water purifers
 

Can anyone tell me what is the best method they have found for water purifing whilst trveling through africa,I've looked water purifiers iodene and puri tabs but which is best?
Thanks

The reason you can't find "the best method" is that there is no "best;" there is only the one you prefer. Or rather, the one you prefer in addition to one backup.

Most travelers buy water in throwaway bottles. I try to do this as little as possible, so I carry a filter. It's been working well for me for twenty years and a hundred countries (plus countless trekking trips): limitless water wherever I go in fair safety with a bit of ongoing effort. Plus, I like to have water instantly, rather than waiting for chemicals to take effect.

Others prefer chemicals. I carry a little bottle of tablets in case of emergency, but I never use them and always end up throwing them away and buying fresh....which I never use.

YMMV.

Mark

Hi
search on this forum using water purification you will find previous threads on this topic I use a seagul with no extras apart from occasional boiling all good so far in india.

In-Home Water Purifiers and Micro Water Filters - General Ecology Alpha

I like the way you do this markharf its along the lines of how i want to do it as i'd rather not buy bottled water if i can help it.
I used to use puri tabs in the army and didn't like the taste and as i'm taveling with my kids would rather only use them as a last means.
but my problem is what make brand and type of fillter set up to use i've read about ceramic silver and charcoal fillters and a mix of all three.
As it not a cheap item and could be the differance between being healthy or sick i want to get the right one at the right price.

If you wear contact lenses it is worth getting a pair of spectacles in case either pure water gets scarce or your eyes start to reject the lenses.

good point my wife dose, Thanks

Like many overlanders I use a filter from General Ecology and a water pump from a caravan type place. Other overlanders tend to use the Brownchurch solution. My impression is the Brownchurch solution is not as good a filter, but is easier to clean out if you put in bad water.

I've never poured in anything other than clear water (ie: straight out of a well or tap in the city) and the GE has always been fine in over 2 years of travel in Africa. So either will work.

Buy each person a proper water bottle from a good camping shop (screw on lid etc) and then each person can top themselves up when they want to.

People who buy bottled water should be made to carry the empty containers home imho - you end up saving money with your own filter/pump/tank and I wish every overlander in a vehicle would do so ;-)

Water Purifiers and Micro Water Filters: Seagull IV, Nature Pure, First Need - General Ecology

I have a

Model JWP

for the drinking water only which gets pumped from the water storage tank which has

Products - Katadyn Products Inc. Micropur Forte

in it to keep things clean. I did use milton tablets which are good but the water smells of chlorine, though not after the filter for drinking.

The filter was about £350 and does 20000 litres. When the cartridges need changing either the flow will have dropped off or the water will taste of iodene. If it reaches 20000 litres thats about £0.0175 per litre. The tub of micropur needed ordering from a friendly chemist and is £0.0015 per litre but the shelf life is around a year ish.

So even if my filter and micropur came to £500, thats around 500 litre bottles of water in the UK, or really quite a lot of freshly filtered, known to be safe water in my camper :)

Its worth doing alot of research on "washing water". You need 2 forms of purifying/filtering to be effective. On our trip to Morocco we only used Iodine and I think my other half became ill from this water (you can never tell what source it came from!). Didnt completely ruin our trip, but it so easily could have. This set in motion the need for better water purity/control.

There was a thorough purifier/filter review in the last Overland Journal.

It voted the GE 1st need xl as its "value" award. Its around £100 in the UK. When you look at the stats from their independent test, the 1st need really came in well, doing everything it claimed to 99.99%. It also claims to rid viruses which the OJ team could not test for (cant remember why). many of the others did not do as well as claimed and when compared side by side its easy to eliminate the competition.

Anyway, On this test I sourced a used 1st need on ebay for £7! very happy with it. Will be using it on our next venture :thumbup1:

G

I use Accepta chlorine dioxide generating tablets; each good for 4ppm in 30L, so each 220L tank takes 7. Then, the water goes through a Pre-Mac filtration system: 4 micron fleece filter, then iodine releasing resin, then activated charcoal filter which also takes out the iodine and chlorine dioxide.
If you have a vehicle with a tank then a double method of killing the bugs in the tank and also filtering them out, preferably in stages, provides the best insurance.

