I'm planning to visit argentine, bolivia, peru, paraguay,
equador, brazil and the amazon.
Should I take water-purification with me?
If the answer is yes, wich one(s)?
Thanks anyway,
enjoy your travel.
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Yes definetely. The cheapest and best working are iodine
tablets, which I have used in Costa Rica and Ecuador with no
problems. They are cheaper than filters and some filters
don't take care of giardia. It make the water taste sucky
though. Make sure you use one tablet in one quart of water
and let it disove for a good half hour and splash the
purified water areound the edge of your bottle.
I's say go for bottle water if you can, if not boiled water
(don't forget to consider altitude here - boil for 5-10
minutes).
Water purification doesn't kill everything, amebas for
example.
Good luck!
If trekking then yep, take a water filter with anti-bacterial
agent. Or the iodine pills..neutralize the taste with lime
juice or some pills come with an ascorbic acid pill. Giardia
is something to be afraid of on the trail. In town just buy
bottled water. Cheap and sold everywhere. I get lazy and
often drink tap water in cities. Been years since my last
case of dysentery. Either public water systems are improving
or I'm getting immune.
Definitely take the iodine pills with you for those times you can't get the bottled water. The iodine pills kill everything including
giarida, giardia cysts, all bacteria, and virusses. The filters will not keep out the virus and many bacteria unless they include an
iodinization stage. Boiling the water works if you can keep it tightly covered; as soon as you open the lid the bacterial and
virusses invade it. The pills I use are labelled Potable Agua, available in many sporting goods and camping stores. They come
about 50 in a very small bottle and are easy to carry. If you don't like the taste, drop in a vitamin C pill to completely neutralize
the taste. Beware, however, that you should not use iodine for extended periods of time (>6 months); the liver doesn't like it.
I just spent 6 months traveling the loop around South
America and I drank the tap water in most of the places and
bottled water everywhere else. The tap water in all major
cities is fine and throughout most of the Andes. When in
doubt ask the locals at hostels,campgrounds etc. If they
drink the tap water it should be ok.
You can take iodine tablets, and you'll be safe but it
tastes like SHIT. You can buy tablets that stabalizes the
taste of iodine, but to much trouble and it still taste
shitty. Water bottles are heavy to carry and boiling water
is way to long of a process. I work in a hiking store and
I have found that the best water purifier is from a company
called PUR, they make different models, the one you want is
called the hiker. IT kills germs, viruses, gardia,
basically EVERYTHING! (99.9%) If you want proof: THE
BACKPACKER magasine did a test with over 50 people and with
the best filters on the market. The WINNER: THE HIKER from
PUR. And one of the least expensive, easy maintenance,
durable, light and fast pumping. Personnaly you will not go
wrong with this choice! And it is a very cool article it
tells you everything you want to know about water, viruses,
bacteria, difference between filters and purifiers. Do
yourself a favor and get that aticle!
You can take iodine tablets, and you'll be safe but it
tastes like SHIT. You can buy tablets that stabalizes the
taste of iodine, but to much trouble and it still taste
shitty. Water bottles are heavy to carry and boiling water
is way to long of a process. I work in a hiking store and
I have found that the best water purifier is from a company
called PUR, they make different models, the one you want is
called the hiker. IT kills germs, viruses, gardia,
basically EVERYTHING! (99.9%) If you want proof: THE
BACKPACKER magasine did a test with over 50 people and with
the best filters on the market. The WINNER: THE HIKER from
PUR. And one of the least expensive, easy maintenance,
durable, light and fast pumping. Personnaly you will not go
wrong with this choice! And it is a very cool article it
tells you everything you want to know about water, viruses,
bacteria, difference between filters and purifiers. Do
yourself a favor and get that aticle!
You can take iodine tablets, and you'll be safe but it
tastes like SHIT. You can buy tablets that stabalizes the
taste of iodine, but to much trouble and it still taste
shitty. Water bottles are heavy to carry and boiling water
is way to long of a process. I work in a hiking store and
I have found that the best water purifier is from a company
called PUR, they make different models, the one you want is
called the hiker. IT kills germs, viruses, gardia,
basically EVERYTHING! (99.9%) If you want proof: THE
BACKPACKER magasine did a test with over 50 people and with
the best filters on the market. The WINNER: THE HIKER from
PUR. And one of the least expensive, easy maintenance,
durable, light and fast pumping. Personnaly you will not go
wrong with this choice! And it is a very cool article it
tells you everything you want to know about water, viruses,
bacteria, difference between filters and purifiers. Do
yourself a favor and get that aticle!
Andrai, that PUR unit has an iodinization stage to kill the virusses; (nothing else but chlorine will kill a virus) and your water
ends up with an iodine taste. Yes, I read the Backpacker review of water filters, too. However, they're too bulky, slow, and
problematic. Believe me , the iodine pills work the best and, when used with vitamin C, there is no taste!
I was told 30 mins of boiling does the trick. I wonder if
anyone might be able to confirm this. As for city water...
I wouldn't trust it. All the locals I knew in Guayaquil
did regular "cleanings" of the system to get out the
"beechos". I have had city dwelling friend who have had
severe infestations of worms... Most of roommates now in
the U.S. who have all lived abroad or are foreign nationals
all have suffered sickness due to the water... I would
take necessary precautions in any situation. Don't let
that scare you though...
It becomes second nature to get cleaned water.
d_nice