How do you make lake water drinkable?

Answer 1

There are a number of methods for disinfecting water.

• Boiling
• Filtering & Carbon Filtering
• Chemical Methods:
  • Chlorine
  • Iodine
  • Laundry Bleach
  • Chlorine and other tablets

Boiling is probably the cheapest and easiest, but can be a problem for getting the water quickly, or having cold water. You can always fill your canteens at night. Be careful of putting hot water into plastic containers which can cause the plastics to melt or leach. Note, boiling will not remove toxins. A good cup of coffee, tea, or Hot Chocolate always "hits the spot" when camping, and you can do a lot of cooking with hot water.

Filters are easy to use, but perhaps hard to verify the efficacy. For example, can they carry contamination from trip to trip? Do the filters go bad? However, one might note that Activated Carbon filters are the best for removing chemicals from the water, although perhaps not 100% effective. But they would help with contaminants such as Petroleum, Cyanide, Heavy Metals. There will be different ratings on the filters as far as ability to filter out the smallest virus particles which may or may not be an issue for general camping.

Iodine and Chlorine treatments are also effective, but may require high doses which you may be able to taste as well as waiting a half an hour or so before drinking the water. Some people have Iodine Allergies. And, you are drinking the chlorine or whatever you put in it. A few drops of laundry bleach is probably as effective as commercial products, and only costs pennies a gallon. You can find references on the usage elsewhere.

See the following reference articles:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-2/water-disinfection.aspx
http://www.high-altitude-medicine.com/water.html

Answer 2

to make lake water drinkable boil it