| Why are you looking for a home made water purifier? | | | | demonstration. That kind of tour made a big impression |
| Are you doing a science project? Are you a science | | | | on me, during my childhood. |
| teacher? Or, do you really have a problem with | | | | Your students may begin to appreciate water more |
| contamination? | | | | and start to understand the concepts of |
| If your answer to the latter is "yes", I'll have some | | | | conservationism. We have a limited number of |
| information for you later on, but first let's look at the | | | | resources on this planet. Freshwater is one resource |
| science project. | | | | that we can hardly afford to waste. |
| If you want to built a home made water purifier to | | | | If you have a problem with contamination, then a home |
| demonstrate some of the principles of water | | | | made water purifier is probably not the right choice. In |
| purification, you only need a few common household | | | | an emergency situation, such as following a flood or |
| items; two large mixing bowls, a sturdy square | | | | hurricane, you should boil if you have electricity, but it is |
| cardboard box about 1 foot high, 4 and a half feet of | | | | best to be prepared by storing clean water ahead of |
| yarn (preferably white) cut into one and one half foot | | | | time or keeping a case of bottled on hand. |
| lengths and braided to form a rope and dirty water. | | | | If you store your own, you will need to replace it every |
| The demonstration works best if you have a mud hole | | | | six months. If you use plastic containers, you should |
| or a stagnant pond to get water from. You need to | | | | store in an area away from toxic substances, such as |
| put one bowl on top of the box. The other goes on | | | | gasoline or pesticides, because the vapors may be |
| the table or floor. One end of the yarn rope goes in | | | | able to penetrate the plastic. |
| each bowl and the dirty water goes into the bowl on | | | | If you've forgotten to "be prepared", you can use |
| top. | | | | unscented household chlorine bleach. The CDC |
| Eventually, the yarn rope will absorb the water, but the | | | | recommends an eight of a teaspoon per gallon if the |
| dirt will be left behind. This home made water purifier | | | | water is clear and three quarters of a teaspoon, if |
| demonstrates the principles of simple filtration. It also | | | | there is some cloudiness. Mix thoroughly and let stand |
| demonstrates absorption and it gets a little help from | | | | for 30 minutes before use. |
| gravity. | | | | You can also opt to keep chlorine or iodine tablets on |
| You could repeat the demonstration with bowls on the | | | | hand, but many parasitic organisms will not be killed by |
| same level, in order to show how gravity helps the | | | | them or chlorine bleach. |
| cleaner water travel down the rope and into the | | | | As long as you still have service, your kitchen faucet |
| second bowl. If they are on the same level, the water | | | | filter will still be working and as long as it has |
| will drip off of the rope and into the spot between the | | | | sub-micron particle filtration, additional steps may be |
| bowls. | | | | unnecessary, but if possible, filter and then boil. |
| If you are a science teacher, you may want to | | | | A home made water purifier is not adequate to handle |
| schedule a tour of your local treatment facility after | | | | emergency needs. |
| you complete the home made water purifier | | | | |