>From: Joe Brzoza <joebr_at_burton.com> >Yikes! Can people really rely on those iodine pills for safe drinking >water? I may be over paranoid but I only rely on a filter - and only like >using that for emergencies. I figure with all those tubes dangling from >the >filter something is going to get infected. Then again I have done >multi-day >trips relying on the filter for my entire water supply without a problem. > >My filter reliance was recently reinforced when a co-worker returned from >traveling in South America with a case of Hepatitis (sp?). It seems he had >only been using the pills to treat his water. His SO, however did not >contract any bad bugs during their trip - so I'm sure there were many other >variables involved. > >Your choice - but I'm being careful. Heck maybe I should treat the >filtered >water with the pills to be extra safe? Hi Joe, I work as a writer for an outdoor retailer - however I mention this only so you know I have some small idea of what I am talking about, not because I am trying to sell you any particular unit or have you purchase from my employer. Filters, in the strict sense of physical filters that actually strain out pathogens, come in a variety of types and sizes, from fairly coarse and cheap units that are intended to stop only protozoa such as Cryptosporidium ("beaver fever") to more expensive and finer pore-sized filters which can stop bacteria as well. In practise, these finer filters often provide a certain amount of protection against viruses as well, since though the viruses are more than small enough to slip through the pores, they are often stuck to larger particulate matter in the water. However, this is not guaranteed, so if viruses are suspected, you should use chemicals (iodine or bleach) as well as a filter. The disadvantage of using chemicals alone (without a filter) is that chemicals are affected by water temperature and turbidity, and also may not kill Cryptosporidium and other protozoa in their cyst forms. There are a number of commercial units which combine physical filters with an iodine element to stop protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. Such combination units are technically called "purifiers" and must be certified by the US EPA to be sold as such (chemicals and plain filters do not need to be approved by the EPA). Hope this is of some help. Philip Torrens N49°16' W123°06' *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:02 PDT