In a disaster, water lines can be cracked or broken, allowing impurities to contaminate your water. Here's how to purify your water for drinking when you're caught off-guard in an emergency. Immediately after a natural disaster, limit contamination to your water supply by shutting off the main-water inlet valve. If tap water appears cloudy, or has an unpleasant odor, switch to bottled water or other liquids ? if available. Or, most certainly, purify tap water before drinking. If heavy sediment is present, strain water first, pouring it through woven fabric or a porous material, like paper towels, coffee filters or layers of cloth. Then boil vigorously for at least 5 minutes. That will kill most harmful bacterial contamination. If boiling is not possible, add a few drops of ordinary chlorine bleach or tincture of iodine. For 1 gallon add 8 drops or 12 drops respectively. Never use granular household bleach; it's poisonous. In a disaster, be water-wise; play it safe, and purify. And that's the On The House tip for today.