A Countertop Water Filter May Not Be Practical For Outdoor Water Purification.

By Lucy Cho


Just about half of people will not consume water when working or finding recreation outdoors because they are afraid that it is not as clean what they receive from a countertop water filter. The other half of people are on the other end of the spectrum and rarely use any source of pristine water purification when they are outdoors because of feelings that outdoor water is even more pure then anything that they cold from a tap. In the first instance, ignorance towards obtaining safe drinking water outdoors exponentially increases the risks of dehydration. But, in the second instance, failure to treat water that may be unclean exponentially increases the risk of sicknesses and illnesses.

Water found outdoors that is not treated, either with a handheld or countertop water filter, may contain organisms that can make you ill if ingested. To assure as much safety as possible, water should be disinfected, defined as "the removal or destruction of harmful microorganisms." In most instances, water found outdoors must be appropriately treated using an available method which can effectively "disinfect" the water. Disinfection is commonly confused with "purification" although they are inherently different. Pristine water purification, especially in an outdoor situation, may not be able to remove or kill all of the pathogens in the water to ensure its safety. To make sure water is drinkable, it must be treated by boiling, treating it with chemicals, or filtration of some sort.

Boiling water is different from using a countertop water filter in that it kills any organisms living within it. Contrary to popular belief, water does not have to be boiled for ten minutes, plus an additional minute for every thousand feet above sea level. The time it takes for water to actually come to a rolling boil will kill most water-borne pathogens such as Giardia and Cruptosporidium. Since the boiling point of water decreases as you increase in elevation, the temperature at which water boils is hot enough to kill any organisms which might otherwise make you sick. Keep in mind that being able to boil water is wholly dependent upon having fuel to burn, a metal container to heat the water and time sufficient to allow the water to come to a rolling boil.

Chemicals are also different then using a countertop water filter because time and water temperature become a significant issue. Halogens, such as iodine and chlorine, effectiveness is directly correlated to how much is used, how long the chemicals have time to be in contact with the water and the temperature of the water - the colder the water, the longer the contact time needs to be. Any forms of these chemicals are available in liquid and tablet form. The tablet forms are commonly utilized by the US Military, disaster relief agencies, and those who work or commonly find recreation outdoors.

A final option for assuring safe water outdoors is filtration. Confusion abounds in relation to how useful filters truly are in effectively disinfecting water. Some filters only remove the "big stuff", such as bacteria, while others also remove the "small stuff", such the most common viruses. Filters come in many forms: pumps, bottles with a filter matrix, and gravity-fed. "Filters" only remove larger organisms while "purifiers" remove both the larger organisms and the finer organisms, potentially making them more useful in outdoor situations.

It may not be practical to carry a countertop water filter to obtain pristine water purification when working or finding recreation outdoors, so you might have utilize another method in this article to assure water is safe to drink.




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