Homemade Water Filter

Hello! Today I will be showing you guys how to create a homemade water filter! The method I will be showing is the same by which your drinking water is filtered, but just on a smaller scale with none of the machinery. This filter will be made with just a few common household/backyard items, that will allow you to supply clean water with this Environmental Engineer-approved method.

*DISCLAIMER* this is an extremely safe water treatment process, but if not done properly it can make you very sick. Perform at your own risk!

Step 1) Gather Your Materials

For this experiment, you will need the following materials...

Plastic soda or juice bottle
Vase or tall drinking glass
Gravel or small stones
Clean Sand Cotton balls, small cloth or coffee filter
Gardening dirt
Water
Scissors or knife

Step 2) Cut Off the Bottom of an Old Plastic Soda, Juice or Water Bottle

use scissors or a knife (with precaution) to cut off about 2 inches of the bottom of an old plastic soda, juice, or water bottle.

The length you cut depends on the type of bottle your using, and the size of it.

The bottle is a really important part of the filer, so make sure you cut it properly.

Step 3) Place the Bottle Upside Down Into a Tall Glass or Vase

Now that you have cut the bottom of the bottle, take the cap off and place the bottle upside into a tall glass or vase. Make sure the glass/vase is not too short, and make sure the bottle is not sideways.

Step 4) Place the Cotton Balls, Cloth, or Coffee Filter in the Bottle

Place something soft/fluffy such as cotton balls, cloth of coffee filters as the first layer of the filter. Make sure that it is at the bottom of the bottle and should take up about 1-2 inches. (depends on the size of your bottle)

Step 5) Add in Rocks

Next, add in a few rocks or small stones as the second layer of your water filter. Make sure not to add rocks that are too big because they can get in the way of letting the water pass through.

Rocks will help filter out large sediments, like leaves or insects.

Step 6) Add Clean Sand

Over the small stones/rocks/gravel add about 2 inches of clean sand, it will help remove fine impurities and contaminants.

Step 7) Add Soil

For the final layer add about 2 inches of soil, make sure to leave about a half-inch of space from the top of the upside bottle. The soil will help filter leaves, insects, and other debris out of the water as part of the infiltration process of the water cycle.

Step 8) Make the Water "dirty" to Test the Filter

pour a cup of tap water and add in some dirt to create muddy water. Alternatively, get creative and add other things like glitter, leaves, woodchips, cooking oil, and etc to make the water "dirty."

Step 9) Pour the Dirty Water Down Your Filter

Slowly pour the dirty water down your water filter, and you will see how it gets cleaner.

Experiment Result

As you can see the water is still kind of dirty, this is because we only did 1 step to filtering it. Additionally, the type of filter made was reverse osmosis + distillation, the water filter separates the clean water from the dirt causing there to be reverse osmosis. and remember this water is not applicable to drinking until it goes through the filter a few more times, and it is boiled! When boiling the water there will be distillation.

This filter is better than nothing, and this system is used on a large scale and is rather accepted since it filters out bacteria.

I hope you enjoyed!