Jack Lawson Sends: Water is CRITICAL, Part Two – Making Water Safe

This excerpt comes from Jack Lawson straight out of Chapter 13 of his two volume masterpiece, “Civil Defense Manual”. You can grab a copy of his book here. Jack is a strong supporter of American Partisan, and even had NC Scout write the chapter on Radio Communications (Chapter 17 in Volume I). I bought my copy the day it become available and I highly recommend you do as well.


Making water safe… water treatment procedures
You have to kill what you can’t see in the water that is dangerous to you. Both Chlorine bleach, also known as Sodium Hypochlorite and granular Calcium Hypochlorite will kill most harmful bacteria and organisms in water. Granular Calcium Hypochlorite is better.
There are complete water treatment and storage systems available on the internet. Look at these… but I recommend what I am confident works. Sawyer Products has many readymade water purification and filter systems and kits at: https://sawyer.com
DO-It-Yourself Survival Guide at: www.diysurvivalguide.com has Do-It-Yourself water filtration kits and plans. One from their website that will help you in taking the first step in treating water by filtering out large particulate with the gravity sediment principle.
 Filter out large particulate first. For safe clean water you have to first filter large particulate out… then boil, distill, chemically treat, filter the water on the micron level or Ultraviolet Light disinfect. A Micron is smaller than a human hair.

You make potable, ‘safe water’ by doing the following…

  • Filter the Water. Filter the majority of particles (‘particulate’ equals sand, mud, dirt, foreign matter-generally junk) from the water. You must filter the water through fine mesh cloth material or coffee filters. Filtered water can also be dangerous when you use carbon or paper filters and the filters are not changed or cleaned on a regular basis THEN,
  • Boil the water OR,
  • Distill the water OR,
  • Chemically Treat the water OR,
  • Micron Particle Filtration. After filtering out as much ‘junk’ or particulate (Think… sand, dirt, foreign matter and mud) as you can, put it through a fine micron particle water filtration system. This is not completely necessary with some filter systems like the ‘Lake Filter System’ depending on how much particulate is in the water… OR,
  • Ultraviolet Light Disinfect Treatment.

Radioactivity and Water
To have radioactive water, the radioactive isotope has to fix to another particle, suspended chemical or heavy metal in the water… something other than the water molecule… because radioactive isotopes will not attach to the water molecule itself, unless within the proximity of a nuclear fireball.
For safe, clean, radioactivity minimized water, you have to first filter large particulate out… then boil, distill, chemically treat, filter the water on the micron level or Ultraviolet Light disinfect. Boiling or distilling water will not remove most radioactivity.
So super filtering the fine particles out of water down to the micron level does the most to reduce your radioactive exposure from water.
The exception is sea water. The sodium in sea water will remain radioactive for about 5 days, then will drop to ‘half-life’ tolerable levels safe enough for humans to use. So do not use sea water for anything, including hydrating foods, cooking or bathing for at least a week after sea water contamination from a nuclear blast.
Bacteria can grow within these filters themselves and contaminate the water. Some solid substances can be removed with filters, but few filter systems can remove viruses, bacteria, Pathogens, radioactive or chemical compounds and completely soluble pollutants. Think… the Lake Water System by Vitasalus as the most efficient that generates huge quantities of water.
You can also filter the water by letting the larger particles in it settle to the bottom of a large container and pouring the water out, or drawing the water out or draining the container with a tap or siphon above the particle line, being careful not to take the water back out containing the particles.
Boil the Water. This is the easiest way to purify water when you have a fuel source or the fuel for a fire or solar heated systems. Filter or strain the water before boiling by placing a coffee filter, close knit dishtowel or finely woven cloth over a container and pour the raw untreated water into the container through the filter cloth.
Boiling will kill bacteria, viruses and more importantly Cryptosporidium and Giardia Lamblia… small tough-assed little one celled parasitic organisms that can give you weeks of intestinal problems and bad diarrhea.
Again, diarrhea can kill faster than just about any affliction… have the drug Loperamide and Oral rehydration solution DripDrop on hand to control it.
Boiling does not remove heavy metals, nor will it remove dissolved chemicals or radioactive particles… distillation will remove most chemicals. You need to boil water three minutes at an elevation of 6500 feet and higher. A roiling boil… not a few bubbles. Boil for one minute at lower elevations. To put some taste back into boiled water, pour it back and forth between containers to aerate it.
Distill the Water. This process will give you cleaner and safer water when you have the fuel for a fire or a solar distillation system. In distillation of water, water is turned into steam and the steam is condensed and collected in another container. Distillation DOES NOT remove radioactive elements.
This method requires distillation equipment but it should be non-electric. There are scores of water distillation survival systems on the market. Solar powered and about every conceivable type of heating system. Search the internet or visit your area store that carries survival equipment.
Distillation will not only kill bacteria and viruses, but distilling removes almost all heavy metals and most chemicals. Filter or strain the particulate from water before distilling, the same as for all other methods.
Portable Water filtration systems
Bicyclist’s and back packer’s water purifying hand pumps and water purification tablets are available for cheap, but some of these systems are painfully slow to produce any volume of water. I recommend a Survivor Filter PRO.
Your NPP would have to have one of these for about every four people and producing water with one would consume a good part of someone’s day. These are incredible systems though… you can literally filter muddy water through some of these and have clean, relatively safe drinking water. This type of water filter is more for if you’re on the go.
I recommend each person in your NPP have a LifeStraw Personal Water Filter. Good for about 250 gallons of drinking water, in their backpack for on the go.
Getting into the realm of the ‘Big Boys’ and serious about water filtration. There are butt-loads of these on the market. Look on the internet. From expensive to inexpensive. Concentrate on non-fossil fuel or fire… passive powered systems if you can afford them, marked with an ‘*
Distillation water systems
If you have the fuel or electricity, this is simple and an easy path to creating a realistic amount of useable potable water by getting a water distillation system. However, still look at having solar powered systems. Buy a water distillation unit like a…
WaterWise 1600 non-electric distiller, OR a
D-STIL Litetm Do It Yourself Emergency Survival Water Distiller.
*SolAqua Rainmaker 550 Solar Distillation System.
Stationary Water filtration systems
*Berkey Filter Crown System water filter