craftgrrl | crafty, sure, and possibly useful info if someone can get the info into Mississippi

I just ran across a nifty DIY magazine called Make. It has a challenge in every issue called Makeshift in which a problem and a list of available equipment is presented. In issue 2, that problem was how to filter dirty river water into potable water with the equipment on the list--not just muddy water, but water potentially containing pathogens and industrial chemicals. The prizewinning solutions are here. In the comments below, someone linked to another filtration method developed by an Australian scientist that involves only clay (dug from the ground, not art-grade clay), fine organic matter (like crumbled leaves or coffee grounds), and cow manure. The latter isn't fast--it takes 2 hours for one filter to purify a liter, and that's after you finish making the filter--but the ingredients are pretty universal. Dunno if human manure would work as a substitute for cow...it gets used as fuel.
So, if any of y'all like the harder side of DIY, give the magazine a look; if you're thinking about emergency preparedness around your home, give the water filtration pages a look; if you know of a way for this information to help the folks hit by the Hurricane, then go for it and bless you.