Filter, Boil and Store Water at Camp
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What you will learn
- 1Follow the camp water routine from collecting to storing
- 2Explain why filtered water is clearer but not yet safe
- 3Describe a rolling boil and why the adult does the boiling
- 4Store and label boiled water in a clean covered container
Mini Lesson
At camp, water from a stream or lake can look clean and still carry germs you cannot see. In Grade 4 you learned the ways to make water safe. Now you will learn the camp routine that a family follows every day. You help with the clearing steps (settle and filter), and your grown-up does the boiling. Done in the right order, the routine gives your camp safe water to drink.
🌿 The Wild Way (the camp water routine)
- COLLECT: with your grown-up, scoop water from a stream or lake into a clean pot or bottle. Never go to the water alone.
- SETTLE: let muddy water sit still for a while so the dirt sinks to the bottom.
- CLOTH FILTER: pour the top water slowly through a clean cloth, like a bandana, to catch bits of leaf, sand and mud.
- BOIL: the adult brings the water to a rolling boil - big bubbles that do not stop when the water is stirred. A full rolling boil for at least 1 minute is the safe practice.
- COOL: let the water cool in the pot with a lid on. Never touch the pot while it is hot.
- STORE AND LABEL: pour the cooled water into a clean bottle with a lid and label it "boiled".
Clear is not the same as safe
- CLEARER: settling and the cloth make water look better, but germs are too small for a cloth to catch.
- SAFE: only after the full rolling boil is the water ready to drink, once it has cooled.
- HIGH UP: on high mountains, water needs to boil longer. Check with your grown-up how long.
- KEEP IT CLEAN: a dirty bottle or an open container can spoil boiled water again.
This is an ADULT lesson: the grown-up lights and runs the fire or camp stove, lifts the pot, and pours the hot water. Boiling water burns badly, so stand back while it boils and while it cools. Never drink stream or lake water before it has been boiled, even if it looks clear. If anyone gets burned, tell the adult right away.
Words to know
settle
To let water sit still so dirt sinks to the bottom.
e.g. We let the muddy water settle before we poured it.
filter
To pour water through something that catches bits of dirt.
e.g. A bandana can filter out sand and leaves.
rolling boil
Big bubbles that keep coming even when the water is stirred.
e.g. The adult kept the pot at a rolling boil for a full minute.
germs
Living things too small to see that can make people sick.
e.g. Clear stream water can still have germs in it.
container
A bottle, jug or pot that holds something.
e.g. We stored the boiled water in a clean container with a lid.
label
A tag or mark that says what is inside.
e.g. The label on the bottle said "boiled".
🧠 Survivor’s Trick: use two bottles that look different - one for raw (not yet boiled) water and one for boiled water. Mark the boiled one with a strip of tape. Then nobody at camp ever drinks from the wrong one by mistake. (Building a sand and gravel filter is a Science project - at camp, the cloth is enough before the boil.)
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