Best ways to purify water without fancy equipment?

[CrimsonWren145]

Looking for the most reliable ways to purify water if you’re caught without filters or chemicals. Anyone have luck with DIY methods beyond boiling? Curious if solar stills or improvised charcoal setups are worth the trouble in real-world situations. Would love input from folks who've actually tried these.

 

[BlueHarborTea]

Looking for the most reliable ways to purify water if you’re caught without filters or chemicals.

Boiling is still the best bet if you can build a fire—just bringing water to a rolling boil for a minute or two kills most nasties. If I couldn’t boil, I’d try an improvised charcoal/sand filter followed by leaving the water in a clear bottle in sunlight for six hours (the SODIS method). Not perfect, but it helps. I’ve made a solar still before using plastic wrap and a pot—works, but it’s slow and only yields a little. Anyone ever tried filtering through cloth first to get rid of chunks?