What if?

To start off... If things happened now, you have to think "What is the first thing I need?". Do you have shelter? Do you have water? The human body can go without many things for a varied duration of time, but water is the first, and most immediate thing you need. Water can be cleaned for drinking no matter how contaminated it is, because it is just that,... Water. It can be filtered and sterilized an infinite number of times, the question should be in the level of contamination, and would it be a resourceful consumption of the time and effort it takes to do it? If it is natural contamination, there are many ways to clean it just on that basis, there is filtration for larger particles, and sterilizing for microbial. Depending on your level of contamination you will have to decide on if it's more plausible to stay, or relocate to a better beginning state of condition.

   Water can always return to a pure state in nature, you may need to duplicate that process in a more time conscious manner for short-term resolve, but also figure out what you have available to create a more long-term capability for cleaning and storing the water you manage to obtain, and treat for consumption.  Nature can clean the water back to it's purest of forms without any chemicals like we are so used to using for convenience. We can look at the natural process and then figure out what we can do to return it to a consumable state. First, is the the contamination in it, a solid waste or microbial? We can gather our own materials anywhere in nature to filter, and render it safe to consume. When water goes through it's process in nature, it starts a majority of time in a liquid state, in example lakes, ponds, or creeks, and when warmed up it evaporates in to the atmosphere to rain down again. from start to finish, it is cleaned from it's original state, it's up to you how much more you clean it. The soil is a natural filter, there are ingredients removed from and placed into it from the earth. Most contaminants are removed from the water when it goes through the soil and some minerals are picked up by the water, some of which our bodies may need and some we don't. The first thing you can do in a desperate situation depends on what resources you have available to you, just about anything can be used to aid in rebuilding from a situation, we started somewhere in the beginning and survived. Just keep in mind you want to remove as much as possible for safe consumption. You can build a small, temporary filtration system out of dirt, to get a majority of the contaminants out of it. The more soil it goes through, the cleaner it can get. Water is at the most vulnerable at temperatures where any life can grow and thrive. You can get some of the cleanest water with some simple measures. You can filter it through as much soil as possible and then finally boil it or manage to heat it to an evaporated state, with nothing but soil, and sun you can achieve safe and consumable water. There are also many methods to treat water that you can buy and store to treat water. I will detail more options in my next entry,   until then...