As an avid outdoorsman has pointed out, about half of people will not drink the water outdoors because they do not believe that it is as clean as the water they get from a countertop water filter. The other half of people never use any source of pristine water purification when they are outdoors because they believe the water outdoors is even more clean then anything that they cold get at home. In the first instance, ignorance of how to make water safe to drink dramatically increases the risk of dehydration. In the second instance, not treating water increases the risk of gastrointestinal illness.
When outdoors, a major concern with water that is not treated, either with a handheld or countertop water filter, is that organisms living within the water will be ingested and make you sick. To be safe, water must be disinfected, which is defined as "the removal or destruction of harmful microorganisms." To do this, water must effectively be treated using one of a couple different available methods to "disinfect" water, which should not be confused with "purification." Pristine water purification, in an outdoor situation, may not remove or kill enough of the pathogens to ensure a persons safety in drinking it. To be certain that the water you would like to ingest is free from illness causing pathogens, it must be boiled, treated with chemicals, or filtered.
Vastly different from using a countertop water filter, boiling water kills any and all organisms living within it when done properly. Contrary to popular belief, water does not require boiling for ten minutes (plus an additional minute for every thousand feet above sea level.) The time necessary for water to come to a rolling boil kills most water-borne pathogens, such as Giardia and Cruptosporidium. The boiling point of water decreases with each increase in elevation; therefore, the temperature at which water boils at any given elevation is hot enough to kill any organisms which might otherwise make you sick. Being able to boil water is wholly dependent upon having the fuel necessary, a metal container to boil the water and sufficient time to allow the water to come to a rolling boil, at least temporarily.
Also different from using a countertop water filter is using chemicals, because time and water temperature become very significant with chemical water treatment. The effectiveness of halogens, such as iodine and chlorine, is dependent upon how much is used, contact time between the chemicals and the water and the temperature of the water - the colder the water, the longer the contact time necessary. Most chemicals come in either a liquid and tablet form. The tablet forms are widely popular (more so than liquid because of the mess and uncertainty when dispensing), finding use within the US Military, disaster relief agencies, and those who work outdoors, for example.
A final option for assuring safe water outdoors is filtration. Confusion abounds in relation to the usefulness of filters in effectively disinfecting water. This is because some filters only remove the "big stuff", while others also remove the small, most common viruses. Filters come in the form of pumps, bottles with a filter matrix, and gravity-fed. "Filters" are devices that only remove larger organisms while "purifiers" remove both the larger organisms and the finer organisms.
When outdoors, it may not be practical to carry a countertop water filter to obtain pristine water purification, so you might have to resort to some of the other methods in this article to assure safe drinking water.
When outdoors, a major concern with water that is not treated, either with a handheld or countertop water filter, is that organisms living within the water will be ingested and make you sick. To be safe, water must be disinfected, which is defined as "the removal or destruction of harmful microorganisms." To do this, water must effectively be treated using one of a couple different available methods to "disinfect" water, which should not be confused with "purification." Pristine water purification, in an outdoor situation, may not remove or kill enough of the pathogens to ensure a persons safety in drinking it. To be certain that the water you would like to ingest is free from illness causing pathogens, it must be boiled, treated with chemicals, or filtered.
Vastly different from using a countertop water filter, boiling water kills any and all organisms living within it when done properly. Contrary to popular belief, water does not require boiling for ten minutes (plus an additional minute for every thousand feet above sea level.) The time necessary for water to come to a rolling boil kills most water-borne pathogens, such as Giardia and Cruptosporidium. The boiling point of water decreases with each increase in elevation; therefore, the temperature at which water boils at any given elevation is hot enough to kill any organisms which might otherwise make you sick. Being able to boil water is wholly dependent upon having the fuel necessary, a metal container to boil the water and sufficient time to allow the water to come to a rolling boil, at least temporarily.
Also different from using a countertop water filter is using chemicals, because time and water temperature become very significant with chemical water treatment. The effectiveness of halogens, such as iodine and chlorine, is dependent upon how much is used, contact time between the chemicals and the water and the temperature of the water - the colder the water, the longer the contact time necessary. Most chemicals come in either a liquid and tablet form. The tablet forms are widely popular (more so than liquid because of the mess and uncertainty when dispensing), finding use within the US Military, disaster relief agencies, and those who work outdoors, for example.
A final option for assuring safe water outdoors is filtration. Confusion abounds in relation to the usefulness of filters in effectively disinfecting water. This is because some filters only remove the "big stuff", while others also remove the small, most common viruses. Filters come in the form of pumps, bottles with a filter matrix, and gravity-fed. "Filters" are devices that only remove larger organisms while "purifiers" remove both the larger organisms and the finer organisms.
When outdoors, it may not be practical to carry a countertop water filter to obtain pristine water purification, so you might have to resort to some of the other methods in this article to assure safe drinking water.
About the Author:
Want to learn more about an countertop water filter, then go to Esme Spence's page to learn more about this and pristine water purification.
No comments:
Post a Comment