Posted on 01/05/2014 1:35:42 PM PST by Carriage Hill
Who needs fancy water purifiers? Try this easy water treatment technique instead, using nothing more than fruit peels and rubbing alcohol.
With more and more eco-conscious people replacing their bottled water intake (and for good reason) with tap water, there is a growing demand for water filtration devices. But you don't need to go out and buy a fancy device to ensure that your tap water is free from pollutants. Researchers with the National University of Singapore have recently discovered a simple do-it-yourself method for filtering water using nothing more than fruit peels and rubbing alcohol, reports Wired.
Researcher Ramakrishna Mallampati originally thought up the method as an easy, cheap way for rural communities in the developing world to purify their water. He found that apple and tomato peels -- two of the most widely consumed fruits in the world -- were remarkably efficient at absorbing a wide variety of harmful pollutants, and that they could be transformed into effective water filters with only minor preparation.
(Excerpt) Read more at mnn.com ...
Agreed, tap water is better. But I keep 30 cases in my preps store for emergencies, along with a Berkey Filter, LifeStraw, bleach and boiling option. Plus, I can mix-in Kool-Aid for flavor. Better than drinking pond water.
(;^O)
“The difference between denatured alcohol and rubbing alcohol lies in their ingredients. Denatured alcohol is ethanol that has had methanol or acetone added to it, and is meant for lighting stoves and removing stains. Rubbing alcohol is a mix of ethanol and water, and is meant for sterilization.”
If the method doesn’t kill pathogens, it is not really very useful.
Personally I am not nearly concerned about “toxins” in water nearly as much as, say, giardia.
There was just a post to using liquor like vodka to purify.
Rubbing alcohol is either isopropy alcohol and water, or denatured alcohol and water. Denatured alcohol is ethanol with methanol or acetone added to make it toxic.
I’d be very careful doing anything that might result in the consumption of more than minute amounts of rubbing alcohol.
I wonder what he’s growing in those Petri dishes?
Here’s some pics of India to make your hair stand on end:
http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/filthy-india-photos-chinese-netizen-reactions.html
And neither is for drinking, IINM. They’re ***external use*** only.
“giardia” sounds real nasty.
Done that. Earned the tee-shirt
Any backpacker who has gotten giardia, or even knows somebody who got it, will never drink unfiltered/unboiled water out of the cleanest of mountain streams.
It’s really that bad.
Just posted it. Thanks. Sad. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3108723/posts?page=1
I suppose that the alcohol has evaporated from the peels and that is why you can use it safely?
I have seen the cilantro removes heavy metal article. I wondered did they test the cilantro for heavy metal before the subjects ate it? What if they only found was they put in the test subjects?
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