The PortaWell® Story

The PortaWell® Story

We developed and patented the PortaWell® water filter system because we didn’t have a good solution for clean water in a long term emergency. We felt we had great options for storing food, but sufficient water storage was always filled with challenges due to the weight and space requirements and the need to rotate it or treat it to try and keep it clean. 

We considered many of the good filtering options in the market today such as gravity filters, whole house filter systems, or even the smaller straw or hand pump options often used in back packing.  These options all have their place but didn’t have the portability and ability to quickly produce large amounts of clean water and be sustainable for potentially long term emergency situations. 

The PortaWell® water filter system is not meant for countertop or back packing because of its size and configuration.  Instead, it is best utilized in a home based or camp-based emergency situation where grid utilities including power and water are down and may not be available for an extended period of time.  Clean water is one of the most mentioned survival concerns for this scenario and we believe the PortaWell® water filter system is an excellent solution for this scenario especially when you need to provide water for a family or group because:

1. It is ruggedly constructed, light weight, easily transported and stored.
2. PortaWell® utilizes standard sized, commercially available filters that are NSF tested and certified and available from multiple manufacturers and sources.
3. Multiple filter options include sediment prefilters, cleanable submicron ceramic filters for microbe reduction, activated carbon filters for chemical contaminant reduction, and dual function ceramic with internal core for reduction of both microbes and chemical contaminants (including heavy metals and radionuclides).  
4. Users can mix and match and tailor their filter selection for the PortaWell® water filter system to meet their specific water conditions.
5. It provides two stage filtration (with an option for 4 stages) for multi filter water treatment. 
6. Its battery-operated pump produces a high-capacity output compared to most other available systems.
7. It provides a sustainable means of providing safe drinking water with the addition of a few spare filters, clenable ceramic filters, a 12-volt battery and solar recharging equipment for the battery.

The PortaWell® water filter system standardly ships with three broad application filters: a 1-micron (nominal) sediment prefilter, a 0.5-micron (absolute) ceramic filter, and a 5-micron activated carbon filter. We have available through our website a 0.5-micron (micron) sediment prefilters as well as a 0.2- micron (absolute) pleated filter (NanoCeram PAC) manufactured by Argonide.  There is also an excellent 0.5 micron (absolute) dual core ceramic filter (CereMetix) manufactured by AquaCera.

The biggest challenge we see for PortaWell® is because of its versatility, it requires some understanding of water conditions and skill to use it effectively.  We live in a plug and play world where many people have lost or never had even rudimentary practical abilities.

We have learned that processing surface water to make it suitable for human consumption can be complex topic because the wide variety of water sources and potential water contaminants.  This is also evidenced by the great lengths communities and municipalities go to for selecting and protecting their water sources and the multi-stage processes to filter and treat the water for safe consumption. As a commitment to our new and existing PortaWell® customers, we regularly prepare and post articles on our website giving insight and tips on how to sustainably treat different water sources.  

PortaWell®, when used effectively and with a few additional supplies, is a means to provide life sustaining water to a family or group in an emergency scenario that may last weeks, months or even years.

We encourage people to store as much water as they are able to especially for use in short term emergencies. The stress and worry of storing enough or rotating or treating their water storage can be replace with peace of mind when paired with a PortaWell® water filter system and the planning for what water sources and conditions they have access to in a longer term emergency.

We have found these following questions to be very helpful when considering a PortaWell® water filter system:

1. How long of an emergency do I want to prepare for?
2. How many people do I want to support in this emergency?
3. What are my best water sources I would use?
4. Where are the best water sources located? How would I access them?
5. What contaminants am I concerned about with those water sources?

The answers to these questions will help a person determine what supplies and filters they should have to operate their PortaWell® water filter system to give them the best chance to create sufficient clean water.