Effective Water Treatments

Gone are the days when taking a nice cold drink from a babbling brook are gone. Water born bacteria is very real threat. In fact contaminated water is a real threat not just in lakes and streams but in wells, and city water supplies. Just look at Walkerton. So what are effective water treatments?

Heat kills microorganisms and almost all enteropathogens once the water reaches a boiling point. So if you are camping or backpacking this is a good way to ensure that all bacteria is killed. Occasionally you will even here towns and cities ask their citizens to boil water. You don’t need to boil it for any length of time. Once it boils that’s adequate.

Chemical treatments work on specific bacteria such as Guardia, amoeba cysts, and viruses. Chlorine and iodine or Halogens are used most often. But it’s important to realize that the effectiveness to kill bacteria is dependant on the concentration of chemicals, the water temperature, and the contact time. You’ve probably noticed it in your city water. If your near the treatment point the water has a much stronger chemical smell.

The better the flavor of the water the less chemical concentration in the water. The cloudier the water the more need for higher chemical concentrations. Towns and cities spend a great deal of money on treatments to make your drinking water safe.

Chlorine has been in use for centuries as a way to disinfect water. The biggest complaint is the taste and now studies are indicating it may not be reliable in killing Guardia in the concentrations that are normally used. Super chlorination combined with dechlorination is a two step process that is somewhat inconvenient. Be careful with clothing because these chemicals will ruin them. But on the positive side it is very effective and the water is left with no taste.

Halazone tablets are inexpensive and convenient but they do have some disadvantages. For effective disinfection you need to use 6 tablets per liter of water and it must sit for 1 hour. The taste is poor but it does effectively work.

Iodine has also been used for centuries to disinfect water. It is much more convenient then chlorine which makes it a better choice for travelers. But many find the taste awful. The good news is that once treated the water is good for up to 3 months. If you have allergies to iodine do not use this method. One other special note. Iodine does not appear to effective in killing cyclospora which causes severe diarrhea but then cyclospora is usually only found in late spring and through the summer in a few remote areas such as Nepal.

If you are traveling Iodine and boiling are the two easiest and most effective forms of treating water. Remember traveling doesn’t always mean to a foreign country. If you will be backpacking or camping where you will be depending on lakes and rivers for your water supply you need to treat it. Don’t judge the quality of the water by how clear the stream is.

Filtration systems are becoming very popular within homes and in RV travel. That’s because they provide safe drinking water immediately and there are no unpleasant tastes. There are a variety of filter systems available. Some use osmosis, carbon, or colloidal silver but there are other styles. The most important thing to remember with filtration systems is that the filters must be changed regularly for them to stay effective.

Whether you are planning to backpack or camp, whether you are concerned about the quality of your well water, or whether you are concerned about your city water there are effective water treatments available that are effective and affordable.


Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.