, radioactive, organic, and inorganic substances.

It involves evaporating water and trapping the steam in another container, leaving the contaminants in the original container. In a sense, you are removing water from contaminants, instead of the other way around ⁽⁸⁾.

Here’s how to use steam distillation:

1. Gather your equipment. You will need a metal kettle, stainless steel funnel wide enough to fit on top of the kettle, coiled tubing, a bucket with a hole in one side for the tubing, a jar, a heat source, cornmeal, flour, and ice. It is also possible to buy distillation kits for camping, which is much easier.
2. Place the kettle on your heat source but don’t light it yet.
3. Place the funnel on top of the kettle, upside down so it will trap the steam as it rises.
4. Attach one end of the tube to the tip of the funnel.
5. Coil the tube in a circle, like a Slinky. You want about three feet of coil between the funnel and your bucket. Coil the tube inside the bucket and then pull the end of the tube out of the hole in the bucket.
6. Place your jar under the end of the tube that is coming out from the bucket.
7. Put some ice in the bucket
8. If necessary, mix equal parts flour and cornmeal and make a paste by adding some water. You can use this to seal any gaps between the tubing and funnel or other areas. Leave this paste to dry for several hours.
9. Put your water into the kettle and turn on the heat.
10. As the water evaporates and turns to steam, it will make its way through the tubing. When it hits the cold of the bucket from the ice, it will condense and turn back into water.

If you need a reliable way to filter drinking water outside, you can create a sand/charcoal filter. The sand will prevent larger organisms from getting through, keeping them away from your filtered water.

Activated charcoal is a natural filter that adsorbs toxins and other organics in water, improving its safety and taste ⁽⁹⁾. If you have been using a campfire and created a good coal bed, this should serve as a convenient source.

There are several variations of sand filters, including the basic one we will describe below. In the more advanced versions, additional filtration is performed by a biolayer with an ecosystem that will remove viruses and other organisms.

Here’s how to make your own sand/charcoal filter:

1. Take a bottle (ideally two liters) and cut away the bottom four inches.
2. Remove the bottle cap and place a coffee filter over the bottle’s opening, securing it. If you don’t have a filter, you can use a clean piece of cloth.
3. Take another bottle of the same size and cut approximately four inches off the top instead of the bottom.
4. Turn the bottle with the filter upside down and place it filter first into the second bottle.
5. Crush the charcoal into powder and add it to the filter as a first layer. It won’t fall through thanks to the filter.
6. Collect some gravel or small stones and place them into the top bottle.
7. On top of the gravel, add a layer of sand. If you can find multiple types, you should put the bigger sand at the bottom.
8. Slowly pour some water onto the layers of sand and gravel.
9. The water will be filtered by the various layers and much cleaner water should drop into the lower bottle.

The wood and tubing filtration method is surprisingly effective at removing bacteria from water — studies show that as much as 99% can be removed.

You will need to cut a piece of sapwood that is approximately two inches long and about an inch wide. You also need plastic tubing that will fit tightly over the piece of wood. If it fits loosely, you can place a clamp around the area where the tube and the wood meet to make it snug.

Place the bottom of the tube into a container. When you pour water into the top of the tube, it will be filtered by flowing through the piece of wood. This is why it is essential that the plastic fits tightly over the wood, as untreated water could otherwise sneak down the sides and mix with the filtered water.

This isn’t the best method for purifying water, but it will remove iron and hydrogen sulfide. It works best when used in conjunction with dry chlorine. The chlorine will kill other contaminants in the water, while the hydrogen peroxide removes the chlorine flavor left behind.

You should add two milliliters of household hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water. You must leave the water to sit for at least 15 minutes before you drink it.

Sedimentation involves collecting water from a source, placing it in a container, and leaving it to settle. When the sediment has sunk to the bottom, you can carefully pour the clear water from the top into another container.

This method can remove larger contaminant particles from your drinking water. However, even if it looks clear, there could be invisible microorganisms and bacteria left behind.

If you use this method, you should do it in conjunction with another one, such as boiling, filtering, or chemical treatment. This will help eliminate any unseen hazardous materials in the water.

Before drinking water from a lake or stream in the wilderness, you can easily perform basic filtration by using a cloth. You can use anything you have to hand — a spare shirt, a towel, or a blanket. Start by wetting the fabric.

There are two methods you can use. If you need water quickly because you’re dehydrated, simply fold the wet fabric over to make two layers.

Place your cloth over your container, leaving some of the fabric hanging loosely so it can dip down and create a small reservoir for the water.

Slowly pour the water onto the fabric, making sure you don’t do it faster than the cloth can drain to prevent spills. The fabric will strain out the impurities that are too large to pass through the gaps in the fabric. You should use a tightly-woven fabric to catch as many particles as possible.

If you have extra time, a more thorough cloth filtration method involves placing one end of the wet piece of cloth into the dirty container of water. You can then place the other end into an empty container, positioned slightly lower than the dirty container.

Thanks to gravity, the cloth will transfer the water into the empty container, leaving the contaminants behind.

Survival straws are touted as convenient, potentially lifesaving tools that can be taken on wilderness treks. It is a small, lightweight water filter that can be used by simply placing it into your water source and sipping through it.

The hollow fiber membrane in these straws can filter up to 1,000 gallons, which will be plenty for even the longest camping trips. It strips away the vast majority of protozoa, parasites, bacteria, and even microplastics.

To use it, open the caps on both ends and prime the filter by placing the non-drinking end in the water for 10 seconds. Sip a couple of times to get the water moving through the straw. You can then drink as much water as you need through the straw.

When you’re done, blow the excess water out of the straw and replace the caps.

If you want to use technology to make your water safe, you can try a UV water filtration system. With this method, artificial UV light is used to kill bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. It does this in seconds.

