Simple Water Filter

This a short guide on how to make a simple water filter that cleans water.

Step 1: Step 1 Materials

For this project you are going to need.

1. empty water bottle

2. rocks

3. sand

4. coarse sand

5. rag, paper or coffee filter

6. scissors

Step 2: Step 2 Cut the Bottle

In this part of the project you are going to cut the cup u can use the scissors to cut it make sure to only cut the bottom off to make a small cup this is going to be where the water falls in.

Step 3: Step 3 Add Sand , Coarse Sand and Rocks in Order

this part is easy all you have to do is put either paper a piece of t rag or coffee filter at the bottom of the bottle then you add the coarse sand and then the sand and then the rocks and if u what you can put more paper or a rag or a coffee filter on top.

Step 4: Step 4 Add Water at the Top

this is the finally part all you have to do is add dirty water on top and watch it come out clear

Step 5: Step 5 Boil the Water You Just Filtered

the very last step if is to boil the water for at least 1 minute that's if you want to drink it. and done you have a water filter.

Comments

[AliA799]

the video is corrupt

[_soapy_]

This is not a great design.
You only need the rocks to catch big stuff like twigs and leaves, and this rather small filter isn't going to be affected by that. Just use pea gravel, finer gravel, sand, fine sand, then the filter paper.

Boiling the water won't remove chemicals present, and nor will that filter, so go with a trustworthy source of water in!

[narcoth]

The filter shown above is a great example of a physical filter and could be used in a survival situation as long as the water came from a relatively pure source. In short muddy but otherwise pristine water... no industrial runoff...

By itself it would not be able to filter out heavy metals or many chemicals.
Boiling would to a slight degree actually concentrate these but would kill any bacteria or parasites like giardia. From a survivalist perspective, a little heavy metal today won't kill you. Water borne bacteria would be the bigger threat.

The solution for heavy metals and chemicals in water would be adding activated charcoal in a layer of the cup as well. I would add it before the fine sand stage. Plain charcoal will not work for this. There are diy recipes for activated charcoal on the Internet as well.

[tcs79]

The first comment said exactly the same thing. But I try to find something here on instractables about how to DIY activated charcoal, but didn´t find anything.

Do you mind to help me out if you have any source of that information?

[pliska]

I too, would add charcoal (powdered) at the bottom as the final stage of filtering. Charcoal is easily made. there are plenty of Instructable on that.

[gm280]

I have to agree with previous statements about the large rocks not doing too much. So you could use more finer material to filter out material a lot better. But your project does lean itself to a survival situation and boiling the water does make it pretty safe to consume as well. Of course it wasn't meant to clean the water of heavy metals and such, but in a survival situation, I'd use it any time over not staying hydrated. Thumbs Up!

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

Cool DIY filter system. If you want to make the video easier for people to view, you can upload it to a site like YouTube and then use the Embed Video tool in the step editor to embed the video on the instructables page. Then people will be able to view it without having to downloading it.