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Chapter 10

Water and Water Purification


Most travelers must increase their water intake since they are probably expending more energy carrying a pack, walking, museum-going, and just being outside. In hot climates the need for water doubles or triples. Hikers need a gallon or more per day as they sweat and respire water and water vapor in large amounts. Note that alcohol and caffeinated drinks have a dehydrating effect.

A good indication of semi-dehydration is chapped lips. The next time your lips feel chapped drink several glasses of water and see what happens. As visible semi-mucous membranes, lips are a good indicator of your state of hydration. Thirst is not a reliable indicator.

Another barometer is the color of your urine. If it's always dark you are probably a quart or two low. A rule of thumb is to drink enough water to ensure at least two clear, healthy pees per day.


Obtaining Safe Water

In Western Europe, much of Eastern Europe, and other developed countries you can drink the water safely from public water supplies. In many (but not all) developing countries the water supply contains diarrhea-producing bacteria. While some hard travelers adjust to impure water over weeks or months, most travelers save themselves this discomfort by buying most or all of their water.

Note that ice cubes in developing countries are usually not made from purified water, and that they bite even from alcoholic drinks.

Buying water
is usually easy. It is sold in convenient one or 1.5-liter plastic bottles which cost from fifty cents to $3, depending on the country. Look for a quality label and a safety-sealed cap. Bottled drinks are also safe and are routinely drunk by travelers.
Boiling
makes tea, coffee, and soups safe in developing countries. Opinion varies on how much boiling is necessary, but a minute or two at full boil should do the job.
Iodine
is the preferred chemical treatment for water. It is easy and effective in twenty minutes, but iodine probably should not be relied on for months at a time. It also should not be used by pregnant women and people with thyroid conditions. The two most popular iodine treatments in the U.S. are Potable Aqua and Polar Pure.
Potable Aqua bottlePotable Aqua
consists of tiny iodine tablets in a small glass bottle. Directions are one or two tablets (depending upon temperature, clarity, and giardia control) per quart of water. Shake and let dissolve, then loosen the cap and shake again to allow the iodized water to spread over the threads, killing germs there. It's ready for drinking in twenty minutes.
The water has a slight brownish-orange color, and a moderate iodine taste. Potable Aqua also comes with ascorbic acid tablets, called P.A. Pure, which greatly reduce the iodine taste and the off-color.
Potable Aqua tablets should be left sealed in the glass bottle until use, since they have a limited effective life after exposure to air.
Polar Pure iodine water treatmentPolar Pure
consists of a four-ounce glass bottle with crystallized iodine in the bottom. The bottle is filled with several ounces of water. After a few minutes (time dependent on water temperature--a small thermometer is attached) this bottle is poured into a quart-sized water container to be purified. The crystals remain in the original glass bottle. While Polar Pure is slightly more complicated than Potable Aqua, less iodine is used, and it has a longer shelf life.
Liquid iodine
from a dropper bottle is an alternate method used by some travelers. When faced with suspect water in a restaurant they add two or three drops per glass of water, stir, and wait a few minutes. This is unscientific but seems to work.
Silver
water disinfectant tablets are expensive at about $20 for a packet of forty tablets, which purifies forty quarts. Silver is an alternative for those who don't want to use iodine.
Chlorine
tablets or liquid are not recommended as a water purifier, as chlorine is unstable and not always effective. Since it is also associated with a small cancer risk, only use chlorine in a pinch.
Filtering
is the high-tech method of making water safe to drink. Several different types of filters are discussed below. While the majority of travelers buy their water and carry iodine tablets or drops for emergencies, a special purifying filter may make sense for some travelers.
I recommend purifying filters for travelers who camp away from campgrounds--say in Central American National Parks, or who will otherwise be in the bush. Travelers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and in the former Soviet Union could also benefit from a good purifying filter.
Boiling is very inconvenient since it takes a lot of time and fuel. While iodine makes water bacteriologically safe, it doesn't remove crud or improve taste. A good water filter pumps out a great tasting quart of water in a few minutes, and gives you a real boost compared to forcing yourself to drink boiled or iodine-purified (but still cruddy) water. In the long run you could also save money by filtering instead of buying.


Water Filters and Water Purifiers

Water filters clean water by passing it through a filter of a certain pore size which screens contaminants. These are fine for backcountry use in the U.S. and Canada since giardia is the main contaminant here. (Giardia screening requires only a pore size of two microns.) Developing countries, however, may have waterborne viruses, such as hepatitis, which are too small to be completely screened by any filter. Thus virus control requires boiling, iodine chemical treatment, or a purifying filter, such as some of those made by PUR.

Some PUR water filters/purifiers incorporate an iodine matrix into a one-micron filter, which kills viruses and bacteria without passing much iodine into the water. Other manufacturers are following PUR's lead.

In practice non-purifying filters which screen contaminants to 0.2 microns remove most viruses as viruses usually attach themselves to bigger things, which are then screened. To be completely safe, however, you may want to add a little iodine to the water after filtering. While not as much iodine is necessary as with unfiltered water, you still must wait twenty minutes before drinking.


Using Filters

Avoid fast clogging by always using the cleanest available water. If the water is particularly dirty or silt-laden, let it settle in a pot before filtering. I permanently clogged a First Need filter on the second quart drawn from a silty Washington river.

