I always enjoyed the Arts & Crafts subject in school. It helped me learn a lot of things, like how to make a water filter with charcoal, sand, and stones, how to light a fire without a lighter, and many other things that might be helpful while in the wild.
If you are triggered by your adrenaline and want to go hiking, camping, or just exploring the wild, it is best to know how to filter water with simple things you can find while under the open sky.
Save the fire charcoal. It might save your life and help you make water supplies in case you lose yourself in the wild.
How to Make a Water Filter With Charcoal
You will need an empty bottle or cylindrical container to make the filter body. For the filter layers, you need cotton or a piece of cloth, charcoal, sand, small stones, and large stones. The layers must be as described because that is the point of the DIY water filter. Pour water into the filter and wait until it falls down.
If you miss some of the needed tools and supplies, you can make some. For example, if you have no charcoal nearby, just light a fire and wait until the charcoal cools. Mince it with a hammer, wood, or other improvised tools you can find at the moment.
The filter body, or the plastic bottle, in this case, should be cut on the bottom. The bottle’s bottom will be the top now, and that is how you are going to put all materials and things inside. Also, you will need another container where you will store the filtered water.
You can filter the water multiple times to eliminate most of the microbes, bacteria, and pollutants that might get through the first filtration. The charcoal filtered water might not be the best solution, but it might be the only one when it comes to survival.
Make the Water Filter and Other Filter Supplies
How to make charcoal
Charcoal is the main supply you need to make the water filter. So, you might ask yourself where to find charcoal. The chances of finding charcoal are low, but possible if you are on terrain where people often go camping.
However, if there is no old fireplace around, you can light one and use the charcoal from your fire. You can make charcoal by burning wood or coconut shells if you are on a wild island with coconut trees.
But, not every wood is suitable for making water filter charcoal. You will need hardwood or wood from dicot trees. Charcoal made from hardwood burns hotter than one made from softwood.
Anyway, it is on you to light a fire and take some charcoal from it. Wait until they are completely dry, and find a tool to mince them. Making active charcoal might be the best option, but you will need another ingredient to make it.
Active charcoal can be made by adding calcium chloride into the minced charcoal, but the chances of having this solution with you are pretty low. A substitute for calcium chloride, in this case, might be bleach or lemon juice.
If you don’t have any, continue with charcoal only.
Read more: How to Purify Salt Water in the Wild
Why charcoal is a good water filter supply
Charcoal’s structure absorbs impurities, especially those from dirty water. Adsorption is a process where the impurities adhere to the adsorbent’s (charcoal) surface. The impurities are stuck there and can not get out of the adsorbent.
Charcoal is the oldest adsorbent used millennia ago when ancient Egyptians used it to remove unwanted elements while making bronze.
Charcoal is not only a good water filter supply, but it is also the best one because it has a highly porous surface that captures water impurities.
Using charcoal for your water filter is good because it eliminates contaminants, chemicals, and even odors from the water. For example, charcoal can remove chlorine, pesticides, bacteria, viruses, herbicides, nitrates, PFOS, phosphate, microplastics, etc.
Also read: How to Find Water in the Mountains
Make the water filter step by step
Now that you know how to make charcoal let me tell you how to step-by-step make the filter.
The supplies you’ll need
- Water bottle
- Container or bottle for the filtered water
- Piece of cloth or cotton
- Charcoal
- Sand
- Tiny stones
- Large stones
The process
- Take the plastic bottle and cut the bottom. Flip the bottle the other way so the open side will now be the top.
- Place the filter layers. Start with cotton or cloth, then go with charcoal as the finest minced supply. Build the layers by their size and density.
- The layers must be like this – Cotton > Charcoal > Sand > Tiny stones > Large Stones.
- Place the filter’s bottom directed to the container so that the filtered water will flow there.
- Pour the polluted water into the filter you made and wait until it breaks through all layers.
- The water that comes out of the filter will be clear and purified. But, there might be chances of some bacteria remaining there still. To ensure it is 100% safe for drinking, it is best to boil the filtered water or leave it on UV rays for a while. You can also re-filter the filtered water to remove most contaminants and ensure it is safer for drinking.
Conclusion
When going in the woods or wild, it is important to know some survival hacks.
Water is the essential factor you need to survive in case you get lost in unknown areas.
I believe that this article has helped you understand how to make a water filter with charcoal and other materials you can easily find around in nature.
Charcoal has the power to eliminate a large number of water contaminants and give you safe drinkable water when your water supplies are lowering.
Stay tuned for more survival hacks!