The New Must-Haves – Portable Water Purifiers
Published by Fred at May 8th, 2010Whenever summer approaches, people start getting excited to break out their tents and camp stoves, the lanterns and the sleeping bags. This is the best time of year for outdoor enthusiasts. If you find yourself preparing for an extra long weekend in the mountains, don’t forget to bring your portable water purifiers.
Packing for a camping trip can be quite the stressful task. You literally have to remember everything that you are going to need, because once you get to where you are going, there is no turning around. It almost always seems that you are going to forget something. But one of the most annoying things to bring is 100 gallons of drinking water. Who has space for this really? But, if you have a water purifier, you may not need to bring any extra water.
Natural bodies of water, like lakes and rivers and streams, have the potential to be heavily polluted with agricultural by-products. These by-products may include contaminants like pesticides and herbicides. You can also get contaminated water from animal feces or the rotting corpses of naturally deceased animals. All of these conditions lead to the proliferation of harmful bacteria, parasitic worms, or other pathogens. Natural waters may also harbor dangerous levels of heavy metals like mercury or lead.
So this is why you normally cannot afford to forget the water when you are getting ready to head for the hills. However, what if you could use the water from its’ natural source? Boiling water is one of the oldest methods of water purification. The high temperature of boiling water is typically hot enough to kill most types of harmful pathogens. However, boiling may not remove other toxic chemicals or heavy metals.
Another easy method of water purification is to allow the sun to do it with its ultraviolet or uv rays. If you isolate some water in a clear container, and if the water is not cloudy, the uv rays will harm the pathogens in the water so that they cannot survive. Again this method does not remove chemicals or metals.
There are other new types of portable water purifiers that use harmless disinfecting chemicals and ultra fine filters that are small enough to filter out even the smallest of pathogens. These new models are useful because they even remove harmful chemicals and heavy metals like lead and mercury.
Closing Comments
While it seems clear that everyone should have their own portable water purifier in the camping or hiking gear, they are still not that common. But perhaps if you considered the potential of the dual roles that these purifiers could play. In the event of a local emergency or disaster that renders the local water supply unfit for human consumption, these portable water purifiers could provide you with clean and potable water. Now could you put a price on a peace of mind such as this?
Learn more about steripen traveler and steripen.