Water contamination is a major issue in the United States, even if you aren’t in the midst of an emergency. As I recently wrote, one-third of Americans are living without safe running water right now. For some, it’s because they can’t afford to pay their water bills, while for others, the local supply has become tainted.
The increasing frequency of water concerns makes having a filtration device more important than ever. Having written a book about water for preppers, I’m always interested in trying different products related to my pet topic.
I recently had a chance to try out the AquaPail, a powerful filtration device housed in a lightweight plastic bucket. Because of the lighter weight and the handle, this unit is easily portable.
Due to the compact size and light weight, this is the filtration device we took with us on our 7-week-long road trip last fall. We also had smaller Sawyer Minis, but when you’re several thousand miles from home, you never know when you might need major supplies.
The device has a very long life, removing 99.99% of virus for up to 550 gallons and removing 99.9999% bacteria and 99.99% of giardia and cryptosporidium for up to 700 gallons, even if the water source is highly contaminated.
My stepfather helped me demonstrate the AquaPail when we stopped by to visit him and my mom during our trip. He is sort of like a taller version of Vanna White.
Right off the bat, the first thing I really liked about the device is that the instructions are permanently printed on the side of the bucket. If you’re someone like me, who isn’t that great at assembling complicated things, you’ll love how easy the AquaPail is to use.
When you take it apart, you’ll discover that it is actually a system made up of two buckets with some powerful filtration components. Here’s a little bit more information about the components:
While most water filtration systems on the market only remove certain dangerous elements from your drinking water, the AquaPail™ Water Filtration System will remove or deactivate virtually all harmful substances from any non-salt water source.
Within a matter of minutes, the AquaPail™ water filter will deliver safe drinking water by deactivating harmful bacteria, virus, cysts, such as cryptosporidium and giardia, and removing heavy metals. Using our proprietary filtration method the filter literally deactivates and removes waterborne microbes from even the most contaminated water source. The AquaPail™ water filter removes hydrocarbons, fluoride, chlorine and other harmful substances providing clean, purified drinking water for you and your family.
Here’s how it comes to you from the factory. (Really, it’s best to always wash your filtration devices well before you ever need to use them. Whoops.)
Assembly was quick and easy. Once you put the filtration components in place, before you put the two buckets together, you need to primer your gravity device with a little device you squeeze with your hand. It’s very simple and doesn’t take a lot of strength, so even if you aren’t a strong person or you have an issue like arthritis, you should be just fine to do this.
Once you’ve primed it and the water is coming through, you removed the tube and snap the two buckets together. The water is dripping out, not gushing, so you may lose a few drops in this process, but it won’t be a notable amount.
Out of the whole process, this is the most difficult part, but it is easily a one person job. If you don’t have a lot of strength, don’t fill the entire bucket with water before putting them together. Just put in enough to cover the filter so that you can get it primed.
Then, you just walk away and let the filter do its thing.
Gravity filters don’t work very quickly but this one is rated to filter 9.4 gallons per hour.
The Aquapail 1100 will purify enough water for one person for an entire year. The difference between this one and the ones with other numbers are the number of replacement filters they come with. It’s less expensive to buy them as a package than it is to buy the additional replacement filters separately.
I highly recommend the AquaPail filtration system.
The AquaPail is lightweight, easily portable, very simple to use, and has the instructions written on the side, making the product foolproof for just about anyone.
While I do have a sleek, elegant-looking ProPur (that I love) for using on a daily basis in the house, the AquaPail is higher-rated and is the unit I would turn to during a serious water emergency situation.
Whatever product you opt for, I strongly urge you to pick up an emergency filtration device and practice using it well before a disaster occurs during which your water supply is questionable.
You can order your AquaPail here.
http://preppersmarket.com/product/the-new-aqua-pail-from-numanna/