This purification system gets its inspiration from the replenishment of groundwater with one additional material, Cotton. It works totally brilliant you just pour in dirty water and voila! it comes down as pure crystal clear water. increase cotton and increase the purity, all in the macgyver's style. There's a story behind this project, I was walking down on our old community park at a hot sunday afternoon with a monstrous thirst. there was no vending machine, no shops but only few drinking water taps the water from it came very dirty, and the park's management told that some muddy dirt have been mixed in the tank because of rain, all they could do is nothing but say sorry. then this idea sparked off and it worked because of the old waterbottle i had, first aid kit and a pocket knife.

I added this instructable to some contests. if you liked this project, please vote this

My answers to the Make-To-Learn contest:

What did you make?

I made a portable water purifier using some natural materials and a plastic bottle water flowed slowly, but gave a very good result the body is made of plastic bottle, cut and kept the top side upside down inside the other side. inside it consists 4 simple layers cotton, pebbles, gravel and sand, simulating the groundwater replenishment . the edges of the open side is covered with duct tape in order to prevent hazard.

How did you make it?

At the time I made this project, i didn't have any tools to make it, except my handy pocket knife and first aid kit in my bag. I just cut out the bottle into two, then found the pebbles, gravel and sand in the park, filled the dirty water and came the pure water on the other end,
and saved the day from the thirst. The ideas are basically from my science book and it's chapter about water.

Where did you make it?

I made it initially at a situation at the local park, but also used that project for my school's annual science fair, and it worked very well.

What did you learn?

I learnt mainly about replenishing the groundwater, its importance and it's practical use on our lives. It also gave a better insight of this topic. one of the challenges i met here was to layer everything evenly. i had to close the cap, layer up and then open up the cap for further purification. It gave me good grades too.

Step 1: Things You'll Need

1) A one litre plastic water bottle
2) duct tape
3) a knife
4) pebbles
5) sand
6) gravel
7) cotton
and dirty water to be purified
and that's what you need to make this project.

Step 2: Make the Body

First, cut out the bottle in two nearly equal parts, with the top part's partition a little lesser and make sure if the top part fits into the bottom part if upside down. Now cover the sharp edges with duct tape in order to prevent hazard but leave a little gap at the bottom part without duct tape on a particular part of the bottom part in order to get the water out to the bottle without any odor. note that the sticky part of the tape should not be visible both inside and out. it should go inwards sticking with the bottle

Step 3: Layer It Up

Now layer with the given materials like this
*each layer should be 2cm thick
bottom should consist cotton.
At top of that should have pebbles, followed by gravel and finally sand.
now that makes the purification layers. make sure everything is even. Note that the gravel getting inside the pebbles is normal and is not a problem. now it is ready for purification process.

Step 4: Finally, the Last Step.

Now you have your purification system. just open the cap gently, place it inside the lower part, and start pouring water. It finally reaches the bottom, and pure water comes out. and that's all. Make and enjoy.