Water. Zombie Rocker Step 2

At Home – Step 2 of 4

  1. How Much Water?
  2. Make Water Safe

First, Read the Information You Need:

From GSWW Council – “If you have used all of your stored water and there are no other reliable clean water sources, it may become necessary to treat suspicious water. Treat all water of uncertain quality before using it for drinking, food washing or preparation, washing dishes, or brushing teeth. In addition to having a bad odor and taste, contaminated water can contain microorganisms (germs) that cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid and viral hepatitis.

There are many ways to treat water. Often the best solution is a combination of methods. Before treating, let any suspended particles settle to the bottom or strain them through coffee filters or layers of clean cloth.”

Read about purification methods in Water-Ways to Treat.

Second, Choose an Option:

Option 1:
Get Hands On Right Away		Option 2:
Life Straw Research
When you camp, fresh water is super important. Read the two ways the National Park Service instructs on getting clean water.

Talk it over with your parents and try one method out at home.

You can use tap water but practice the steps as if you got the water from a relatively clean looking stream in the forest.

What method did you pick and how did the purified water taste?		Remember, filtering your water, usually leaves behind viruses, so purifying the water is still important.  

Many people love a product called the Life Straw, but most of their products don’t filter out viruses in a stream.

Keep in mind, if there is wildlife that can poop in or near the water, it can have viruses in it. Look at the Life Straw website to see how their filters work and then find how many products filter out Bacteria and Parasites versus how many filter out viruses.

Since most of those products are meant to be drunk through like a straw, what should you do to the water before you drink through a Life Straw to kill viruses?

Try one purification method (using tap water so it doesn’t need a filter!) and see if the method changes the taste of the water.

Congrats!

Brownies stop here. You’ve earned the Water Rocker!

Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, Ambassadors, and Adults, go Step 3!

Return to Water Rocker Step 1 page.

Return to Be Prepared, Not Scared main page.