How to convert salt water into drinking water

More than seventy percent of our planet is covered with water, whether it comes from seas, oceans, ice, rivers and groundwater, although the vast majority is salt water. So it would not be bad to know the simplest and most homemade way to turn all this amount of salt water into drinking water, especially if we end up being shipwrecked on a desert island or something like that. In this article of .com we give you the necessary information so that you know how to convert salt water into drinking water and survive if you do not have access to water suitable for human consumption. It is very simple, you just have to follow the steps that we detail below.

• A large container like a pot
• A glass or small container
• A plastic sheet
• A small stone
• A water bottle or other plastic container

one

In the first place, we must desalinate the water, that is, remove the salt and minerals that the salt water may contain; and then we have to boil it to make it drinkable. So, the first step is to get a pot or a large enough container in which we can introduce all the water we want to desalinate. If we do not have it, we can dig a small hole in the ground and cover it with a plastic tarpaulin as a container.

two

To convert salt water into drinking water, now we must introduce a small glass or container in the center of the larger one. Next, fill the pot, larger container or plastic covered hole with the water that we want to turn into drinkable, always below the level of the glass.

3

In third place, continuing with the desalination process of the salt water, we will cover the containers with a plastic and we will leave them exposed under the heat of the sun, making sure that the plastic does not move and there is no left side without covering where the heat and steam. For this, it would be convenient to tie it with rope or hold it with some other object.

4

Before allowing the time necessary for the water to evaporate and condense again, place a stone on the glass above the plastic. In this way, all the condensed water will fall back into the glass. The salt and the rest of possible minerals, being so heavy, will remain in the bottom of the big container, while the water that we find in the glass will be fresh water.

Remember that you must wait a long time for the water to evaporate and re-condense. This will depend on the temperature at which we find ourselves and there is no exact time, but do not expect it to work in thirty minutes. It is a slow process, you may have achieved something more than half a glass at the end of the experiment. In situations of risk, for example when we find ourselves lost in the middle of the desert or another area far from civilization, it is advisable to carry out this operation in multiple ways, in order to obtain more water more quickly.

5

Now that we have fresh water we can use it to water our plants or hydrate our pets, but remember that what we want to achieve is not fresh water, but potable water, fit for human consumption, and that will only be achieved with one last step: boil it .

Boiling water in the middle of nature is not an easy task if we do not have a pot (if we have it we only have to boil the water inside it over the fire). We will need a container, such as a plastic bottle, a plastic bag, a balloon, etc. with the only condition that it is completely filled with water (it can not contain air), since we are going to introduce it later in the fire and otherwise the container would melt.

6

Once we have our bag, bottle or other container full of water we place it on a bonfire. We can put the water on the fire, nothing will happen as long as there is no air inside. Now we just have to wait for it to boil, let it cool down and drink.

It is very important to only consume the water after boiling it, otherwise we could become seriously ill due to the bacteria that may be contained in the seawater.