Water purification without boiling?

[desdemona]

Here I thought there was no source of water in the desert anyway... (Yes I admit to crashing your party-- but your party is nice and much more active than a lot of other forums). Anyway, I found that there is LOTS of water. Boiling is not so much an option because of the dryness. So what's a good light cheap option (emergency for day hiker). I have heard that taste is an issue, so what do you do to mask out bad taste?

--des

[fivel]

I know I'm going to draw heat for this but I really cannot taste the effect of using idodine plus neutralizer tablets. Yes, it tastes bad if you just use iodine and maybe that's what everyone means when they say iodine makes it taste bad, but my iodine always comes in the same pack with neutralizers and after i use both, it tastes pretty yummy to me...gulp gulp gulp *water spilllng down shirt*

[Lyle]

Iodine tablets with either the Vitamin C tablets used after the disinfection time has passed. This is probably the cheapest. Could also use Iodine tablets with some type of lemonade mix added before drinking. This will greatly reduce the iodine taste, but not remove it entirely.

Aqua Mira is what I use. Easy, very little chlorine taste (less than most municipal water), not as cheap as Iodine.

Filtering gives great tasting water instantly, but is not cheap.

So to answer your question, good, light, and cheap for emergency use:
1) carry alcohol stove and Heinieken pot for boiling or
2) Iodine tablets, don't worry about the taste since in a true emergency, taste won't matter.

[snowhoe]

lyle, I just saw that aquamira in the new issue of backpacker. It peaked my intrest, does it work good? How would it do on a week long trip?

[Lyle]

Works fine for a week-long trip. In fact, you could get some smaller dropper bottles and reduce the amount you carry. The bottles, as sold, will last for a month to 6 weeks of normal use.

Leaves very little taste, mild chlorine that some folks can't even detect, kinda like real good municipal water.

[Bob S]

When I bought my Katadyn Hiker filter it came with a sample of “Micropur tablets. I never used them and still have them in the bag the filter came in as a backup to the filter & boiling. These may work for you; one pill treats 1-qt of water. It says no unpleasant taste.


Or you could take a filter, lots of good ones out there to choose from.

[snowhoe]

sorry guys misunderstood lyle. Has anyone used the aquamira frontier pro before?

[desdemona]

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I could take iodine if I just want something for an emergency, or if I want to really use the water to drink-- aqua mira or perhaps iodine and lemon aid mix.

--des