How do you make an improvised water purifier?

There are a lot of variations of this method, but I'll just cover the key concepts here.

1- What you will need:

2- Large container (the shell of the apparatus, and container for the unpurified water)

3- Small container (to catch the purified water)

4- Plastic sheet (must be large enough to cover the large container. this is the only part that cannot be improvised in the wild)

Method:

Place the catching container in the center of the holding container.

Fill the holding container with unpurified water so as not to cause the catching container to float, and so as not to get unpurified water in the catching container.

Place the plastic sheet over the top of the holding container and secure the sheet so as to make the whole thing air tight.

Place a rock in the center of the plastic sheet over the catching container.

Leave the set up in the sun and allow the water to evaporate. As the water evaporates it will collect on the plastic sheet and flow towards the rocks depression. Then it will drip into the catching container. The water in the catching container is pure and can be drunk.

Variation:

Dig a hole in the ground and use the hole as a holding container. Place the catching container in the middle of the hole and cover the hole with the plastic sheet as above. In this case you are using the moisture in the ground and don't need to fill te hole with water, although wetting the soil around the hole wouldn't hurt anything. In fact you can urinate near the hole to evaporate and reclaim the water lost in urination.

~Lilrofl