How to Clean Dirty Water in Sons of the Forest

There’s a lot you need to think about when it comes to surviving in Sons of the Forest. Between battling beasties and desperately trying to pull together materials to construct a house, you’ll need to remember your basic needs too like food and water. As dynamic seasons change, you’ll notice that food becomes harder to come by, and while water seems fairly consistent and easy to locate, you’re not going to be able to consume the second you’ve filled a vessel. Purifying your water is an essential step in Sons of the Forest, and you’ll need to do it to any contaminated resource before drinking.

How to Purify your Water in Sons of the Forest

Fortunately, the process of purifying water is incredibly simple. You’ll need a fire, which can be built with two sticks, a lighter, and a few leaves, and a cooking pot which can be found across the map in both bunkers and camps. Once you’ve constructed your fire and put your cooking pot on top, you can put any dirty or unclean water inside and leave it for a while, and it’ll slowly purify. This process isn’t immediate, so you might have to get a couple of pots of water purifying at once to ensure you’re never in short supply.

Related: How to Get a Shovel in Sons of the Forest

That said, there are a few ways you can get clean, drinkable water immediately, which is particularly helpful if your character is dehydrated and you’re caught in a pinch. Drinking from ponds, lakes, and rivers is usually fine, which can be done by crouching near a water source and pressing E when prompted. However, if you don’t want to stray too far from your base, you can also craft a rain catcher with a turtle shell and a handful of sticks to have a pretty consistent stream of water when the rainy season approaches.

If you’re looking for alternative advice on how to survive longer than the first night in Sons of the Forest, we’ve got guides on How to Get Food in Sons of the Forest which might help you out, as well as How to Get the Winter Jacket in Sons of the Forest for when the cold creeps in and you realize the mutant enemies aren’t the only challenge you’ll have to face during your time with the title.