Recently I’ve had to answer several questions about purifying water while out camping. So I thought I’d give my thoughts on the subject here.
If you’re going to find a natural source of water for drinking and cooking, it basically comes down to using one or all, of three different methods. Purification tablets, boiling, and filtration.
I’ll go through them in order.
There are several good brands of purification tabs, and apart from residual taste, each one doing pretty much the same as the next, killing off all the nasty organisms that can cause issues. Purification tablets are a very effective way of killing the vast majority of bacteria, viruses, cysts etc. However, what they don’t do is remove the nasties themselves, they get left behind along with any other suspended material.
Which is exactly the same as boiling water does. However, just bringing water to the boil is not enough, to do the job properly you need to leave it on the boil for around three minutes to kill the hardier variety of nasty that can lurk in water, but it’s also very effective at sterilisation.
Water filters however, do have the advantage of removing particulate matter as well as the nasties such as bacteria, cysts etc. Here’s the thing though, while filter manufacturers can’t legally claim to remove viruses because of their tiny size being smaller than the filter can remove. Some filters can remove the host material that viruses need to survive. You see viruses cannot survive in water without attaching to something, and that’s how a filter can remove viruses, by removing the host material.
The problem with filters is that some are better than others. All of the major brands will meet basic minimum standards, but some go far beyond that. Choosing the filter to suit your requirements can be a bit of a headache.
A note on water sources.
Obviously every natural source of water has its own considerations, how clean it is in terms of particulate content, potential infection levels, standing water such as a tarn or lake, free running such as a stream etc, and location, upland or lowland. A little experience can help you a lot here, most of which is common sense, but more on this in another post I think. For now, it is this last point I would like to quickly address.
Free running water from a mountain stream is usually pretty good to go as it is, but any of the above methods will ensure trouble free drinking and cooking. However, lowland water, especially if it’s in an area of arable farming, will almost certainly contain a level of agrochemicals in varying amounts. No amount of boiling, tabbing, or filtering will remove these. I don’t personally think that there is a great amount of danger per se, but it’s certainly worth bearing in mind if you prefer to camp in or around farmland.
Until next time, happy camping.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
I don’t know who you are but certainly you’re going to a famous blogger
if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Thank you for your kind words, they’re very much appreciated.
I’m just trying to provide some basic information and advice for anybody starting out with their wildcamping adventures.
More to be added soon 👍
I like it when individuals come together and
share thoughts. Great site, keep it up!
Excellent pieces. Keep posting such kind of info
on your site. Im really impressed by your blog.
Hi there, You’ve performed a great job. I’ll certainly digg it and personally suggest
to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from
this web site.
I pay a visit everyday a few websites and websites to read articles or reviews, but this webpage offers quality
based posts.
Fantastic web site. Plenty of useful information here.
I am sending it to a few friends ans also sharing
in delicious. And naturally, thank you on your effort!
Greetings! Very useful advice within this post! It’s the little changes which
will make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do
with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of
that, this is magnificent blog. A fantastic read. I’ll
certainly be back.
Great goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too wonderful.
I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you are saying
and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it sensible.
I can not wait to read much more from you. This
is really a great website.
Your style is really unique in comparison to other folks I have read
stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you’ve got
the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this web site.
Thank you very much for your kind words.
Hey I am so grateful I found your webpage, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Askjeeve for something else, Anyhow I am here now and
would just like to say many thanks for a remarkable post and
a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have saved it and also
added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read
more, Please do keep up the excellent work.