Making water safe

What you need

• A metal pot or a metal bottle
• A filter or tablets if you carry them
• A bandanna to strain the grit out

How

1. Take water from a moving source, above any beaver work, camp or road crossing.
2. Pour it through cloth first to get the grit and the bugs out. That is not treatment, it is housekeeping.
3. Bring it to a rolling boil. One minute rolling is enough at any elevation on this island.
4. If you are filtering, run it through a 0.2 micron filter and back flush it when the flow slows.
5. Tablets are the light backup. Follow the wait time on the bottle and double it in cold water.

Watch for

Notes

Boiling is the one method with no gear that can fail quietly. Snow is water, but eating it costs you body heat. Melt it in a pot with a splash of water already in the bottom so the pot does not scorch.