Lately I’ve been catching myself reading a lot of survival stuff, more specifically about water filtration.  I think that at some point in the near future, the grid will shut off for a substantial period of time, and safe drinking water will become even more important than it already is.

As a result, I decided to build my own water filter.  I used just two 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets and 2 Black Berkey purification elements paired with 2 Berkey Arsenic/Fluoride elements.  With this setup, you save money on the costly (but pretty) Berkey upper/lower chambers while expanding your water collection capacity.

First, the buckets.  Go to your local grocery store and ask them if they have any 5 gallon food grade buckets…chances are that they’ll be happy to give them to you.  Wash out the buckets.

Next, drill a 5/8″ hole in the base of the bottom bucket for the spigot.  Thread on the spigot by hand, then tighten down using a wrench.  This is a tricky adjustment, so I recommend when you fill up your system for the first time, you place the system in your sink in case it leaks.  If it does leak, tighten the spigot a little bit more.

Next, follow Berkey’s instructions and prime your filter elements.  Essentially you’re running water through them in reverse in order to clear out the process dust and open up the micropores of the filters.  This takes less than two minutes per filter.

Finally, drill two 1/2″ holes through the base of the top bucket into the bottom bucket’s lid.  Then, install the Black Berkey elements by simply threading them on nice and tight by hand.  The optional Arsenic/Fluoride elements are threaded onto the base of the Black Berkey elements and hang down inside the lower bucket.

Run a full cycle of filtered water through the system and dump it…it’ll taste a bit metallic.  From here on out, you have up to 6,000 gallons with the Black Berkey elements, and 1,000 gallons with the optional Arsenic/Fluoride elements.

This is an easy project that will ensure the safety of you and yours for a long time when disaster strikes…I now have two of them.  Help, I’m becoming one of those crazy survivalist people!  Oh, what the heck…I’ll be able to drink rainwater if I have to, and in the meantime I can brew some killer coffee…