Charlie

I'm now looking at a KATADYN POCKET Its ment to be one of the best hand pump water fillters around,I've read a lot reveiws on it all posative but dose anyone here have one and are they really that good?

The best way to approach cleaning water is to use three stages: filtration, chemical addition and filtration again. The first two can come in any order, but the final should be a charcoal filter to remove the chemicals that you added in step one or two. Some of the commercially available filters can achieve both filtration steps in one unit. The reason for the various stages is (as explained in the OJ article), there are various classes of bugs you are trying to remove. They are classed by size:

Large (cycts and protozoa) are easy to filter, but are very resistant to chemicals (on the order of 4 hours contact time with chlorine required to kill them)

Medium (bacteria) are hit and miss in a filter, some will filter some won't, but they can be killed by chemicals (on the order of 20 minutes with chlorine)

Small (viruses) are practically unfilterable, but are easily killed by chemicals.

For the Overland Journal test we used a bacteria cocktail. The reason we did not use viruses is mainly due to the hazard and the price. Sourcing a water born virus can be difficult and they are very expensive. Well, much more so than the bacteria. Since cysts and protozoa are easy to filter we did not use them in the test.

For my system, I use common household bleach at 2 to 4 ppm in the tanks followed by a 0.4 micron ceramic filter impregnated with silver as a bacteriacide and then a charcoal filter to get rid of the chlorine. The bulk water in my tanks is stored as it comes and I filter on exit. I did a water system article for OJ that explained that system as well. I'd avoid iodine in an overland situation unless it's a system like Charlie described above. Prolonged drinking of iodine in high concentrations can cause thyroid problems.

Feel free to shoot questions to me if you have them. I'll be doing a talk on water systems and purification at the Overland Expo in Arizona in April.

cheers

Graham I'd have to say it does help to filter first, since any chemicals may be inactive on viruses hiding in larger particles.

And as a suggestion on household bleach, use it in tablet form. The chlorine content is often quoted over a range for liquid bleach making accurate dosing a guess, so you dose according to the weaker %. Chlorine also evaporates at a rate determined by temperature among other things

[url=http://www.drlaundryblog.com/?p=144]Clorox - Dr. Laundry

The above being a Clorox US bleach manufacturers site, who also have an online dosage calculator. They vary their manufacturing dose during the year to acheive 6% six months after manufacture in your home, so what will it be after a few months in a hot vehicle?!

The tablets I have are the equivilent of 60ml of 2.5% chlorine content each, and have an 18+month shelf life. As I posted earlier I use Micropur Forte in the water tank since it has silver in it too, and is very concentrated making a mug sized tub good for 50000 litres!

That s a little miss-leading. The WHO recommendation for killing bugs in water is around 2ppm. If I can hit 2 to 4ppm with ~6% sodium hypochlorite (active ingredient in bleach) then that should be pretty darn close. If there is a 1 to 2% difference in the bleach it will make very little difference apart from taste.

The tablets you are using are a pretty good idea for long trips. For shorter trips I have no problem with liquid bleach.

On filtering before, you are quite correct. Bugs can hide from chemicals in sediment in the water and avoid treatment. I do actually strain water on the way in if needed, but I don't consider that pure filtering. Sure I run the risk of a virus hiding in a particle, but if he's hiding there then he'll probably get filtered out along with the particle, and I won't have to worry about him. It's probably not the perfect solution, but it has worked very well for me, and I know the risks I'm taking. Obviously I do have to shock the system every now and again, which is also easy to do with bleach. My main reason for using bleach is the price.

cheers

We used a Katadyn water filter and found it to be excellent. I would recommend with any of the portable/hiking type of filters that you also bring some coffee filters to get any really fine dust out of the water before you filter it.. saves having to take the filter apart to clean it out so frequently.. and as Murphy is a bastid.. any filter will always need cleaning when its dark, cold or raining and your in an area surrounded by mosquitoes or rabid dogs... just a thought!.


However we have relied on Katadyn and have been very happy with the performance (e.g. we didn't get sick and it was fairly minimal effort)

gjackson could you point out which bits misleading since you seem to agree with most?

