What is the process for recycling drinking water?

Beaver Fever, Drinking wild water with a makeshift filter, would you chance it ?

• In an episode of a popular survival series ‘Dual Survival’ one of the participants used ‘2' cigarette filters to drink water directly from a puddle through a hollow tube and into his mouth. Here is the reasons I think it would be relatively safe: Water filters for camping and emergency water kits filter down to about 1 micron respectively. The average home water filter is a 5-10 micron filter, charcoal is added to some assemblies as it aids in the removal of taste and odor from the water, making it more palatable to the consumer. Cigarette filters: Philip Morris, one of the largest cigarette manufacturers in the U.S., publishes the ingredients of every part of the cigarette, including the paper, ink, filter and adhesives. They report that cellulose acetate a type of plastic that is formed into very thin fibers and is the principal chemical in their filters, comprising 36.4 percent of the entire filter. Light cigarettes have more densely packed cellulose acetate fibers, the better choice if your going to use a cigarette filter for a emergency water filter. Cellulose acetate is the primary ingredient in 95 percent of cigarette filters manufactured today. Carbon, also called "charcoal," is added to some cigarette filters to aid in the filtration process, this chemical accounts for only 20.3 percent of the total mass of these types of cigarette filters. Also added is a Plasticize to soften the cellulose acetate fibers. The plasticize in Philip Morris cigarettes include Triacetin and Polyethylene Glycol 200, which comprise 3.7 and 3.0 percent of the cigarette filter, respectively. Polyethylene glycol 200 is used as a food additive and is relatively safe for this application “Emergency or temporary water filter usage” as well Triacetin is a food additive in gummy candy and other foodstuffs on the market today. So in conclusion if I was lost and had a pack of smokes, I would be comfortable using the filters to make wild water safe for drinking given no other choice. Although I would probably use ‘3' filters as more is better and one more micron means one more microbe removed from my intestine. Fact: The Protozoan known as the Giardia lamblla parasite or 'Beaver Fever Bug' is about 3 microns in size.... given this information, still: would you chance it?

• Answer:

  No, because there are a lot more weird and unhealthy things in water besides Giardia. You see that is what is wrong with shows like that. Although they teach valuable survival skills and ways to improvise for emergency situations, 99.9% of the time we all have plenty of time for proper preparation to be prepared to "survive" with out taking unnecessary chances. Here is an article on how to choose the "best" water purification system for your self http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/water+treatment+backcountry.html @I don't smoke nor do the majority of folks anymore, What makes you think by chance you will have handy a small wooden tube or even a straw? Being ill prepared makes a person eligible for their darwin award so again, "ifs" "possibly" don't count when it comes to real life survival situations the answer is still no.