Timeline for What would be the best way to get clean, drinkable water in a medieval city?
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 11:03 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Apr 17, 2016 at 18:53 | comment | added | Hypnosifl | @T.J. Crowder - That link says "the water produced from an exemplary slow sand filter is of excellent quality with 90-99% bacterial cell count reduction", but it may not cover water-born viruses which are smaller than bacteria. And of course, a 90-99% reduction still leaves some smaller risk of getting a bacterial infection, whereas the answer here links to a source saying boiling water sufficiently hot will kill "all pathogens" after a minute. | |
| Apr 16, 2016 at 9:03 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 16, 2016 at 5:09 | history | edited | Brythan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2016 at 7:15 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2016 at 7:10 | comment | added | T3 H40 | This is some valuable information, thank you! I will add this to my answer (honorably mentioned of course) | |
| Apr 15, 2016 at 7:08 | comment | added | T.J. Crowder | After 2-3 weeks once the hypogeal layer has formed, you probably don't need to boil the result. Note that it's necessary to renew that layer periodically as it gets too thick (I don't know how often; not all that often is my impression). | |
| Apr 15, 2016 at 1:12 | comment | added | T3 H40 | @Hypnosifl no real hazard I think, but birdshit, dirt or little insects and bugs won't vanish when boiling, and I generally enjoy my drinks without those. You can of course try and only take from the top of your pot and hope everything has sunk down, however, my way seemed more effective to me | |
| Apr 14, 2016 at 23:28 | comment | added | Hypnosifl | If you don't filter it, but just skip directly to the step of boiling it to kill off bacteria, what kind of health hazards would remain? I don't think medieval dirt would have much lead content, what other kinds of non-biological toxins would be in there? | |
| Apr 14, 2016 at 21:01 | comment | added | T3 H40 | @Sobrique sure, but it takes way more energy to fully evaporate water than to simply cook it for two minutes. Go get a pot with some water, put it on the stove and try how long it takes to get it boiling and how much longer until it is gone. Then imagine doing this with at least two litres per person and day, drinking water only. | |
| Apr 14, 2016 at 20:57 | comment | added | Sobrique | I'm not sure distillation is all that expensive, given fire is a pretty common thing for cooking/heating. | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 16:36 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Fixed mistake with air quality to be more consice
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| Apr 13, 2016 at 11:59 | comment | added | Ville Niemi | Sorry to be unclear, but that was really more of an explanation of why I chose not to go filtering or rain water route than an actual comment on your answer. (Since it starts "While distilling...") Basically, I thought building the filtering system in the city would be a pain and unless you need large amounts of water not worth it. | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 11:53 | comment | added | T3 H40 | @VilleNiemi most of Bird-shit and the wind-swept earth should be filtered by the soil/charcoal/cloth... The bits that remain after that should not be much of a problem. If you want do be on the safe side (this also applies to the contaminated city soil), boiling the resulting water will kill any bacteria left. | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 11:18 | comment | added | Ville Niemi | I thought about rain water and filtering, but unfortunately the question specifies a city, which means there is pollution. Everyone was constantly burning something and then there are normal issues of roofs, bird shit and wind swept dirt... As for filtering, charcoal would be available, but the soil in the cities would have been contaminated, so a visit to the countryside would be required. Everything would be so much simpler, if the character would just leave the city... Not like medieval cities were that large and extensive. Maybe I should put leave the city as answer? | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 10:18 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 13, 2016 at 9:30 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 13, 2016 at 7:53 | comment | added | T3 H40 | Thanks for sharing! This is not just a personal story, but a proof that this method is perfectly applicable in real world use | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 7:50 | comment | added | BabiBaba | My grand-parents used the second kind of filter (filling it with layers of sand and charcoal) as their main source of water, the second source being a well, until the late 70's. Rainwater passed through it and was stored in a water tank with a tap. (Sorry I couldn't resist adding a personnal story). | |
| Apr 13, 2016 at 5:56 | history | edited | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 13, 2016 at 5:41 | history | answered | T3 H40 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |