Everyone has different ideas about whether wild water should be treated before drinking. Some people think that the wild is inaccessible, there will be some pollution, and it will be fine to drink.
Actually, as long as it is accessible to amateur players like us, how can there be any real pollution-free place? In fact, even if there is no pollution, it does not mean that there are no viruses, bacteria, or various harmful substances in the water. It’s best to deal with it when conditions permit.
The way of water treatment now is mainly boiling, water purification medicines and filters.
Boil
This is the most practical and effective method. The disadvantage is that it is a waste of fuel (with the exception of the zip stove I have introduced of course), and it is time-consuming.
Water purification tablets
The use of water purification tablets is a chemical purification process, mostly using chlorine and iodine. The mainstream on the market is to use iodine. For example, in the picture above, the white bottle is the iodine tablet. The preservation of iodine tablets needs to be protected from light and moisture. The advantages of using water purification tablets are that they are cheap, convenient and lightweight. It is more time-consuming, generally it takes about 20 minutes to drink after adding the water purification tablets. The disadvantage is that it has peculiar smell and color. This can be solved by post-processing, such as the bottle of yellow pills above, which is used to deodorize. Or add some guozhen or something. The second is that there is a major virus that cannot be removed, cryptosporidium, which is probably the most common parasite in water. The third is easy to cause allergies, and at the same time, it will react chemically with certain foods or utensils.
In general, water purification tablets still have a large market because of their lightness, cheapness and small size. In use, it should be noted that you must wait at least 20 minutes, and the second is not to use it continuously for more than a week.
Purification Filters
There are actually two categories, filters and filter purifiers. The main difference is that the filter removes bacteria and parasites by filtration. In addition to removing bacteria and parasites, the filter purifier also removes viruses. (based on REI classification)
General filtration purifiers use chemical methods to remove viruses on the basis of filtration, such as adding iodine, so they also have the previous chemical methods to purify water. Disadvantages of water purification pills. The one posted above claims to be the only water purifier that does not use chemical methods to remove viruses.
The advantage of using a purifying filter device is that you can drink water immediately, with almost no waiting, and it is almost the safest way to purify water (using a filter purifier). The disadvantage is that the price is expensive, few are less than 60 dollars, the later cost is also high, and the filter element also needs to spend money. It’s bulky and heavy, almost 1 lbs or more. It also requires frequent maintenance during use and is prone to clogging.
The three methods have their own strengths and it is up to each person to choose.