So you found a water source but you have no idea if it is potable (or drinkable) or not. You can use a water filter, but if you don’t have one of those handy, you must boil the water before you consume it. You will need a pot to hold the water. Pour water into the pot, and bring it to a rolling boil for at least 5 minutes. Once you have done that, you can remove the pot from the fire and let it cool down. At that point, you can slowly drink the water, leaving the stuff on the bottom as still as possible.
Can you still get sick from the boiled water? Maybe, but at least you killed off most of the microbes and parasites that can cause illnesses. It is still not 100% safe, but this is better than not having water for 3 days or more.
Even if you have a water filter, I tend to boil the water, strain it through some filter, and then I drink through the water filter. I have yet to get sick doing that as opposed to drinking only boiled water. I have drank water that is only boiled and not filtered, and never really got sick. I did create a natural filter to process it before drinking it as much as possible.