One brand of UV light purifier, the SteriPen, requires you to collect a liter of water, place the light into the water, and stir it for 90 seconds.

With filtration bottles such as BeFree, you simply need to fill the bottle, put on the lid, shake it to filter the water, and then drink.

With a .1 micron water filter, it will remove 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa from your water. One bottle can filter as much as 1,000 liters.

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Activated carbon filters manually draw in water, pass it through a filter, and then output it into a second container. They provide an effective way to thoroughly filter water in the wilderness.

You insert the pump feed into the source of dirty water, then place the pump’s other tube into a clean container. Pump the handle up and down to draw in water and let the carbon filter purify it for you.

There are several of these pumps on the market. The Purewell pump is capable of processing 58 ounces of water per minute. You can get 793 gallons of water from the pump before you need to replace the carbon filter.

Any water that is taken from an unknown source, even if it appears clean, should be treated before drinking it. Although it might look clear, unseen particles and microorganisms can be very harmful. If you are unsure whether or not water is safe, you should not take a risk by drinking it

With so many simple and effective ways to treat water, there is no reason to drink it untreated unless you are in an emergency situation. You should still be able to remove at least some contaminants, even if it is by simply removing your shirt and using it as a filter. This might not make your water perfectly safe but it is better than doing nothing at all.

Brita water filters are a good way of removing any contaminants that might enter your municipal water supply before it reaches your home. Common harmful contaminants include copper, lead, chlorine, and pesticides. Brita filters can also improve how your water tastes if you currently don’t enjoy it.

However, if you are taking water from an unknown source, you shouldn’t rely on a Brita filter as it won’t comprehensively kill bacteria or microorganisms. You could boil the water before putting it through a Brita filter to get the best of both worlds, but you shouldn’t use one alone.

There are many ways to filter and purify water when outdoors, but most of these methods will be unable to remove every contaminant alone. For example, filtering water through a cloth will remove large contaminants but won’t be able to deal with microscopic ones. In contrast, boiling will kill many microorganisms but won’t remove solid particles.

Combining these two methods will leave you with water that is much cleaner than when you collected it. It is also a good idea to have multiple purification options in case one gets broken or lost, especially on a long trip.

Whether or not rainwater is safe to drink will depend on where you are and how you collect it. It is heavily affected by the atmosphere it passes through. For example, if you are near a city where there is air pollution, harmful particles might be present in the rainwater you collect ⁽¹²⁾.

The collection method plays a significant role in how safe rainwater is to drink. If you collect water that runs off a rooftop, it will likely gather contaminants from the surface, such as from bird droppings.

If you are determined to drink rainwater or have no other water source available, you can make it safer by boiling it for at least a minute before drinking it. If you are at a high altitude, boil it for three minutes.

Boiling is still the standard option when it comes to purifying water cheaply and effectively. It is easily done using basic camping tools and it is very unlikely to go wrong. You can boil water anywhere as long as you have access to a heat source and a metal container to heat the water in.

Boiling can take a while, especially if you need to wait for the water to cool before drinking or storing it, but it will reliably kill the harmful organisms that are often found in wild water sources. Keep in mind that boiling won’t remove solid particles from water, so you should filter it using another method before boiling it. A basic cloth filter should do this effectively.

There are various ways to purify rainwater, depending on how contaminated it is and which filtration tools you have access to.

For example, reverse osmosis might be suitable if you need to purify large amounts of rainwater that could be contaminated with pesticides or heavy metals. This involves forcing pressurized water through specialized resin filters to remove the contaminants, which is one of the most effective methods currently in use.

Another common method is distillation, which involves boiling the water and then condensing it back into a liquid form in another container. The contaminants will be left in the original container, which is why this is one of the oldest and most effective methods of cleaning water in the world. It is possible to buy distillation kits, which provide an excellent way of thoroughly purifying water in the wild.

There are several ways to filter lake water to make it suitable to drink. You might be wary of doing so because we are generally warned against drinking standing water in comparison to rivers and streams.

However, it is possible to remove impurities from lake water using advanced filtration techniques and state-of-the-art technology. You should always collect your water from the surface, as sediment will naturally fall to the bottom and be more concentrated down there.

One way to improve water quality is via reverse osmosis, a process where water is forced through a filter membrane that removes harmful substances including heavy metals and organic compounds.

Another option is UV purification, which uses UV light to kill pathogens and microorganisms that are present in the water. Most of the methods we have outlined in our article will help you make lake water more suitable for consumption.

Eucalyptus trees purify water naturally. These large, evergreen trees produce a chemical called Eucalyptol, a natural antibacterial and antiseptic agent.

Eucalyptol neutralizes the chlorine in tap water, making it easier to filter out microorganisms and other impurities.

This is why eucalyptus trees are often planted in areas where the water quality is poor or contaminated. They not only improve the overall water quality, but they will also protect local aquatic wildlife from toxic chemicals.

If you are in the wilderness, you might be able to create a rock and sand filter. This combination has been used for thousands of years and is still a very reliable way of making water cleaner.

The most popular way of doing this is by placing a cloth over an opening and then covering it with small rocks and sand of various sizes. When you pour water through the cloth, the sand and rocks will filter out the majority of contaminants and the water that flows through will be much cleaner.

LifeStraw is a water filter that promises to provide drinkable water from any source. Designed for emergencies, the device can remove contaminants from water as it flows through the straw, making it safe to drink.

The product consists of two components: a hollow tube that contains activated carbon and fibers to trap particulates and an outer filter case that acts as a pre-filter for larger particles.

Thanks to its compact size and easy operation, LifeStraw is an ideal choice for hikers, campers, or anyone else who might find themselves without easy access to clean water. Just keep in mind that some people find these straws quite difficult to suck water through.