Can You Make A Home Made Water Purifier?

by: TrentBarrett
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A home made water purifier can be as simple as cloth tied around a water faucet, or as complex as a series of chemical filters put together for a large quantity of water to be run through them. Historically, the cloth was a typical solution, and even today in Africa, some tribeswomen are taught to pour fresh-drawn water through layers of cloth before using it to remove contaminants. The water at the end looks cleaner, and it does prevent some water-borne contaminants, like amoeba, it is very far from a good solution.

You'll find many types of home made water purifier instructions online, from simple filters to systems that involve distillation of water. The truth is, there are some serious problems with the do-it-yourself approach when it comes to purification of water. That's not good; improperly purified drinking water can harm your health and even kill you. While it's laudable to want to save a little money by creating your own filters, you could be putting yourself and your family at risk by doing it.

You have to be aware that home made water purifiers do not tell you when they can no longer remove contaminants. This is very important, as if you don't change filters when they are saturated, the already-removed contaminants can actually dissolve in fresh water run through the filters and make your water even more contaminated. Commercial water purifiers almost always have a system that tells you when to change filters. For a home made filter, you'll need to assume specific times to change to ensure you don't recontaminate yourself.

If you use a home made water purifier system that you know removes all the contaminants, like a distillation system, you're still not going to get it right; if you take out everything, you're removing healthy minerals like fluoride, iron, copper, and calcium. While the levels of these are trace in most water supplies, they do make your water taste better and improve your health when you drink them. In addition, water that has been distilled tastes flat and lifeless, and most distillation systems add their own contaminants. And then there's chlorine; if the water supply you're using has chlorine in it, your distillation system is unlikely to get rid of that, while commercial filters will.

If you are determined to make your own home made water purifier, make sure you get a kit that helps you do it properly. Any good distillation system will use a multiple-filter system. Water should sit for a while to let the precipitates fall to the bottom, then be run through filtered layers, first of sand or diatomaceous earth, then a layer of activated carbon, and finally a second layer of diatomaceous earth. Each filter should be separated from the others by a layer of gauze or mesh fine enough to keep the layers separate. The best systems will force water through the filter at pressure. Check your system when you've run some water through by allowing a glass of filtered water to sit for a day or two. Are there still precipitates? Does the water turn cloudy? Also, have the water tested for biological impurities. You often can't see microbes, but that doesn't mean they are not there and will not make you sick! In most cases, you'll find it is cheaper and easier to simply purchase a commercial system, where everything has been pre-tested for you.

About the Author

This article was written by Trent Barrett, a writer for Best-Home-Water-Purifiers.com. You can visit their homepage to learn more about Home Water Purifiers.  

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