Tips, trick, and tools

Even if its only the electricity going out for awhile, you may need to clean water for personal use. An easy way to clean almost all the contaminants out of this is a charcoal filter.

Charcoal, especially if 'activated' (and that will be next Friday's post) will completely purify water if the depth of the coal is sufficient that the water has time to slowly soak through.

Here is the basics in making a homemade still. A prefilter on top, with a charcoal filter below. Easy to make, and possibly life saving in an emergency.

A Handy Water Filter (link)

Nearly every farm can boast of good water, but no water, either from well, spring or stream, is pure, as it all contains more or less animal or vegetable matter. The only way to make it pure is to filter it, just as is done in city supply reservoirs, or private filtering tanks.

A simple water filter is very easily made that answers all purposes for domestic use. The plan of its operations is identical with that employed in large reservoirs where water is filtered on a large scale for general distribution. This filter consists, primarily, of two flower pots, set one above the other. In the bottom of the upper pot is stuffed a large sponge. A sponge is also stuffed in the bottom of the lower pot, but it is more adequately supplied with filtering material by placing above the sponge a layer of smooth pebbles, then a layer of coarse sand, and still above this a layer of pounded charcoal 3 or 4 inches in depth. It is also best to place another layer of smooth pebbles above the charcoal, to prevent it from being stirred up during the circulation of the water.

The upper pot should be the largest, and if the lower one is strong, the upper one may stand in it, or two strips of wood will serve as a base support. The two pots thus arranged are placed on a three-legged stool with a hole in it, through which the water drips through the bottom of the lower pot into the mouth of a jug set underneath. The upper pot serves as a reservoir, and its sponge stops the coarser impurities, and thus the filtering layers of the lower one may be used for a year without being renewed, though it is necessary frequently to clean the sponge of the upper pot.

The layers of sand and charcoal of the lower pot are positively effective in stopping all animal and vegetable matter, as well as many smaller impurities in the water. The only trouble one may experience with it is in neglecting the upper sponge for too long a time, or in stuffing it in too loosely, thus allowing the water to pass from the upper pot faster than it can filter through the lower one. Only a little attention, once or twice a month, is sufficient to keep this simple filter in perfect running order.