This DIY Portable System Cleans Water Efficiently

Access to safe, clean drinking water is probably the biggest privilege available to humanity, but many of us take it for granted. If you want to live off-grid or even take an extended camping trip, you’ll find out how much effort it takes to get clean water. Riley of Ambition Strikes specializes in off-grid projects and was the perfect person to build this DIY portable system for cleaning water.

To get nice, clean drinking water, you need to do two things: filter out any particulates and kill any remaining microbes. The filtering step makes the water look clean, removes things that cause bad tastes, and catches some larger microbes (parasites and a lot of the big bacteria). But some bacteria and viruses will get through the filter, which is why you want another step—boiling being the simplest. Chemicals also work, which is why backpackers carry purification tablets.

The tricky part is doing all of that efficiently enough to be practical in the long-term. A gravity filter and tablets are fine for a few days of backpacking, but not an off-grid homestead.

Riley’s system fits into a case small enough carry, but has enough grunt to automatically clean a lot of water. It is powered by a Dewalt 20V battery, which can be recharged from solar panels, a wind turbine, or a generator. And most importantly, it performs both filtering and sterilization.

A 12V DC water pump (meant for RVs) pushes water from a source (like a stream) through the system. It first goes through a half-micron activated charcoal filter, then through a 12V purifier that uses UV light to kill any remaining microbes.

The output can flow directly into a water bottle or into a larger storage vessel (just make sure that isn’t introducing contaminants).

Not only is this great for off-grid living, but it is also a potential solution for people living in communities where clean drinking water isn’t available as a utility service.