METHODS OF WATER PRESERVATION AND PURIFICATION

[karlsgunbunker]

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[rhino]

Some things to consider with water purification/sanitation.

First of all, you need to have an idea what may be in the water that might hurt you. If you have reason to believe there are chemicals in the water that are hazardous to your health (including salts, like seawater), your options are 1) distillation or 2) reverse osmosis filtration. Either of those will work for most anything you're likely to find, and will also eliminate pathogens as well (although R-O may have some trouble with some viruses. If in doubt, bleach or iodine before the R-O and you're in good shape). If you have no idea what be in the water, distillation or R-O are your best bets.

If your only concern is biological (pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and other critters), then your job is generally easier. Boiling almost always works if you have the energy and gear needed to do it. You also only need to bring the water to a rapid boil (212 deg F) to kill stuff. The ten minutes of rapid boiling mentioned above won't hurt anything, but it's unnecessary, especially if fuel supply is an issue. Boiling should probably be the "standard" if you have the means to do it. An added benefit (and perhaps a reason to boil for a few additional minutes) is that heating the water will cause some volatile chemicals to leave the water as a gas as well, as long as their boiling point is below that of water.

If you know you don't have something tough like giardia spores or cryptosporidium, the bleach (sodium hypochlorite) method above works well. Questionable tap or well water are likely candidates. Moving up the scale, iodine preparations will also get giardia. You can use tincture of iodine, a solution made from iodine crystals, various tablets, etc.

Iodine (and sometimes bleach/chlorine) will make your water taste horrible, though. You can minimize the taste of either with anything that has ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in it. Potable Aqua brand comes packaged with a second bottle of tablets to use after treatment, but it's just vitamin C. This is why a slice of lemon can make your tap water taste better ... the vitamin C eliminates much of the residual chlorine that the water treatment plant added to kill stuff in the water.

If you might have cryptosporidium (or just want to cover all the bases), then something like Micropure MP1 tablets from Katadyn is in order. It uses sodium chlorite (not to be confused with bleach, wish is sodium hypochlorite) and sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate (aka chlorine dioxide) as active ingredients. There is at least one other commerical product that is similar, Aquamira water purification tablets.

You also have the option of mechanical filters. They typically have porous filtration elements with openings too small for bacteria or anything larger to pass, but the water will go through under pressure (thus the pump or gravity feed). If viruses are of concern, you typically need to treat with chlorine or iodine as well. I'd put carbon adsorption filters in this category as well, although they work by the critters and organic chemicals adhering to the surface of the activated carbon. Carbon filters have the benefit of removing many harmful chemicals IF THE WATER IS IN CONTACT WITH THE MEDIA LONG ENOUGH (usually not the case with personal filters or the kind you have at home). Carbon filters are great for removing the taste of chlorine or iodine, though!

 

[ar15_dude]

Okay guys, here is an immediate application for your safe water practices. My brother in law is going to Mexico on a mission trip this summer. What can he do for effective, simple water purfication?
How about the drinking straws?
BCB Water Purifying Straw
Or an RO pump?
One of these Katadyn products?
Katadyn Filters and Purifiers - Brands & Products - KATADYN USA - global Number One in individualized water purification systems and water purification products

 

[bwframe]

Okay guys, here is an immediate application for your safe water practices. My brother in law is going to Mexico on a mission trip this summer. What can he do for effective, simple water purfication?
How about the drinking straws?
BCB Water Purifying Straw
Or an RO pump?
One of these Katadyn products?
Katadyn Filters and Purifiers - Brands & Products - KATADYN USA - global Number One in individualized water purification systems and water purification products

Also what about the Camelback filters Jeremy is recommending over in the Good, Bad, Ugly forum?

 

[karlsgunbunker]

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