Water purification in the wild

[Guest guest]

Hi Tom,

I hike a lot in the wild and come across various types of wells and springs. Some of them seem to be potable and some not. Sometimes it is not convenient in long tracks, to carry a lot of mineral water bottles.

What would you recomend I take with me, regarding MMS and how should I purify a 1.5 liter bottle so I can drink it on spot and then fill it again and drink it during the way untill the next spring?

Also in a way that it will kill all undesirable pathogens like Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia.

Also in a manner I won't reach an MMS overdose oxidation by drinking a lot of MMS water for a cou[ple of days. About 8 liters a day.

Thank you,

Arie

[Guest guest]

Hello Arie,

To kill cysts you need a CT of 1000. This is what has been found to be

effective over a wide range of PH and temperature conditions. Wilderness water

purification usually uses 4 PPM free chlorine dioxide which gives us a hold time

of 250 minutes to kill off the cysts.

This means that you fill your water bottle, add enough chlorine dioxide to make

a concentration of 4 PPM, wait 10 minutes and check to see if all the chlorine

dioxide has been used up and if it hasn't, then wait an additional 240 minutes

before drinking.

If you mechanically remove the cysts by filtering the water through a 1 micron

filter, the CT value drops to somewhere around 100. This means the water would

be ready to drink in about 25 minutes. This will not completely kill off all

viruses in the water, but will reduce their concentrations to a level that the

body can deal with. If you have no virus in the water, bacteria can be killed

in about 10 minutes.

To purify 1.5 liters of water you would put 0.2 ml of 5% sodium chlorite in a

container, and add 0.2 ml of 6% HCl. Add this to the water and wait the amount

of time needed. After 10 minutes take the lid of and take a whiff. You should

be able to detect a slight chlorine dioxide odor. If you do, carry on with the

waiting. If you don't, there is a possibility that all of the chlorine dioxide

was used up by the pathogens or odors in the water. Rather than using my nose,

I carry chlorine dioxide test strips and use those. If there is no chlorine

dioxide left in the water after 10 minutes, mix up another dose and add it to

the water.

At the end of the purification time, it would be ideal to just end up with pure

water. Unfortunately, you usually end up with a slight chlorine dioxide odor.

To eliminate this you can add a small amount of ascorbic acid. You need just

enough to eliminate the chlorine dioxide odor.

At the end of the day if you want to store the water in the bottle for later

use, add 0.2 ml of 5% sodium chlorite to the 1.5 liter bottle of water. This

will give you a 4 PPM available chlorine dioxide concentration that will keep

slime and algae from forming on the inside surface of the bottle and provide you

with emergency drinking water should you need it. It will slowly activate over

a period of around 5 years and keep the water pure during that time.

The idea behind water purification is to reduce the pathogens in the water to a

level where they will not effect your health. This does not sterilize the

water. That is why the need for the additional sodium chlorite for water

storage.

Tom

--- In , Arie Alon <maculeleh@...>

wrote:

>

> Hi Tom,

>  

> I hike a lot in the wild and come across various types of wells and springs.

Some of them seem to be potable and some not. Sometimes it is not convenient in

long tracks, to carry a lot of mineral water bottles.

> What would you recomend I take with me, regarding MMS and how should I purify

a 1.5 liter bottle so I can drink it on spot and then fill it again and drink it

during the way untill the next spring?

> Also in a way that it will kill all undesirable pathogens like Cryptosporidium

parvum and Giardia lamblia.

> Also in a manner I won't reach an MMS overdose oxidation by drinking a lot of

MMS water for a cou[ple of days. About 8 liters a day.

> Thank you,

> Arie

>