Bleaches in the UK and Europe that I've looked at for this purpose show a range of contents, I think usually 2-4%. I've not seen one before the US Clorex stating only one value of 6%? But their website says it varies anyway depending on the time of year it was made, the temperature it was kept at and how old it is. Thats a lot of things to take into account after a hot busy day on a trip when you need to rehydrate but have to mix up your bleach dose for 2ppm first. 6% to 2% between brands is a big chunk to be very aware of before you allow for temperature etc! Not very KISS?

BTW a lot of water tank manufacturers for campers etc would not be too impressed if you told them you were using bleach at all ;)

Shopping trip today showed all available bleaches only state less than 5%, so not too helpful for dosing!

Use both
 

Use a chlorine based solution or tablet for purification and a granulated carbon filter such as the General Ecology or even a cheap Brita, to remove the unpleasant chlorine taste. The result is bottled quality water without the environmental negative of discarded plastic.

I understand that Iodine, whilst it is an effective antiseptic, can also be mildly poisonous when ingested. This may explain why some people do not feel well using it. Perhaps an expert can elaborate.

Msr
 

Sorry for the delayed response: was on the road.

Between 2 and 6 % is a gap, but the WHO target of 2.5ppm residual Cl is pretty conservative. If you are on the low side and the bleach has 2% NaOCl but you calculate for 6%, instead of 2.5mg/L you get 0.8mg/L. Is that the end of the world? No. Any Cl in the system will help kill bugs. In mine, I use that treatment in conjunction with a filter that has silver in it as a bacteriacide.

I agree that bleach does go bad (looses Cl), but even in a hot environment, it doesn't go bad very fast. I used 1 small bottle of chlorox (nominal 6% NaOCl) for a 9 month trans-Africa and never had any problems. The solubility of NaOCl in water at 20*C (which would be pretty toasty, but not impossible, for your bottle of bleach in the car) is 8000mg/L.

Bottom line is there are no perfect solutions for treating water. I like my system and I have had luck with it. Your use of the micropur tablets is cool and they are an excellent product. They do have a shelf life, though, one I suspect would be significantly shorter if the tablets are crushed in storage. They also have to be kept in the packaging or they will go bad quickly.

I have used the micropur tablets, and, along with just about all of katadyn's products have been impressed. But 60 tablets into my 60L holding tank is a little more work than I'm looking for. :eek3:

The milton tablets are a better bet for larger volumes, but what I can't figure out is how milton can claim to kill everything in 15 minutes when it takes every other Cl product 4 hours.:
Milton | Milton Sterilising Tablets

(Yes, that was kidding, they didn't mention cycts by name.)

Well, many camper manufacturers would not be impressed if I told them where I travel either. :cool4:

cheers

"As I posted earlier I use Micropur Forte in the water tank since it has silver in it too, and is very concentrated making a mug sized tub good for 50000 litres!"

Graham as my camper has a fair size tank I also thought the Micropur Forte to be a hassle, at one tablet per litre, too expensive and too much material for more than a week perhaps?

But they also do it in concentrated powder form, which in Europe it seems you can only get through a friendly chemist/drug store and still has a shelf life. It cost me roughly 80 euros, I did post at the time but I can't remember exactly how much, but if you used all of it before its use by date the price per litre is nice and cheap!! I mix it up in concentrated form, and then dose my tank depending how much I put in, seems to work well!

http://katadyn.cust.shopatron.com/me...=4&w=210&h=270

micropur
 

I used micropur powder on a trip to India and back ('93,'94). It was cheap per litre, no hassle, no taste and I never got really sick.

