II. Pre-Filtration and Filtration Procedures
What you’ll need:
Applicable Water Test Kits
Disinfected Stainless Steel Pots
2% Tincture of Iodine
Heat source for boiling water
CleanIt
Filter Media
Step 1:
Having removed the sediment / sludge, and tested the water to determine you will obtain usable water from additional water treatment, pour strained water into a stainless steel pot, place the pot over a fire (or another heat source), and bring water to rolling boil for 1-3 minutes.
Sustained boiling kill bacteria, viruses and protozoa, but you will read below that the use of a tincture of iodine is (also) strongly recommended. if you used a flocculant which also contains bleach, to remove sediment (boiling removes bleach) we still strongly recommend boiling and then adding 2% tincture of iodine after the water cools.
At altitudes above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters), boil water for three minutes.
Step 2:
Allow water to cooldown, and test your water again.
Step 3:
Add five drops of 2% tincture of iodine to each quart or liter of water that you are disinfecting. Let the water stand for at least 30 minutes, and test again. Please note: if you used a flocculant which also contains bleach, to remove sediment, boiling removes bleach. We still recommend adding 2% tincture of iodine after the water cools, when safe. Bleach can be used as a substitute. Carefully review and follow CDC and other reputable guidelines for using bleach as a disinfectant.
Don’t drink water disinfected with iodine if you: are pregnant, have a thyroid problem or are very sensitive to iodin
Carefully review and follow CDC and other reputable guidelines for using iodine as a disinfectant. Here is a link to one document:
https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Alberta/Pages/Using-disinfectants-to-make-drinking-water-safe-when-you-cant-boil-it.aspx
Step 4:
Filter your strained, boiled, and iodine treated water via CleanIt.
Energize your CleanIt via a 12v, 10 amp, DC connection. SlingIt is the perfect power source.
…..then perform 4+“CleanIt filtration cycles. CleanIt draws water in from 1 container, flows water through filtration cartridges, and pumps water out into another container to perform 1 cleaning cycle. By re-flowing cleaned water 3 additional times, through cleanIt cartridges, you increase the loaded filter medias’ likelyhood of trapping contaminants.
Water is cleaned (per cycle) at a rate of .80 liters per minute, so 4 cleaning cycles can deliver as much as 10 liters of cleaned water per hour.
After 4 cycles, always retest your water before using it for personal hygiene, consumption or for gear decontamination.
Do your best to set aside 2 liters of clean water out of every 10 liters you create. Those 2 liters will be used to clean / decontaminate your gear and filtration media. When you have accumulated 10 liters you are ready to thoroughly and efficiently clean your hardwarr and rejuvenate your filter media.
This may sound like a lot of effort…but if you believe that the water you have access to can sicken you, your loved ones and friends…then this effort seems trivial.
Carry spare cartridges, loaded with alternative filter media (effective for dissimilar contaminants), if you believe you could encounter a variety of dissimilar contaminants.
Water flows through 4 filter cartridges during each cleaning cycle.
Step 5:
Clean / Decontaminate your hardware and filter media. Water testing will reveal when your media is becoming less efficient at removing contaminates.
Cleaning media is inexpensive. Cleaned (decontaminated) media can be reused. High quality, industry standard, media manufacturers publish methodologies of thoroughly decontaminating / disinfecting medias, as do government organizations. Cleanit cartridges are simply emptied of the contaminated media, so the media and all the CleanIt system components can be simply and thoroughly decontaminated / disinfected.
Now that you have determined you have safe and clean water we strongly recommend you set some clean water aside (about 2 out of every 10 liters you clean should do). You will need it to decontaminate your CleanIt system and testing tools.