Water filters (cheap DYI and not so cheap ideas) in a nut shell

 Love that dirty water is a song, not what we want to drink.

 To have water filters on hand for a major emergency is a good thing. To have water filters now a days with the quality of city water is also not a bad thing.

 Now what I have learned trolling the internet....are DAM there are a lot of water filters out there.

But to save you time here it all is....if you have any others put them in the comment section.

Store ones are the best costly but easier and nicer looking. Many preppers go with the ceramic berkey.  Because these can be cleaned and used for a very long time (years). or the black berkey.  I got these (click here). now you can get the whole set up for $300.00 - 400 bucks....not on my budget!  or you get the filters for 30.00 each. And do the system your self for a few dollars more.

Here is the basic how to, to make the system with these filters.

 video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrvmO-ScgQI&feature=related

pics

 http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

I also came across a women that made them with smaller nicer plastic summer water jars with a

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/dirt-cheap-berkey-filter/

 Now the next ones all vary but same concept....this picture below is the best of all of the next ideas. And is great for the city because you can make these up in water or soda bottle and they do not take up alot of space. And super cheap to make. Added Note:
Contaminants are also removed more effectively if they are in contact with the activated charcoal for a longer time, so flow rate through the charcoal affects filtration. So remember you do not want the water to flow threw your filter like it is a sink faucet.  A slow drip means it will be cleaner!

Homemade Bio filter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OoZzkQR2Gs&feature=related

Homemade Charcoal filter is basically what all your kitchen sink ones are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JzkZgQkrT40

In 2009 their was a show called The Colony  a real survival show. And they used the charcoal from their fire in place of store bought. Not that you would at this point in time, but it is a good fact to have in the back of your mind. .

Homemade Portable filter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=RAZNxOFghwc

So to keep a small 3$ bag of sand and a 6$ bag of charcoal bits from the pet store Petsmart.com you have an easy filter system you can make in small water bottles to put in your go bag. You can use BBQ charcoal to but the bits are just nicer looking.

Last but not least.......

Even corking the hole in a ceramic pot and making one of these is a possibility

http://pfp.he207.vps.webenabled.net/?page_id=63

and yes the song for this post is  The Standells - Dirty Water