To clean a clogged filter you must carefully follow manufacturer instructions. A grave possibility is contaminating yourself with the nasty bacteria trapped inside the filter. You must also be careful about contamination from the water-source hose. Take care with a ceramic filter as a hairline crack will make it 100% ineffective.


Selection Criteria for Water Filters

If you are going to depend on a filter for much of your water field cleanability, pump speed, and ease of use are far more important than a few ounces of weight. A good filter saves you from carrying at least some water, which weighs eight pounds per gallon. Note that pump speed lessens the more the filter is used.

Filters with a pore size of one micron or less are good. Note that smaller pore sizes and smaller filters clog faster. Carbon filters trap pesticides and metals, which for my taste is a worthwhile feature. Ceramic-only filters like the Katadyns do not.

For short periods of developing world backcountry or emergency use, filters such as the PUR Scout and Sweetwater with iodine cartridge are good choices.

If you will be filtering most or all of your water, say in East Africa or the Darien Gap, then you will appreciate having (and essentially require) an easy-pumping, easy-cleaning, full-size filter such as the PUR Explorer. It self-cleans with a twist of the handle, and is the easiest pumping filter over the long haul.

Note again that a water purifier is not a requirement for developing-world travel. Most travelers buy most of their water and use iodine tablets or drops in a pinch.


Water Filters Compared

The following filters are representative of the current market. All specifications are from the companies--after a few gallons of use only Superman can pump as fast as claimed. I have not been compensated by any company to plug their products. My loyalty is to the reader only.

Katadyn Pocket
$250, 21 oz. Pumps 32 oz./minute. Ceramic filter that screens to 0.2 microns. This Swiss product has been widely used for thirty years. It has the longest-lasting filter element at up to 13,000 gallons, and is considered very reliable. Field cleanable.
Katadyn Mini
$150, 8 oz. Pumps 16 oz./minute. Ceramic filter that screens to 0.2 microns. Very compact size. It clogs fast, but is field cleanable.
Sweetwater filter without iodine cartridge or hosesSweetwater Guardian
$50, 11 oz. Pumps 32 oz./minute. Carbon filter that screens to 0.2 microns. Has an optional iodine matrix cartridge for virus protection, and an optional adapter for hooking directly to a faucet to eliminate pumping. Field cleanable. (Pictured right without hoses or accessories.)
PUR Traveler
$70, 12 oz. Pumps 4 oz. per push. Screens to one micron, then passes the water through an iodine matrix which kills all other bacteria and viruses. You pour four ounces of water into the top, push down on the top, and water pours into a plastic cup, which is provided. Designed for use on a restaurant table. No carbon filter available.
PUR Scout
$65, 12oz. Pumps 16 oz./minute. Screens to one micron, then passes the water through an iodine matrix which kills all other bacteria and viruses. Only a little iodine passes into the water, which can just be detected by taste. Pure Explorer water purifierAn optional carbon cartridge ($20) removes this iodine and many organic chemicals such as pesticides. Field cleanable.
PUR Explorer
$130, 20oz. Larger and better than the Scout, with faster pumping and auto-cleaning by twisting the handle. Pumps 48 oz./minute. From my experience this is the fastest pumping, easiest to clean, and most effective filter, especially with the optional carbon cartridge. (Pictured right with prefilter.)

 


Water Vessels

Plastic water bottle
1 oz., free with purified water or soft-drink purchase. Used by most travel backpackers and long distance trail hikers, it's several ounces lighter than other choices, doubles as a pillow, and the screw cap usually works well.
Left to right: The Cube 32 oz., Nalgene 32 oz., Nalgene 16 oz., and polyethylene 32 oz. Four water vessels
Nalgene Lexan bottle
4 oz., $6. This is the perfect yuppie car travel water vessel. It's beautiful (if you scrape off the advertising); leakproof (due to the stiffness of Lexan); expensive (who wants cheap?); and most important, the Lexan imparts no taste upon water, unlike cheaper and softer polyethylene.
Polyethylene bottle
3 oz., $4. Cheaper and an ounce lighter than the Nalgene Lexan, but not as leakproof, and it imparts a plastic taste on water.
The Cube
1.5 oz., $2.50. Holds one quart. A convenient water vessel which, when empty, folds upon itself to take up very little pack space. An excellent product. I tuck one away in my pack for occasional extended capacity.
Water Sack
4 oz., $7. Holds three gallons inside two replaceable plastic bags. More convenient than sheep bladders for containing large amounts of water.
Two water sacks The blue water sack holds three gallons inside two thin plastic but reasonably strong bags, weighs four ounces empty (twenty-five pounds full!), costs $7, and imparts virtually no taste on water.


The black sack holds one gallon within a single very strong membrane, weighs seven ounces empty, imparts a yucky taste on water after a few hours, and set me back $20.


Literary Quotes

Then, when the heavens and earth are on fire, and sun drinks up rivers at one draught, when one burnt sienna tone pervades the tawny ground, and the green herb is shrivelled up into black gunpowder, and the rare pale ashy olive-trees are blanched into the livery of the desert; then, when the heat and harshness make even the salamander muleteers swear doubly as they toil along like demons in an ignited salitrose dust--then, indeed, will an Englishman discover that he is made of the same material, only drier, and learn to estimate water.... Richard Ford, England, from Gatherings from Spain, 1846


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How to See the World on $25 a Day or Less is copyright © John Gregory 1995, 1996, 1997. Except for personal use (like showing to a friend), it may not be reproduced, retransmitted, archived, or altered without author permission (
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