Probably Stolen water guide: grades, purification and selling
Water in Probably Stolen comes in six grades, from Pure Water (99.9% purity or more) down to Gutterflow. The grade is simply the share of actual water in the container. You get water from Moisture Farms, sellers and rations, clean it with a Water Purifier, UV Lamp, filters or a HydraTech Micro Water Purifier, and sell it by grade.
What are the water grades?
Purity is the water share of the total liquid volume in a container. The game sorts it into six named grades. The price modifier is the grade’s adjustment to the container’s base value, which is 40 credits per litre.
| Grade (EN) | Purity | Price modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Water | 99.9% and up | +100% |
| High-Quality Water | 99% to 99.9% | +50% |
| Basewater | 98% to 99% | 0% |
| Ghostwater | 96% to 98% | -33% |
| Rustwater | 90% to 96% | -75% |
| Gutterflow | below 90% (generated 35% to 90%) | -90% |
Contaminants are separate liquids that make up the rest: Heavy Metal, Organic Waste, Microplastic, Microbes, Chemical Contaminant, Physical Contaminant and Mineral, among others. The exact mix is random for each batch.
Where do I get water?
- Moisture Farm. A machine that collects water overnight into a container you provide. Without modules it produces 850 ml per night, and by default its grade is Ghostwater. Quality bonus raises the grade, and Performance bonus raises the volume. Several farms running on the same night share air: with 2 farms each makes about 80% of its output, with 3 farms about 67%. See Moisture Farm.
- Water sellers. Customers come to sell water: a Water Company supplier, honest and dishonest sellers. Sealed Water Rations (750 ml and 375 ml of Basewater) also turn up as items.
- Animal Feces. Feces dissolve in a liquid container. A small pile adds 10 ml of Organic Waste, 4 ml of Microbes and 1 ml of Insoluble Debris (a normal pile has twice that, a large one four times). A UV Lamp turns the Microbes into water, and a Water Filter strips the rest, so each small pile yields about 4 ml of clean water. It works, but only in tiny amounts.
- Starting kit. The Water Merchant specialization starts with the Water Trading Manual, water testing and purification equipment and extra water containers. See Water Merchant.
How much water can I store?
A Water Tank holds 20 litres. Use Scrap Metal on it for +2 litres or a metal ingot for +4 to +14 litres depending on the ingot’s purity, up to 50 litres.
How do I tell what grade water really is?
A seller’s label can lie. Ghostwater (96% to 98%) is easy to pass off as Basewater, and the game records it as a crime if you sell it that way unnoticed.
- Water Testing Strip (3 credits, from the Water Testing Kit) accurately determines the quality of a sample.
- AquaScan (200 credits) determines quality and shows which impurities were detected.
How do I purify water?
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Water Purifier | Overnight machine that removes contaminants up to a purity cap (99% by default). See Water Purifier. |
| UV Lamp (150 credits) | Use it on a water container: all Microbes in it become water. It does not wear out. Nothing else is removed. |
| Water Filter (25 credits) | Goes into a filter container such as the Water Pitcher. Strips Organic Waste, Microplastic, Mineral and Physical Contaminant from water poured through it. It has 400 durability. |
| Advanced Water Filter (350 credits) | Same job, and recovers 50 durability at the start of each day. |
| Hydroreed Filter (20 credits) | Same job as the Water Filter, with 200 durability. Grown from Hydroreed with the Hydroreed Filter Hydroponic Module. |
| Kotton Fabric | Also fits a filter container, but only catches very large particles (size 150 and up) such as Insoluble Debris. 1,000 durability. |
| HydraTech Micro Water Purifier (325 credits) | Brings any water in a container up to Basewater purity, using 1 durability per 100 ml (300 durability total). Water that is already Basewater or better is left alone. |
| Water Purification Tablets (6 credits each) | Reduce Microbes and Chemical Contaminant in a container. |
How do I remove heavy metals and chemical contaminants?
Filters cannot do it: a filter only catches particles of size 22 or more, and Heavy Metal (12) and Chemical Contaminant (2) are smaller. Filters also skip Microbes. Heavy metals and chemicals come out in the Water Purifier, which removes them last, or with the HydraTech Micro Water Purifier.
Can plants and fish clean water?
Yes, slowly:
- Hydroreed has the Purifying trait. While it grows in a hydroponic machine, each night it removes about 28% of every contaminant in its water (at least 1 ml of each) and turns it into water, up to about 99% purity, so High-Quality Water at best. It leaves Mineral alone.
- Gutter Tilapia in an aquaculture tank absorbs 0.5 ml of Heavy Metal, Chemical Contaminant and Physical Contaminant per 100 g of body weight each night, with or without power.
How do I get Pure Water?
The Water Purifier’s default purity cap is 99%, which tops out at High-Quality Water. Its cap rises with the machine’s Quality bonus from modules: the cap reaches 99.9% at a Quality bonus of 100, and 100% at 200. Check the Max Purity line in the machine’s tooltip. Pure Water can also come from Moisture Farms with a high Quality bonus (a farm Quality bonus of 50 gives Basewater, 100 gives High-Quality Water, 150 or more gives Pure Water; 0 to 49 gives Ghostwater, below 0 gives Rustwater, below -50 gives Gutterflow).
How do I sell water?
Pour water into a container and offer it to customers. Container price scales with volume and grade.
- Selling water that is worse than its label, without the customer finding out, is tracked as a crime. Unexposed Ghostwater is logged as Consumer Endangerment; other mislabeled water as Fraudulent Misrepresentation. Tourists are exempt.
- Customers who hear a lower grade than they expected lower their price. Customers refuse water below the grade they want, for example “Basewater? I’m not drinking that!”
Who buys water in bulk?
What you put in the display case decides which water customers come. From day 14, if the water in the case is worth 350 credits or more in total, or most of it is Pure Water, the case attracts the Water Stockpiler, an Upper Levels customer with a budget of 500 to 600 credits plus the current day number. This customer only takes High-Quality Water, Pure Water and the Bottle of Spring Water (325 credits). A case worth 145 credits or more, or one holding mostly High-Quality or Pure Water, brings a Spacer, a mid-tier water buyer, instead.
Player-reported, unverified: two Bottles of Spring Water in the case are an easy way to reach the 350-credit threshold, since each is worth 325 credits.
For the full crime and reputation picture, see Security.
FAQ
What is Ghostwater? Water of 96% to 98% purity. It sells for 33% less than Basewater and is dangerous to pass off as Basewater.
Does the UV Lamp make water Pure? No. It only converts Microbes into water. It is useful as a cheap, unlimited-use step before the Water Purifier.
Can I make Pure Water from Gutterflow? Yes in principle: the Water Purifier removes any removable contaminant overnight, and it works much faster on dirty water. The cap decides the final grade, so you need Quality modules for Pure Water.
Where do I buy a Water Purifier? From Dr. Jackson after the Water Trading network upgrade: he always has one if you own none, otherwise with a 25% chance per visit. The Retired Water Merchant, who visits weekly (days 3, 10, 17…) for Water Merchant starts or after Water Trading, always sells one, together with a Moisture Farm.
Why is my water not getting cleaner? The container may already be at the machine’s Max Purity, the battery may be empty, or the container may be a type the machine rejects (only owned liquid containers fit).