Following natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in 2005, the biggest need of the people who live there is fresh, clean water. Sad but true, natural disasters can seriously damage municipal water treatment facilities and pollute water supplies with everything from bacteria to chemical spills rendering it inappropriate for human consumption. Even though it is necessary for cities to have emergency water treatment plans set up for just such occurrences, it’s still a good practice to have your own emergency water treatment plan just in case the unexpected should occur.

You will want to start by knowing the situations you could be up against. Contaminated water can be full of three separate types of pathogens (disease-causing organisms) as well as unsafe chemicals. The pathogen category can be divided into protozoan parasites, toxic bacteria, and harmful viruses. Pathogens which become part of the water system are created by animal and human waste which is swept down into drinking water sources. Chemicals can come from industrial or storage spills as well as from chemicals used to get rid of pests and weeds. Emergency situations merely exacerbate conditions that are present all the time.

Large-sized contaminants can be taken from water as easily as by running the water through a paper towel or coffee filter into a clean pitcher. Bacteria and viruses, however, are much too small to be totally removed from water using these methods. Emergency water treatment plans, therefore, must include some type of disinfectant that can kill these microorganisms. Iodine is probably the most effective disinfectant for water, much more efficient than the chlorine used to disinfect swimming pools. Protozoa, on the other hand, do not respond well to iodine. Because of this fact, you will have to have some kind of effective filtering system to handle these pathogens. Although boiling is the most effective method for eliminating protozoa from drinking water, if there are electrical outages boiling may not be a choice.

Poisonous chemicals don’t have to cause the immediate health dangers that pathogens do, but they can still damage healthy body cells and decrease your immunity so that you are more prone to disease. If the water is murky and looks like its been contaminated, you should never drink it until it has been disinfected. Water is critical to the human body, though, so it’s important that you can obtain or create a source of fresh water right after a natural disaster. You can survive for several weeks without food, but you’ll only make it a few days if you don’t have water. Therefore, it’s essential that you have an emergency water treatment plan so that you’re ready in case something happens.