It’s as if nature provides a way to do almost everything we need. You just have to know where to start. Regarding primitive water filtration, the following video shows how to use a grape vine and Cyprus tree branch to filter rather scummy water. The technique is quite simple, as the most useful ideas are.
Around the midpoint of the video, he explains the science behind why this technique works, and then shows results of the grape vine test a few minutes later. As you might suspect, the test went swimmingly. 🙂
Like any makeshift idea, use this only if you have no better choice, like a commercially made gravity water filter for backpacking. The last thing you want is to be laid up in the hospital for weeks or months because something else made you sick.
As he points out in the video, they only tested for E. Coli, so who knows what else might be floating around in there. That said, the expectation is that if there’s no detectable E. Coli, then nothing else should be in there. But, again, that’s merely an assumption without running a bunch of expensive tests.
Obviously, there are many variables at play with water safety. I’m not sure I would’ve been brave enough to drink the filtered water straight from the jar, like he did, assuming I wasn’t desperate, but I’ve had my share of sketchy “let’s test this out and see what happens” moments.
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