If we rank those things needed for survival beyond safety, water is number one. Water is the base material we humans are made of and without a steady supply of clean water, our bodies tend to start shutting down.
There are a lot of different water purification methods, purifier sizes, and levels of complexity. Boiling water will purify water enough to drink however all you have done is cook everything to an edible stage in the pot, which can taste like you are drinking from a toilet bowl. Water purification tablets are expensive and produce safe but again really horrible tasting water. If you want high quality great tasting water, filtration is the best option.
Water purification via filtration offers the advantage of a higher quality and better tasting water simply by running through gradually smaller and smaller filters until the output is pure bacteria free water. Advances in ceramic filters with activated charcoal have made water filtration more effective and less costly because they can be re-usable. This is where simplicity of the gravity feed Monolithic Just Water Ceramic Survival Water Filtration system makes so much sense.
About Monolithic Just Water Filter System
A Texas baptist ministry developed the extraordinarily simple Just Water Filter system to provide potable water in natural disaster situations, such as the Indian Tsunami survivors pictured. The ministry provides these systems to those in need all around the world.
Your eye is correct, this is two 5 gallon food safe multi-purpose buckets and lids similar to what you would find at the hardware store stacked on each other with a ceramic filter in the middle. The heart of the system is a re-usable ceramic “candle” filter which filters to an amazing .2 microns, effectively removing 99.99% of all water-borne bacteria. What this means is even with very poor quality input water, the water produced by this Just Water system is up to 40% more pure than standard US municipality water supplies and better quality than almost all bottled water.
The more impressive part of this system is its price, which ranges from $47-$70 as shown ready-to-use depending on options. This is about 300% less costly than the next comparable filtration brand option on the market. If you are a “I only drink filtered water” person, this could pay for itself in the first 20 gallons in everyday home use.
Features and functions
The intent of the system was always low cost simplicity, and providing aid to communities around the world that needed clean water. Two buckets and lids, a ceramic filter, and a spigot are the basic parts of the Just Water filter system, so there is not a lot to go wrong. Want to build your own or need to scale up? No problem — just purchase the candle filter, pre-filter sock, and spigot kit for $27-$37 and build your own mega filter with two new clean trash cans to serve a small community with water.
Assembly is simple. Insert and attach the candle filter through the “bottom of the top bucket” and through the “lid of the bottom bucket” using the candle filter rubber washers and nut. Cover the ceramic candle filter with the pre-filter sock.
Once complete you should have a top bucket secured to the lid of the lower bucket and a system ready for the first load of water input. The bottom bucket has a simple fresh water spigot which screws on with the rubber washers and nut supplied.
Operation is simple: put dirty water in the top bucket, and gravity feeds the water through the ceramic candle filter, where it’s collected in the bottom clean water bucket at a rate of 14-17 gallons per day (plenty of water for a family of ten).
Monolithic offers the gravity and dual gravity/pressure models, and standard or +arsenic filter options. I purchased the dual gravity pressure model. Unless you are in a really bad water quality area, the upgraded arsenic filter is not required.
The dual gravity/pressure model comes with a PSI rated bucket, screw on lid, and installed tire pressure valve. The input bucket can be pressurized for increased flow with a supplied bicycle pump. The pressurized Just Water model increases clean water output to over 60 gallons per day.
Overall, this is an extremely simple concept that works exceptionally well. The best part is that once you start using the filter it can be used for over 8 months continuously without being replaced. If you pre-filter any input water, clean the filter intermittently, and assure that their is always a pre-filter on the ceramic filter, this will greatly extend the service life of the Just Water filtration system beyond the 8 months.
From an ultimate survival perspective, the Monolithic Just Water Filtration system has a near infinite shelf life.The only question is the useful life of the activated charcoal. Once used and wet, the charcoal will continue to remove smell and flavors from the water for 8 months; after that, its ability to remove smells and flavors will decrease. The antibacterial ceramic wall of the candle filter will last indefinitely with proper cleaning, so even if the water flavor decreases it will still be potable water. Pre-filtering the input water will also significantly increase filter life and improve the water quality.
