Yet another water purifier?

[Gailainne]

Cheers for that Doc

I knew there were some tough bu**ers out there that had a type of shell, which were impervious to a lot of filtration/cleaning techniques, wasnt sure of the details, worth a read I think tho.

I've always wondered if there is a database somewhere, in some deep dark HMG office with contaminent levels across the Country, it would be nice if rather than guessing we had an idea at least of what to expect in the area we were camping in.

Regards

Stephen

 

[chem_doc]

I should see if I can find any sort of recent studies about what nasties were found where. I may be able to find something in the "egghead" literature about that, but I have much less access to those tomes than I had in previous lifetimes...

I'll spend some time digging this weekend to see what I can come up with. It's probably not going to be super-specific, if I'm able to come up with anything at all.... And it most certainly won't be complete. And. most likely, I'll fail to find anything specific. But, I'll give it a go.

If you assume that the worst bugs are in the water, and treat it appropriately, you should be OK.

 

[dwardo]

Would be interested in what ever you can as long as you pass it through the "chem_Doc" filter first

 

[chem_doc]

Would be interested in what ever you can as long as you pass it through the "chem_Doc" filter first

Just remember, a filter removes a lot of stuff, and some of what you're trying to get through the filter gets caught up and remains in the filter...

 

[crazyclimber]

The only camping UV device I'm aware of (I'm sure there are more) is the steripen, battery powered, I wouldnt trust one, to be frank, as I said before they are only effective if the suspended particulates are removed first (mills bag) or any kind of pre filter, there are cheaper more effective filtration systems out there, and ones that dont depend on batteries.

I've heard a lot of arguements against the steripen, of which many may be valid, but in defense of it it's still a nice quick and easy way of getting water I'm happy to drink.
In the mountains, where I spend the majority of my time outdoors, getting clear water is easy - find a stream. There tend to be very very few particulates, heavy metals and chemicals aren't an issue, the only thing to worry about is losing the bugs.
90 seconds waving the thing in the water and I've got my drink.
I know it's hardly a scientific arguement, but I've not been ill yet.

When you've got other things to worry about, sediment, chemicals etc I'd definitely agree there are better options. I've got an APT on the way which was I believe recommended by Martyn when we had this discussion a while back; although I haven't used one yet it would seem to be a very effective purification / filtration system - foolproof, reliable, and not TOO slow.

As with most equipment I guess it's just a case of matching the kit you use to what you do and where you go

 

[chem_doc]

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find much of anything on native/wild pathogenic microorganisms and their relative abundance and locations in the UK. I have *very* limited access to anything resembling a university library, though and wonder if there's something that may be unearthed there that's not digitized/online.

 

[sheepdogbob]

At the risk of de-railing the thread: I seem to remember that some charity or other issued to the native tribesmen (and women) of a high altitude African country; clear plastic bottles that were UV transparent to semi-treat the water that they were giving to their babies, so that there was less diarrhoea and sickness. the idea was that the water was put in the bottles and put out in the sun for a period of time, then used. As I recall, they looked just like 2lt pop bottles