How to Find and Purify Water: A Beginner’s Guide

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Why Do We Need Water?

Your body loses water throughout the day through:

• Breathing
• Sweating
• Urination
• Physical activity

This loss increases during hot weather and strenuous exercise.

That means water planning should happen before you set off.

Before an outdoor activity, ask:

How much safe drinking water do we need to take with us?

Don’t rely on finding a natural water source unless you’ve specifically planned how that water will be safely treated.

1. Finding Water

If you’re looking for water outdoors, start by thinking about the landscape.

Water may be found around:

• Streams
• Rivers
• Lakes
• Ponds
• Springs
• Rainwater collection points
• Established water supplies

A map can help you identify potential water sources before you leave.

Use Your Map

Look for symbols representing:

1. Water
2. Streams
3. Lakes
4. Water supplies

But remember:

A water symbol on a map tells you that water may be present. It doesn’t tell you that the water is safe to drink.

2. Rainwater

Rain can provide a potential source of water when other sources aren’t available.

However, don’t automatically assume rainwater is safe simply because it came from the sky.

Where it lands and how it is collected matters.

For example, water collected from an appropriate clean surface is very different from water that has passed over:

• Dirty surfaces
• Animal waste
• Contaminated ground
• Polluted areas

Scouts uses rainwater collection and filtration as an educational activity, but makes clear that filtration demonstrations aren’t intended to produce drinking water.

3. Choosing Between Water Sources

If you’re faced with several potential sources, don’t simply choose the closest one.

Look at the surroundings.

Ask:

What is upstream?

Could there be:

Does anything look or smell unusual?

Unusual colour, smell, floating material or obvious pollution should be treated as a warning.

Is livestock nearby?

Animals can affect water quality.

Could the water be contaminated?

Remember that you cannot see all contamination.

4. Water to Avoid

Some sources should immediately make you reconsider.

Avoid water that:

And remember:

Boiling does not remove every possible chemical contaminant.

If you suspect chemical pollution, find another source rather than assuming treatment will make it safe.

Clear Doesn’t Mean Clean

This is one of the most important lessons in water skills.

Imagine you find two water sources.

Which one is safer?

You cannot determine that simply by looking.

Source A may contain microorganisms even though it looks perfect.

Source B may contain lots of visible sediment.

That’s why water treatment involves more than simply making water look clean.

6. Filtering Water

Filtration can be useful for removing physical particles.

For example, a filter may remove:

• Mud
• Sand
• Sediment
• Small pieces of debris

This can make water look much clearer.

But here’s the important part:

Clearer does not automatically mean safer.

A simple improvised filter made from materials such as stones, sand and natural materials is an excellent educational experiment, but you should not assume the resulting water is safe to drink.

Scouts demonstrates exactly this principle in its water-filtration activity: participants build filters that remove visible dirt, but are specifically told not to drink the filtered water because microorganisms may remain.

7. Purification vs Filtration

These two words are often confused.

Think of it like this:

Filtration can make water look cleaner. Treatment is what makes it safer from microorganisms.

Depending on the equipment and situation, treatment may involve methods such as:

• Boiling
• Water-purification tablets
• Chemical treatment
• Approved filtration/purification systems
• UV treatment

Different methods have different capabilities.

Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for commercial treatment equipment or tablets.

8. Boiling Water

Boiling is a well-established method of treating water for microorganisms.

For Scouts survival activities, their survival-skills material advises filtering/straining dirty water first and then bringing it to a vigorous boil for at least two minutes.

The basic process is:

1. Collect the water
2. Remove obvious sediment
3. Heat the water appropriately
4. Bring it to a vigorous boil
5. Maintain the required treatment time
6. Allow it to cool safely
7. Store it in a clean container

The exact treatment guidance you follow should come from your current training, equipment instructions or organisational procedures.

9. Water-Purification Tablets

Water-purification tablets can provide another treatment option.

Different products contain different active ingredients and have different instructions.

Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Pay attention to:

• Dosage
• Water volume
• Contact time
• Temperature requirements
• Storage
• Expiry date
• Any restrictions or warnings

Some treatments can leave a noticeable taste.

Don’t guess the dosage.

The instructions on the product you’re using take priority.

10. Using a Water Filter

Commercial outdoor filters can be very useful, but they aren’t all designed to do the same thing.

Before using one, understand:

The Water Treatment Process

For a simple way to remember the overall process:

FIND → ASSESS → FILTER → TREAT → STORE

11. Avoid Recontamination

You’ve treated your water.

You’re not finished yet.

Clean water can become contaminated again if:

• A dirty container is used
• Dirty hands touch the drinking opening
• Untreated water is mixed with treated water
• A dirty bottle cap is used
• Water is transferred using contaminated equipment

Keep treated water separate from untreated water.

A useful rule:

Clean container + treated water = safer drinking water.

12. Water Planning When Camping

The best water-treatment strategy is often:

Plan ahead.

Before leaving, establish:

Don’t make finding water your first plan.

Make carrying enough safe water your first plan whenever practical.

The Water Decision

Imagine you’re on an outdoor expedition.

You’ve run low on water.

You discover:

Which would you choose?

There isn’t necessarily one answer without knowing the circumstances.

You need to consider:

• Source
• Contamination risks
• Available treatments
• Time
• Equipment
• Location
• Weather
• Your group’s needs

Good survival skills aren’t about memorising one answer.

They’re about making a good decision with the information available.

Your First Water Challenge

Can You Find the Best Water Source?

This challenge should be done as an observation and planning exercise, not by drinking from natural water sources.

Find or identify three potential water sources in an appropriate outdoor area.

For example:

Source 1: Stream

Source 2: Pond

Source 3: Approved drinking-water point

For each source, assess:

Now choose.

Which source would you use?

And most importantly:

Explain why.

Remember:

Never taste-test an unknown water source.

Bonus Challenge: Build a Filter

This is a great Scout activity because you can turn it into an experiment.

Using artificially dirty water, create a simple demonstration filter using safe materials such as:

• Stones
• Sand
• Gravel
• Other suitable materials

Try different arrangements.

Can you make the water visibly clearer?

Then compare your results.

But here’s the challenge:

Would you drink it?

No.

The experiment demonstrates filtration, not proof that the water is safe to drink.

This distinction is also made explicitly in the Scouts water-filtration activity.

Challenge Level: Explorer

Now make it harder.

Imagine you’re planning a 24-hour outdoor expedition.

You have:

• Limited carrying capacity
• A map
• A known water source
• A water filter
• A purification method
• Changing weather

Design your water plan.

You need to decide:

Write down your plan.

Then explain it to someone else.

If they can understand your plan without asking you to explain every step, you’ve done a good job.

Think About the Environment

Finding water doesn’t mean you should damage the area around it.

When collecting water:

Water sources are part of the environment, not simply resources for people to use.

Scout Connection

Water skills are particularly useful for Scouts because they combine:

Scouts’ current survival-camp material specifically includes purifying water among the possible survival skills activities.

Scouts also has water-filtration activities that can be used as educational exercises, with clear instructions that the resulting filtered water should not be drunk.

SurvivalGuidesUK is an independent educational resource and isn’t an official Scouts website. Always follow the current Scouts programme requirements and your leader’s instructions.

What Have You Learned?

You should now understand that finding water isn’t simply:

“Find a stream and drink it.”

It’s a process:

FIND → ASSESS → FILTER → TREAT → STORE

You’ve learned how to:

That’s the real survival skill.