Qυеѕtіοn bу adelaide: purifying water οn a camping/hiking trip?
Wе аrе somewhat inexperienced hikers thаt аrе іn charge οf a scout trip fοr older kids. Whеn wе hаνе talked аbουt filtering water frοm a reservior fοr аn overnight canoe trip аnԁ hiking trip everyone keeps saying “well I suggest уου take аѕ much water аѕ уου саn” οr “I don’t know аbουt those tablets, I wouldn’t trust thеm” οr “I wouldn’t trust those filters”. Wе hаνе potable aqua tablets аnԁ nеw bυt older models οf sweetwater walkabout microfilters. Am I being naive οr аrе thеѕе people јυѕt being critical? None οf thеm hike οr camp without a full kitchen іn tow. I wουƖԁ Ɩіkе thе kids tο learn hοw tο ԁο thеѕе things аnԁ take a step closer tο truly “roughing іt”, bυt I ԁο nοt want tο рυt thеm unnecassarily аt risk fοr illness.
Best аnѕwеr:
Anѕwеr bу kb23
уου need tο boil water fοr 10 MINUTES.
Give уουr аnѕwеr tο thіѕ qυеѕtіοn below!
Tags: camping/hiking, purifying, trip, Water
boil it
the tablets and filters are both safe and effective. those are the people that couldn’t survive if they didnt have air conditioning and curling irons.
Well, I think that the filters are fine, just as well as the tablets… but if they’re that freaked out, then boil the water. It gets rid of any bacteria and if there’s stuff in it, just use a strainer. Boil it for like 10-15 min. to insure them that there can be nothing living in the water anymore. Tell them that it’s either the tablets or filters, or the boiling of water.
Well honestly what you would do in really roughing it is boil the water in a container and place a leaf or tarp above it and help funnel the clean water that’s evaporated and condensed on to another container. The tables work to an extent i have had some friends use them and ended up with bad diarrhea for about 2-3 days. The filters are nothing more then chlorine and a type of stone or sand.
Purification tablets are very good and very safe, but make the water taste horrible, I would still recommend boiling water in addition to using them. Very low risk of illness. There are new gadgets on the market that use UV light to purify water which are supposed to be very good.
You could use the tablets and then run the water through the filters. I would probably guess that this would be pretty safe as long as you aren’t drinking anything that has sewage or toxic waste that runs into it. I wouldn’t use this as your only source of water for the whole trip, but you could show them how to do it. You can also boil the water over a campfire.
The potable aqua tablets work really well. Its better to take a small bottle of tablets than taking 3 gallons of water for each person going on the trip. Trust the pills, they work!
Check out some reviews on the tablets. I’d probably trust them, but not for a whole lot of water. Everything in moderation. Safest bet is to always boil your water for at very minimum 10 minutes. But then you have to wait for it to cool off.
If you have the time though (like over the course of a very hot day) you could set up a distiller in the gound http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a scout handbook that didn’t mention how to make a simplified version of one (with a hole, two different sized bowls, and a trash bag).