Equipment |
Water Treatment |
Equipment water treatment
This is another huge topic, so I'll try to summarize just the basics, to make it relatively understandable.
Three types of water treatment - boiling or purification tablets, UV purifiers and mechanical filter (ceramic, carbon, fiber glass).
Boiling, iodine, purification tablets and UV sterilizers kills all bacteria and viruses, but no physical floaties and sediments.
Mechanical filter stops most of all physical barriers, sediments or whatever floats in water and is visible. However, microfilters (better version of filters), which have pores size from 0.2 to 1.0 microns (check the manufacturer packaging), also stops most of the bacteria. Unfortunately, they do not stop viruses (except now one model MSR Guardian which does stop viruses 0.02 micron pores).
The one common enemy which is eliminated by all the above methods is the protozoa, eg. Giardia lamblia. It occurs in waters with faeces of infected animal.
To be ready for any situation, you should use at least two ways of water treatment. Away from civilization (eg mountains), we should not worry about the physical barriers, and therefore UV sterilizer should be sufficient. But if we are talking about mountains in China, I would be afraid the heavy metals, even in innocent-looking spring source. I would drink the water from Yangtze River only after 18-times physical filtering and 12-times UV sterilizing, two-hour boiling and adding 300 ml of iodine and 60 purification tablets :)
Now in different order:
The most certain way is boiling, but it isn’t always handy for us, as it’s time-consuming and we need a fire source. Iodine tablets or purification water tablets are very good solution, but you can’t drink the water straight away - you must wait at least 30 minutes. If water is muddy you should filter it, eg by pouring the water through shirt or any piece of cloth. Besides it’s better to take running water rather than standing one. Iodine shouldn’t be used for a longer period (bad for your health), and leaves a strange taste (personally I don’t mind the taste, but at this point I'm in the minority). It’s also the cheapest form of water treatment, but for boiling we need to carry cookware, stove and fuel.
UV Sterilizers - small, convenient, work straight away. Actually, after using it, all bacteria and viruses are still in the water, but the ultra violet radiation already killed their DNA, so they cannot reproduce. They will just go through your body without any damage. The disadvantage of this device is the fact that it runs on batteries, which limits the overall usage.
From Steripen products only Classic model works on AA batteries and you need four of them (weight 162 grams with lithium batteries, runs on about 100 litres of water, price € 58). Adventurer Opti model operates on two CR123 batteries and they are difficult to buy in less developed countries or even in small towns in developed countries. It weighs 103 grams with the batteries. One of Steripen model doesn’t need batteries as it operates on winging power. Unfortunately, it weighs 470 grams (€ 73). Sterilizers don’t work well in muddy water. The water should be visible through the bottle, if not, try to clean it mechanically (pour the water through T-shirt) or extend the time of UV radiation.
Mechanical filters – they don’t require batteries, but are larger and heavier (450g, €120). They also should be cleaned regularly. The pro is that it’s hard to break them. I'm using a ceramic microfilter Miniworks EX from the company MSR. It works well, except in the situation where the water contains a large amount of physical sediments. Once, my filer stopped work as a lot of sand had blocked it. After I cleaned the filter, it functioned again. The filter doesn’t stop all viruses, but weakened them and let them get in smaller quantities, which may mean that the body will produce antibodies (works like vaccination). But with health it’s better to stay on the safe side. Now new MSR filetr Guardian ticks all boxes except the price - massive €370, but it even stops viruses.
How to carry the water? In plastic containers water doesn’t smell nice after time, but it is lightweight and you can buy versions of very durable bottles. Aluminum bottle is indestructible, but too heavy. Flask is out of the question if there is no plan to hike in a very cold place. I decided on ultra lightweight bottle from a Japanese company Evernew (to be purchased at Gossamer Gear website). A 1.5 litre bottle weighs only 36 grams (€11), but they aren’t the most durable, be careful. My old Platypus bottle didn’t last for long. Always an alternative may be a simple Coca-Cola bottle. On desert trips I carry with me the water bags made of Cordura (same fabric on backpacks), Dromedary from MSR. Very resistant to abrasion, tearing etc, keep the water with no artificial smell and cool even in hot weather. Unfortunately, they weight a bit - the capacity from two litres (179 grams) up to 10 litres (284 grams).