A Countertop Water Filter Should Not Be Used For Outdoor Water Purification.

By Esme Spence


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.

When outdoors, a major concern with water that is not treated, either with a handheld or countertop water filter, is that organisms living within the water will be ingested and make you sick. To be safe, water must be disinfected, which is defined as "the removal or destruction of harmful microorganisms." To do this, water must effectively be treated using one of a couple different available methods to "disinfect" water, which should not be confused with "purification." Pristine water purification, in an outdoor situation, may not remove or kill enough of the pathogens to ensure a persons safety in drinking it. To be certain that the water you would like to ingest is free from illness causing pathogens, it must be boiled, treated with chemicals, or filtered.

Vastly different from using a countertop water filter, boiling water kills any and all organisms living within it when done properly. Contrary to popular belief, water does not require boiling for ten minutes (plus an additional minute for every thousand feet above sea level.) The time necessary for water to come to a rolling boil kills most water-borne pathogens, such as Giardia and Cruptosporidium. The boiling point of water decreases with each increase in elevation; therefore, the temperature at which water boils at any given elevation is hot enough to kill any organisms which might otherwise make you sick. Being able to boil water is wholly dependent upon having the fuel necessary, a metal container to boil the water and sufficient time to allow the water to come to a rolling boil, at least temporarily.

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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