Make your drinking water safe

[snail powered]

There has been a more recent project used in third world countries to make water safe to drink. It is an important method to know about for surviving a disaster where there is not reliable drinking water available. Or if you want to boon dock in areas without a known safe drinking supply such as Baja or out in the BLM lands.

All you need is the sun and some clear PET bottles. The information and instructions can be found on the link below as well as elsewhere on the internet.

http://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN

[Bitsy Toy]

Thank you. That is good information.

[Dolphinite no longer here]

Karin, what are PET bottles?

John

[snail powered]

Karin, what are PET bottles?

John

PET is a type of plastic. This project uses the standard clear water bottles you can buy in the grocery store in the beverage aisle.

[zero]

"Safe" drinking water is a complicated issue. What is safe for many people can be unsafe for another. The idea of sun-powered water purififiers for a third world nation is a great idea -considering the lack of other viable alternatives and the known major issues that are targetted. I assume they are focussing on things like "beaver fever", malaria, dengue fever, cholera, varous bacterisa, etc.

Here in the USA? I suspect most people want good tasting water and are also concerned about long-term effects of chemicals in water - rather then then the quicker effects often encountered by parasites and bacteria. I suspect many of us take clean water for granted if living in a rural area. Testing water is not so easy if suspect.

A few examples.

My daughter was sick, off an on for over a year. This was in central New York state. Our water had first been checked locally (county level). We then sent to the state for a more expensive and comprehensive test. All results were negative for problems. She was still sick. Finally one doctor identified Dientamoeba Fragilis in her. I checked around and found that neither the county or state labs can check for it. A lab person informed me I should arrange with a New York City lab to check. NYC had to upgrade its system because they have so many AIDs people who get real sick from small bugs that go unnoticed with healthy people. We paid the extra money and sent to NYC and the water had the parasite. We treated the well and the bug came back. We finally just drilled a new well, and treated the water and all was fine. I was told that conventional means of water treatment - like used in many public water systems - will not kill or remove "bugs" like this one. Note that my daughter does not have AIDs. She just happens to be in the minority of healthy people that can get sick from certain parasites.

Now -we've had water problems in a rural property in northern Michigan. Our water tastes like motor oil. Although rural, this area has had many oil and gas wells in service and also some recent hydrofracking. We got it tested by the county and then the state. Nothing shown. But they only check for a few specific contaminants. If nothing is found by them - you have to give them a target and tell them exactly what bug or chemical is being saught. We gave up and drilled a 2nd deeper well. This water smells and tastes fine. We still have no idea what is in the 1st and less deep well. We don't really know what is in our 2nd well except it tastes good.

I'm not writing this to scare anyone. Just making the point that a "water test" is rarely a thorough test; There is a list of common contaminants known to bother most people that is used by many water test and treatment facilities. I suspect bottled water sold at stores must be tested at a higher level. The rest is a "crap shoot." We carry a portable Katadyn water filter and use it in remote areas when drinking from creeks or ponds. Most healthy humans can drink all sorts of pollutants including the common-to-NY radioactive Radon and seem to do fine - and I suspect many of us do without realizing it. Some impurities in water are what gives it a great taste - so not all non-water stuff is bad.

[Vanman]

In california we have Giardia and Cryptosporidium in a lot of the water scources. Chlorine in usual concentrations does not eradicate Giaradia, muni water is filtered mostly, but boiling can kill it. I would not trust the sunlight treatment. Boil for 5 min is the standard recommendation, camping supply stores have a portable filter set up for the giaradia.

[capenteah]

so I don't think that sunlight actually purifies the water the sunlight is used to evaporate the water the clear plastic bottle is used to collect the water in the drain it down bacteria can't be transferred through humidity

[snail powered]

so I don't think that sunlight actually purifies the water the sunlight is used to evaporate the water the clear plastic bottle is used to collect the water in the drain it down bacteria can't be transferred through humidity

Capenteah, you need to read the article I referenced. The UV from the sun is what purifies the water. UV light is a great sterilizer, used often for that purpose. This method has zero to do with evaporation.

[zero]

Sounds like the system you mention is using the sun to do the same job in the same way as the many UV water treatments we install around here that run on grid power. The UV systems usually need filters added to be successful enough to pass board-of-health standards because of the many microrganisms that hide inside particles and get protected from the UV rays. Sounds like when in remote areas - a sunlight UV system along with some sort of filter is an excellent way to go.

[rad wolfe]

"Safe" drinking water is a complicated issue. What is safe for many people can be unsafe for another. The idea of sun-powered water purififiers for a third world nation is a great idea -considering the lack of other viable alternatives and the known major issues that are targetted. I assume they are focussing on things like "beaver fever", malaria, dengue fever, cholera, varous bacterisa, etc.

Just to help keep things clear,dengue and malaria are not water borne diseases, they are carried by mosquitoes (Plasmodium parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes and aegypti misquitoes do the same re: dengue) they are not water borne . I speak from experience ...just went through a bad bout of dengue this winter.you can take preventative drugs for malaria but none so far for dengue.Dengue is now becoming an issue in the temperate zone as the asian tiger misquitoe is also a vector for dengue.

A good portable ceramic filter AND boiling should be enough in north america and most 3rd world travel when clean water isnt available.As in north america you can usually buy safe bottled water cheaply around the world - 20 liters(5 gal) often costs less than a dollar. not much for us but a lot for the worlds poor to afford.

In the past malaria was a serious issue in the temperate zone. Among other examples are when the Brits built the Rideau Canal (Ottawa to Kingston Ontario) in the 1820s many died of a temperate zone variant of malaria.

[snail powered]

You people are straying way off the point of my posting.....Read the website given in the link for the original posting. It is for situations in which there is no easy access to being able to boil water or filter it.

http://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN

[zero]

You people are straying way off the point of my posting

I haven't strayed "way off point." You mentioned a way of using sunlight to help purify water when out in remote areas e.g."boondocks" and "BLM land."

I didn't see anywhere in your comments where it is stated that a portable hand-held water filter is not allowed to be part of the discussion. The combination of filtering and using UV is a good way to clean up water with easily carried items. With the places I tend to camp, flagellate protozoans like those that cause Beaver Fever are the highest risk in untreated water. Katadyn makes small filter that fit in your pocket. It is my understanding that UV alone often will not kill all the little Beaver Feve bugs but filtering and using UV will.

[snail powered]

I haven't strayed "way off point." You mentioned a way of using sunlight to help purify water when out in remote areas e.g."boondocks" and "BLM land."

I didn't see anywhere in your comments where it is stated that a portable hand-held water filter is not allowed to be part of the discussion. The combination of filtering and using UV is a good way to clean up water with easily carried items. With the places I tend to camp, flagellate protozoans like those that cause Beaver Fever are the highest risk in untreated water. Katadyn makes small filter that fit in your pocket. It is my understanding that UV alone often will not kill all the little Beaver Feve bugs but filtering and using UV will.

I created this particular posting in the review topic. Guess I ought to know when it is off topic....

This posting was not about water filters, it was about a single and very specific method of water purification, one that can be done without the purchase of any specialized equipment. All you need is an empty, clear water bottle.

This is not a criticism of your water filter or of any other product and its ability to purify water.

This is not a place where you get to tell the world that the World Health Organization and the Unitied Nations are full of it for recommending this method of water purification to be used in places where there is no other practical and cost effective method around.

Why don't you create a posting about your water filter and tag it with the name of the product? This is the section of the forum in which one can post a review of such things. That is what I was doing by posting the SODIS article. It was never my intent to have people bash the SODIS method of water purification especially since you are not technically qualified to do so.

[zero]

I created this particular posting in the review topic. Guess I ought to know when it is off topic....

This posting was not about water filters, it was about a single and very specific method of water purification, one that can be done without the purchase of any specialized equipment. All you need is an empty, clear water bottle.

This is not a criticism of your water filter or of any other product and its ability to purify water.

This is not a place where you get to tell the world that the World Health Organization and the Unitied Nations are full of it for recommending this method of water purification to be used in places where there is no other practical and cost effective method around.

Why don't you create a posting about your water filter and tag it with the name of the product? This is the section of the forum in which one can post a review of such things. That is what I was doing by posting the SODIS article. It was never my intent to have people bash the SODIS method of water purification especially since you are not technically qualified to do so.