Pre-filters such as the “Sock” synthetic pre-filter included could theoretically last forever with proper maintenance, and could be easily made or replaced with most fabrics on hand.
FINAL THOUGHTS
All of the filter’s parts are of high quality, but a word of caution is in order: the ceramic candle filters are not very durable, and my first filter did not survive the UPS drop kick delivery. However, Monolithic replaced the filter. Cheap insurance would be to order and extra filter for your survival war chest just in case.
In the last year we have seen tsunamis and hurricanes throughout the world and US, and even in the US heartland some have experienced 200 year flood levels that shut off potable water to many people. $60 for a high volume 14+ Gallon per day water filter system or the $70 pressurized model delivering over 60 Gallons per day is cheap insurance for your family that can that assure the most basic of all survival needs is provided in abundance even if you just have lake or rain water as in input source. Pair this with rain barrels on each corner of your home, and in most areas this will easily provide you with all the water you could need in a survival situation. More importantly, for very long-term use such as camping or hosting events in remote areas with questionable water supplies, the Monolithic Just Water Filtration System provides you with an inexpensive long-term potable water.
About a year ago I stayed at a friend’s cabin for 10 days in far North Minnesota, hours out of civilian contact, and the water tasted like ass. The Just Water Filter system would have been the perfect solution for the four of us. I have seen and used a vast number of survival water purification methods, and systems and none have simplicity or effectiveness of this system.
Specs
Product is manufactured to meet:
- National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 42
- National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 53
- ISO 9002 Quality Standard
- USA AEL Laboratories
- USA Analytical Food Laboratories
- USA Johns Hopkins University
- British 5750 Quality Standard
- England’s Water Research council (WRc) Performance Standards
Removal capabilities:
- The filtration efficiency is 0.2 micron
- 99% Arsenic 5 and 99% Arsenic 3 (special order)
- 99% Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
- 95% Chlorine and Chloramines
- 99% Taste
- 99% Odor
- 98% Aluminum
- 96% Iron
- 98% Lead
- 90% Pesticides
- 85% Herbicides
- 85% Insecticides
- 90% Rodenticides
- 85% Phenols
- 85% mtbe
- 85% Perchlorate
- 80% Trihalomethanes
- 95% Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons
- 99.999% of particles larger than 0.5 micron (Staffordshire University Labs) (includes Anthrax)
- 99.7% of particles larger than 0.3 micron (Staffordshire University Labs)
- 98% of particles larger than 0.2 micron (Staffordshire University Labs)
- 100% Giardia Lamblia
- 100% Cyclospora
- 100% removal of live Cryptosporidium (WRc Standard)
- 100% removal of Cryptosporidium (NSF Standard 53 – A.C. fine dust – 4 log challenge)
- 100% removal of E. Coli, Vibrio Cholerae (Johns Hopkins University)
- 99.999% removal of Salmonella Typhil, Shigella Dysenteria, Kiebsiella Terrigena (Hyder Labs)
Performance features:
- Easy installation
- Good flow rate / 14 to 17 gallons a day (gravity flow)
- Up to 60-70 gallons per day (pressure flow)
- Filter will accept water from floods, lake, rain, well, tap, river or stream
- Semi/Annual filter replacement Cleansable with clean damp cloth
- Shelf life is extended by shaking filter every 3-4 months to loosen media inside and prevent packing
- Once in use, filter will last 6-8 months
- Product is silver impregnated and will not permit bacteria growth-through (mitosis)
- Provides a hostile environment for all microbiological organisms and will not support their growth
- Ceramic elements may be cleaned 100 or more times with a soft brush or damp cloth.
Read more about Monolithic Ceramic Just Water Water Filtration System
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