Homemade Water Filter

by John
(US)

Where I live the water doesn’t taste very nice, so to make it drinkable I have made a homemade water filter to filter out as many impurities as possible. The water filter I made is simple to make and can be made from most household items.

What you need:

- Activated charcoal
- A plastic bottle with lid, a two liter bottle is best
- A coffee filter
- Cotton batting, this is used in making quilts so should be readily available
- Scissors or a craft knife for cutting the bottle


Take the plastic bottle and cut the bottom off being careful you don’t cut yourself. Then take the screw on lid and drill a hole through it. Once your homemade water filter is ready the water will come out through the lid once screwed back onto the bottle, so make the hole big enough for the water to come out.

Next take the bottle and insert a layer of charcoal followed by a layer of cotton. Do this until you are about 3 inches from the top then insert the coffee filter.

Pour water into the coffee filter slowly. The water will drain down to the bottom passing through the charcoal and cotton which will rid the water of most of the impurities. I use this water filter quite a lot and it does make the water taste better.



I have used the filter when camping but boiled the water first as this will kill any bacteria in the water, I then filtered the water using my water filter.

You can make a water filter using different materials. Try using gravel, sand and charcoal to filter water. For larger projects I use a large outside water butt and using the same principles for filtration, I have gallons of fresh drinkable water.

Most of the things you can use will be recyclable so helping you save the planet, all it needs to make a homemade water filter is a little imagination and creativity.