Having a source of water to consume is even more important than food, and a reverse osmosis countertop water filter is something every prepper should consider. We tend to focus on food more than water, and while both are very important, that is a mistake. I think a lot of us fall into this category, as I sure did. I had a pretty decent cache of survival food and started brainstorming different food preserving options before I ever even considered how important that having a stable water source would be to me and my family.
Reverse osmosis purifies water by using pressure to force the molecules present in water through a membrane.This membrane collects all impurities,and releases only pure water through its filter.
In my day to day life I take my jugs to the grocery store to use their reverse osmosis water machine, as I knew it was the only effective way to remove fluoride from my drinking water. Nearly every grocery store in the United States has a reverse osmosis water system for refills.
Here is a great reverse osmosis water filter to check out:
How A Reverse Osmosis Filter Aids In Survival
Dehydration is something that people into prepping should be more concerned about. Water preps should come first. While this isn’t true for all of us, a lot of us have more body fat than we should, and while it’s unpleasant we can survive multiple days without food. The effects of dehydration can be felt within about 12 hours when the headaches start. It only gets worse from there, and it is very scary stuff. It is so bad that people will resort to drinking filthy and unsafe water to stave off the symptoms.
We tend to underestimate how many pitfalls we will need to avoid during a SHTF scenario. One of them is getting sick. If you drink water that has not been treated, there is the potential for viruses, pathogens and bacteria to be present in the water, and that will put your health at risk. As I’ve mentioned on other posts, getting a stomach virus that makes you sick would be preferable to dying of dehydration, but avoiding both would obviously be ideal. Reverse osmosis is capable of removing sodium fluoride from water, which is no small feat, so viruses and bacteria stand no chance against the process.
When you consider how effective reverse osmosis is at filtering impurities, you can essentially collect water from any source and make it safe to consume. You might not ingest harmful bacteria if you drink water from rainwater collection, but it is very risky if you are obtaining water from a pond, lake or stream. Some people in desperation will be collecting water from puddles. While you can use a distilled water maker or a gravity fed water filter, most people like the process and reliability that a reverse osmosis filtration system can bring.
It is also advisable to filter all water that might or might not be distributed by emergency departments like FEMA. This water will come in plastic bottles, and will be laden with chemicals. It’s preferable to dehydration for sure, but you will want to use your reverse osmosis system to filter out this water before consuming it.
Why Reverse Osmosis Just Might Be The Best Water
I haven’t purchased this item yet myself, but reverse osmosis water is the type of water I drink in my day to day life. I’m a bit of a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist and health conscious, so I don’t want to be drinking water right out of the tap. Because of that, I fill my containers at the water machine that is outside my local dollar store. I can also fill my containers at the grocery store, but I prefer to do it separately and just focus on groceries at the grocery store. These machines you will find at your grocery store, or possibly as a vending machine at various locations around town use reverse osmosis though. For that reason I am highly considering purchasing one of these.
Much like with distilled water, this filtration process not only strips the water of contaminants, but it also strips the water of the micro nutrients that you need. Because of this I recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon of a high quality mineral dense salt to every 1 gallon of reverse osmosis water. You don’t want to use table salt here. If you put 1/4 tsp of mineral rich salt in every gallon jug before filling it up, you now have what might be the perfect water.