Graeme

Interesting post-
Water being so important, I'd like to suggest the following having read some misleading info above ... (sorry GJackson- there are virtually perfect solutions- as in 99.99% look up LifesaveSystems and viruses can be filtered out- Chlorine in repeated use is bad for you but to mention just one aspect of this chemical)

I've used for many years (since that device came out!)on the bike- Katadyn's Pocket filter (0.2 microns ceramic) and I treat the water with their Micropure forte - It was the best (and I still use it) but it is not as effective at filtration as the new LifeSaver bottle from LifeSaver Systems (filters up to 6 tons of water)

If you have a bigger vehicle, the www. LifeSaverSystems.com ' Jerrycan - Tech sheet here
Soiled liquid in at one end- pure water the other after just a few strokes of the built in pump- it uses (as all their products) membrane technology.
Carbon filters optional - solves the problem of storing and possible cross contamination- a neat all-in-one system. Two types- one can filter 10 tons of water, the other 20 tons !
IMHO, water Problems solved in a very tidy package:thumbup1:
(no connection- just a happy customer of both companies)

ONe of the most cost effective, easy to use and effective methods I have seen is the surviva pure system by Thatchreed. I sell it in my shop and the biggest problem is trying to convince people that it really is that good at the price. I haven't included a link to my shop as this isn't the place, but if you want to know just PM me.
here is the link to the Thatchreed site though
Thatchreed Limited=

Moggy 1968 - the surviva pure system by Thatchreed may well be cost effective perhaps but at what price?
I am at a loss as to why you would want to "convince people it is really good" when clearly it isn't. It may be cheap but its filtration ability is way poor to say the least.

To quote from the Thatchreed site:
"USES ABSOLUTE 2.0 MICRON or 2000 NM :eek3:FILTRATION WITH TORTUOUS PATH TECHNOLOGY FOR MAXIMUM EFFECTIVENESS."

That filter would let a lot of bad bugs through & is very poor filtration - Bacteria and Viruses would have a field day going through that!

The smallest bacteria measures 200NM (nanometres) whilst the smallest virus measures just about 25 NM. The ultra filtration membranes in the LIFESAVER bottle/jerrycan have pore sizes of only 15 nanometres, this means that no contamination can pass through into the drinking water.
IMHO- no contest for which filtered water I'd rather drink ! and my stomach concurs after a few attacks of 'Monterzuma's revenge' in Africa.
As with so many things in life- you pays yer money etc...!

I can personally recommend the General Ecology First Need XL system.

As bushcraft/survival instructors we have been using these for the last 7 or 8 years both a home and abroad on expeditions and courses. They remove everything (parasites, bacteria and viruses) including chemicals and toxins.

Sometimes in the Sahara they have been used to pump over 20 litres a day and you can set them up to gravity feed through the pump straight in a jerry can etc.

They probably work out slightly more expensive per litre to use than the lifesystems but we find them easier to use and maintain in the field.

Here's a link

Portable Water Purifiers and Micro Water Filters - General Ecology Alpha

Interesting Kev but still short on the performance & I'd have to challenge the 'they remove everything' as actually very misleading-
Water cleaning technology is continuously evolving and improving.
1 micron = 1000 NM (Nanometers)
Unless I have mis-read the specs of your filter, it filters from 0.4 to 0.1 micron which is 400 NM to 100NM at best . 100NM will still let many viruses and bacteria through and is a long way short from 15NM!

looked into this long and hard, and weighing up performance against my natural trait of being a tightarse, opted for General Ecology (not the posh silver one, just the plastic job) and frankly the hundred quid or whatever it was turns out to be money well spent. Couple of MOD water jerrys, cheapo pre filter for big crap, then GE filter, leccy pump and a tap - fill water into jerrys from anywhere, and out the other end I get lovely tasty water. Yes, it's tasty, and it's water - if I could get another one to deliver lager I'd die happy. Not feasible for bikes obviously, but on a 4 wheeler why would anyone muck about with chemicals?
We're only a few thousand miles into our trip and I reckon it's paid for itself against buying bottled, and quite often we've found the water tastes nicer too, but again main plus point for me is I don't actually have to do anything : )

I have the same unit in my landcruiser; rigged up with a Sureflow electric pump and an 80 litre water tank. I'm delighted with the whole setup.

Just got my Katadyn pocket micro filter through,I took it to the steam that runs through the estate i work on that happens to be a nice murky brown due to all the rain we are have in.The water came out the fillter clear and sweet.the flow rate was very good and all in all im very happy with it.
Not the cheapest on the market but as you may not have change the fillter for up to 50,000 liters I think it works out no to bad atall.:thumbup1: