Water Purification

By Val Shortt

When hiking, camping, hunting or any other outdoor activity it is always essential to have clean, pure drinking water. There are many reasons to know about water purification . It is certainly not just a matter of having our water taste good. There are many water-borne illnesses that you can get from different sources.

Whether you are wanting to drink from a lake, river, small stream or a well you may not always be certain about its quality. They can all be polluted from such things as sewage, runoff, animal waste and pathogens.

One of the most common illness you can get from drinking such water without a water purification treatment is Giardiasis or beaver fever which is a nasty intestinal parasite. There are a variety of methods that can be used to treat water to make it safe for drinking.

water purification Tablets (Iodine Tablets) are one of the methods that have been used for many years. Depending on the water, one or two tablets are needed to destroy the bacteria and viruses. Most brands take about 30 minutes to purify the water.

The iodine kills many but not all of the most common pathogens in water. Many of the kits come with 2 types of tablets, the iodine and a vitamin C tablet to help eliminate some of the iodine taste, but should not be added until the iodine has done its work.

Boiling water will kill bacteria and other microorganisms commonly found in rivers and lakes. This will work to kill off certain pathogens but will not get rid of pollution.

The combination of boiling the water and using a charcoal filtration system after will do the job of getting rid of bacteria and pathogens an pollution as well. The draw back to this type of water purification is the time and fuel needed to do the job.

UV water purification (SteriPen) is a hand held device that sanitizes one quart of water in ninety seconds. It is powered by batteries. The Traveler model can treat 100 quarts of water. Taking extra batteries for this type of system would be the best idea.

There are a variety of Filtering water bottles on the market for water purification with micro-filters and purification cartridges. On average, water bottles can be filled over 100 times before a filter or cartridge needs to be replaced.

It is usually a 3 step system that first, removes the sediment, second ,uses an iodinated resin kills microorganisms, including E.coli, cholera, polio, hepatitis and other viruses, and third, the carbon removes much of the unwanted flavors, odors and iodine.

It is always best to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the health of yourself and those traveling with you by never drinking water out of a rivers, lakes or streams without using a proper water purification method.