Health & Wellness Water purification/hydrosol

simple answer: yes...
http://www.potableaqua.com/products/pa-pure-chlorine-test-strips/

 

Great - win/win for us. I buy these test strips and use them to test my water purified by Aquatabs water purification tablets. As it says, these strips (which actually test for residual chlorine but not for any microbes) are suitable "Also for users who prefer visual confirmation of treatment efficacy in any type of water".

 

great... yay!!! i guess “we’re” not concerned with cryptosporidium.

https://www.aquatabs.ca/faq.html#15
“Aquatabs are effective against Giardia when used as directed but have not been proven effective against Cryptosporidium when this cyst is in the oocyst stage of its life cycle. Cryptosporidium is however not considered to be a common cyst.”

https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1756-3305-7-244
“...Twelve samples (36.4%) from river (5), swimming pool (1), pond (3), rain tank (1), and natural lake (2) were positive for Cryptosporidium spp.”

 

I would have to know more information about the river they sampled as it is potentially the fastest flowing source of water and thus potentially the least-infected source for all microbes. There is a great difference between sampling water emerging from the mountains or from a river passing slowly through a slum.

 

Having read many posts describing alternative systems to using water purification tablets, I have to conclude that my confidence in using them as the main method of obtaining purified water in quantity during a 'disaster' situation has only grown. They offer a relatively cheap, measurable (i.e. guesswork not required) and effective method for producing more than enough clean drinking water (5 gallons per tablet at about P12 each) for any family. In addition they can be used for general disinfection ("Kitchen surfaces @ 100mg of chlorine per litre; general hospital /clinical surface disinfection @ 200mg of chlorine per litre; Fruit & vegetable disinfection @ 50mg of chlorine per litre").

I can see the use of an electrolytic system for hikers but it could fail or be broken accidentally, so who would carry two around rather than a few small tablets. Also at P6000 per unit, it would be the same price as 500 tablets (to produce 2500 gallons of purified water and/or to use as a disinfectant).

So, I think I have written enough on the subject and will now purchase Aquatabs from Lazada (if I can't find them in a drugstore locally) and allow others to use whatever method they prefer.

If I needed a permanent system of water purification for daily use then I would think again but for a 'disaster' situation which may never happen, we should think in terms of effectiveness, safety, ease of use, convenience and, possibly, price.

Amen.

 

Before someone starts to put their health at risk on your advice, I shall offer an alternate conclusion. I conclude that there are too many dangers, using these pills as the main method of purifying water in quantity, to give me peace of mind. I shall provide a list of the dangers. Thus others can make up their own minds with more facts at hand.

 

Rather than following your advice and tipping an unknown concentration of an unknown composition household bleach in and drinking that?

I think also best to read the words "long term".

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19062686/
“The prevalence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium among 3,456 diarrheic patients corrected from May 2004 to May 2005 in the Philippines was determined. Of 133 (3.8%) positive samples, 69 (2.0%) were positive for Giardia and 67 (1.9%) for Cryptosporidium. Three samples had co-infection with Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Luzon had the highest positive samples (5.0%) followed by Mindanao (4.9%), then Visayas (2.2%)... Cryptosporidium, was significantly higher in male than female adults. Seasonality had a distinct peak in September with Cryptosporidium more prevalent in the rainy (2.6%) than dry season (0.9%).”

a portable gravity fed filter would most likely be your best option for use on a daily basis... something i alluded to before:

https://www.lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw-mission/



...and this is only one of many options.

as you said the chemicals (electrolytically sourced or in pill form) as a backup or for disinfecting canisters and filters would be the way to go. this way you would not be adding anything to your water supply, just removing the nasty stuff.

a simple search on the web regarding the long term effects of water additives on the body may make you want to reconsider it for daily consumption. (and it’s good to see that the topic has already been broached!)

 

Sure, as the topic originally started as a way of dealing with the SHORT-TERM problem of obtaining drinking water in the event of a natural disaster - I never said anything about long-term water purification systems for the home.