You don’t need a digital water meter Malaysia to know how contaminated that water in the river is. Any water in natural settings besides the river including a lake, sea or pond can already be considered unsafe to drink. Clean looking water in the wild does not automatically translate to safe, drinkable water., as even without the dirt, animals and other solid particles, you still have microorganisms to deal with.
There is no shame in not knowing manual, natural methods of purifying water in the wild. If you are trekking there, chances are that you may bring something that can grant you immediate access to drinking water from the wild should things go awry and your own water supply is in danger of dwindling.
Filter straws
Filter straws like the LifeStraw are one of the most popular water filtering devices that you can use in the wild. They are big tubes that you can suck on a small hole much like a straw as you place the bottom underwater. The straws will filter out microorganisms in the water, immediately rendering it safe to drink.
Inexpensive, it is best to bring more than one filter straw while you are out in the wild, just in case. You can also test its function at home by bringing in muddy water or so, suck it up through the device and spit it out in another clean bowl to see if the water looks clean.
Do note that although it filters out germs in the water, it isn’t capable of filtering out minerals like salt, so don’t bother trying to drink from the sea through it. You will have to distill seawater to remove the salts, as drinking it will only serve to dehydrate you further if the salty taste isn’t enough to deter you.
A good filter straw will serve you as the main means of drinking water in the wild should you be stranded and you are hopefully waiting for rescue after contacting the authorities (bring your phone and let somebody know where you are going before you leave!). You will have to ration your water supply as long as you can and reserve it for emergencies.
Purification tablets
Water purification tablets are also another quick method of getting clean water. The gist of using this is scooping up water into a container and putting a tablet into it, then letting it do the work of killing the harmful germs inside so you can drink it safely. The directions, however, vary by brand, so follow them accordingly.
Tablets, however, will not work if your water still has solid particles like dirt and rocks, so you must filter them out first before you can send the pill to do the job. There are survival manuals that provide instructions of not only filtering out water, but also manually purifying them. In fact, if you can do this, you can save your tablets until you really need them.
To ensure that your water is really safe after the pill, boil it as it is.