How To Begin Your Water Preparations: Mobile & Portable Purifier (1/5)

By LPC Survival on July 8, 2011 in Educational, Portable Water Purification, Water, Water Storage

Reverse Osmosis Systems are not designed for emergencies.

Reverse osmosis systems are great (and pricey), but most of all they (1) are not portable, (2) require pressurized connections, and (3) are designed to be used with treated water supplies.

Let's begin with a few key points of what your Mobile Water Purification System (MOWAPS) should NOT be:

powered by electricity
powered through strenuous physical exertion
ridiculously cost-prohibitive
difficult to operate & troubleshoot
expensive & difficult to order replacement parts
challenging to maintain
bulky
requiring specialized assembly

Now that we know the NOTs of your MOWAPS, we can determine the DOs of your MOWAPS:

Off-the Grid functional (no electricity needed for operation)
minimal physical effort to operate
valuable yet affordable
easy to operate & troubleshoot
affordable & easily replaceable parts
simple to maintain
compact size & easily transportable
requires minimal assembly

If you're familiar with the Berkey Systems, then you know that they meet every one of the DO points at the very least. But this post is not so much a commercial for our products as it is intended to be informative and educational.

The MOWAPS is the quickest and most versatile step toward having water preparations, given that you have a source of water from which to draw. This will be discussed in the Contingency Plan post (Part 4/5).

Here is an example of using a Berkey Light with raw well water

Berkey Water Systems are designed to purify water from raw water sources such as creeks, lakes, ponds, rain, rivers, springs, streams, wells, and more.

It is important that your Mobile Water Purification System be able to address the most common contaminants to drinking water. These include:

pathogens: bacteria, protozoa (cysts), viruses
agricultural waste: fertilizers, pesticides
industrial waste: chemicals from manufacturing, waste water
naturally occurring contaminants: foul tastes, heavy metals, odors, rust, sediment, silt

A complete list of contaminants that the Berkey Systems have been tested to address can be found HERE.

Ideally, your MOWAPS will be able to filter the water, as well as purify it from pathogens and harmful chemical residuals. The Berkey Systems are able to filter the water, but the real power of the Black Berkeys is found in their ability to address the ionic adsorption of contaminants.

As powerful as the Berkey Systems are, choosing the right size of a MOWAPS is crucial in being adequately prepared. We'll cover that in the second-part of this 5 part series:

Part 1/5 Part 2/5 Part 3a/5 Part 3b/5 Part 4/5 Part 5/5

-The Berkey Guy