I did not "bash" anything you said. I also did not utter a word about the UN (useless nations) or the WHO. I added some comments TO a commentary. Good Lord - take some more Zanax. If you are claiming that any post made in this section is to be a bill-board for the orginal poster only and the rest of us are only allowed to read - well then - I aquiesce. Pretty wacky on a public forum as I see it.

[snail powered]

I did not "bash" anything you said. I also did not utter a word about the UN (useless nations) or the WHO. I added some comments TO a commentary. Good Lord - take some more Zanax. If you are claiming that any post made in this section is to be a bill-board for the orginal poster only and the rest of us are only allowed to read - well then - I aquiesce. Pretty wacky on a public forum as I see it.

Pretty obvious that most people who drop in are not very understanding of the fact that one does not hijack another persons thread to launch their own thread from. If you want to post about the filter you like I think that is fine. This particular segment is for doing reviews of such things. But a review of your filter should be in its own thread, it should not be trying to take over the review on the water purification method I was posting about. Doing that kind of hijacking makes it very difficult for people who are trying to search for, find and read information. The longer the threads with the more digressions from the thread topic the less useful the forum becomes overall. That is the point I am trying to get across to you.

[Totem]

perhaps YOU should change the Name of topic from "Making Your Drinking Water Safe" to "SODIS DRINKING PURIFICATION REVIEW" if you seek to hide behind OP topic enforcement?

Otherwise the 4 categories:

1. Reviews - New Products - Campgrounds - Links of Interest would apply; thus if the topic is related to any of these things its legit the way I read it. The moment you name a topic making your drinking water safe you open the forum to a review of that topic...

-Just my opinion. here is my link on this SODIS topic: http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/clear-water-bottles-safe-sun-exposure-20417.html

its more complete and recognises the dangers of BPA contained in some PET bottles as well as bacteria that like sunlight....

[Boots]

Capenteah, you need to read the article I referenced. The UV from the sun is what purifies the water. UV light is a great sterilizer, used often for that purpose. This method has zero to do with evaporation.

Hi all,

I will throw my two bits in here, since I have used UV and other treatments in a large federal research station and have some insight into treatment (which is required, not just desirable) and we ran hourly water treatment tests for a wide range of contaminants.

First off, ultra violet exposure is measured on the amount of energy applied per square centimeter (or square inches, if you prefer) and so to be considered effective, a relatively large of amount UV light (energy) is applied to the flow of water continuously. This is application is not what you would be receiving into a bottle of water, on a sunny day; I won't go into the math and science of this, but to sufficient to say, that the amount of UV received in sunlight on the surface of a bottle is in the orders of magnitude less (something like 1000 time less) which rules out an effective treatment. Second item is the method of exposure, in a UV machine the UV light path surrounds a (number of) quartz tube(s) and exposes the water to a high level of exposure (something like 90% of the UV energy reaches the water being treated) and here is where it gets tricky, if the quartz tube becomes occluded (filmed over) by as little as 1mm (0.0393701 inches) the rate of efficiency drops to about 80% loss (in other words only 20% of the energy is transferred to the water) - we cleaned these machines daily. Lastly, there are parasites, viral pathogens and bacteria that almost immune to such treatment in the machines we used and required additional scientific grade Nano-filters (using high pressure pumps) to clean out most organisms.

Finally, there is question of metals and salts; water is suffused with these "contaminates" such as lead, copper, arsenic, potassium and manganese, which affect human functions such as kidneys, liver, nervous systems etc. - none of these metals and salts are removed by sunlight, they are impervious to sunlight exposure.

In closing I would say any treatment is better than no treatment, but I would be sceptical about these solutions, all of the problems with water have evolved over the millenniums to survive; these organisms have learned to adapt to most everything we (and mother nature) throw at them. An interesting side story to this is bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) which is often offered up as a disinfectant and water treatment. Bleach does indeed kill a lot of organism and "bugs" and in the past we used it for effluent treatment (treating water after it has been used in the science process) - that is until we started to culture (test) the water at short intervals after treatment and found that bacteria increased after treatment! What happened was the treatment killed most (about 99%) of the bugs, which left the remaining (1%) to survive and without any competition from their group, exploded in population growth and rebounded in exponential numbers, sometime exceeding the pre-treatment count. In additional, bleach is dangerous, toxic, and a carcinogen, not something to use carelessly.

So there you go, a small explanation of UV treatment, even under controlled conditions, it has it's problems.