5 Ways To Purify Water in the Wilderness
If you’re a person who loves hiking and camping, you should know how to purify water. The weather can be unpredictable, and something might happen that prevents you from getting to a safe place before a storm. This could delay you significantly, leading you to run out of water. You might also get slowed down due to an injury or just lose your way.
The Value of Water Purification
Freshwater can be found in plenty in any kind of village, town, or city. You have drinkable water when you turn on a faucet. But while there’s usually plenty of water available in the outdoors, not all of it’s fit for human consumption. Are you willing to take a chance that could result in, at best, an upset stomach and, at worst, death? Even in its purest form, like a mountain stream running, water can harbor a wide variety of microscopic organisms, such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa.
You may be familiar with giardiasis, or just giardia. Giardia is a microscopic parasite, sometimes known as a protozoan, that can cause severe diarrhea, nausea, cramping, and dehydration in humans. When hiking in the bush, these are the last things you want to deal with.
The majority of giardia infections go untreated, don’t cause serious symptoms, and go away on their own. Others, on the other hand, may be highly serious and necessitate antibiotic therapy in order to eradicate the parasite. Purifying your water is the best way to keep giardia and other organisms out of your digestive tract when hiking in the bush.
Water Filtering vs. Water Purification
You may be aware of the significance of purifying your water, but what distinguishes purification from filtering? Water can be made safe to drink by filtering or purifying it to get rid of dangerous impurities. The two approaches do differ significantly from one another, though.
Whereas water filtration physically eliminates germs and other impurities from the water, water purification employs chemicals to do so. Because of this, water purification is frequently utilized in regions with questionable water quality or waterborne diseases since it is typically more efficient in eliminating microorganisms.
Filtration of water eliminates bigger impurities like silt and debris. It is frequently used in places where the water supply is quite clean. Either approach can, however, render water safe to drink, so pick the one that best suits your requirements. You could even employ both.
Here are five ways you can purify water:
1. Boiling
The easiest (and safest) method for purifying water is to boil it. Of course, you will need a fire and a pot, so if you’re a serious hiker or camper, it’s important to carry a small pot and waterproof matches with you. To purify by boiling, let water come to a consistent rolling boil and then wait 5 minutes.
2. Purification tablets
Iodine and chlorine are the most common tablets. You can buy the tablets online and carry them like pills. Drop a pill in your water and wait 20 minutes. Keep in mind – the water will have an off taste.
Water purification is frequently utilized in regions with questionable water quality
3. Portable filters
Travel-ready filters like the Lifestraw are extremely handy. The purification happens as you suck the water through the straw, so there’s no need for long wait times. This is especially good in situations where you’re desperate for water right away.
4. Sunlight
Using a clear “PET” bottle (with recycle code #1 on the bottom) filled with dirty water and sunlight, you can purify dirty drinking water, unless it’s chemically contaminated. Lay the bottle down on a reflective surface in the sun. If it’s partly cloudy (a few clouds), 6 hours of direct sunlight will be enough to purify the water. If it’s cloudier, you’ll have to wait 2 days.
5. Bleach
⅛ teaspoon to every gallon of dirty water + 30 minutes = cleaning drinking water. Make sure the bleach doesn’t have any dyes, perfumes, or soaps. After the half-hour, you should be able to smell a little bit of chlorine, and then you can drink it.
What’s the Best Way?
How do you decide which water filtration system to get while organizing a hiking trip when there are so many options available? Think about the kind of water that is accessible first.
You can get away with using a basic filter if you’re simply cleaning water from clean sources, such as rivers and lakes. However, you will require a system that can eliminate germs, viruses, and sediments if you plan to filter water from less dependable sources, such as springs or wells.
Next, think about the available space. Is it possible to fit a sizable pump-powered water filtering system into your backpack? Is there space for additional batteries? What about the heat source needed to bring water to a boil? For it, do you have a pot or fire starter?
Essentially, the optimal approach is the one that suits your experience the best. Keep in mind that a hiking trip can quickly change from enjoyable to disastrous if you don’t have access to drinking water. Therefore, it’s best to have a few backup plans with you just in case.