There are lots of people that love to be outdoors and spend their free time hiking and camping. Now that the options for other ways to enjoy your free time have been taken away even more people are getting outside. Families are finding they can find ways to enjoy their outdoor experiences and see more of the world around them. One thing that has come up as being something that you need to be ready to have with you is good drinkable water. You want to have water that is filtered, safe to drink and tastes good. The problem that sometimes happens is that you are out on the wild and you didn’t realize how much water you actually need. You might have ended up needing more water and there is none to be found. The only water available is water that you can see in a stream or other water source. Should you drink it? Not unless you have a way to clean it and filter it for many different reasons. AAA Water Team outlines why you need to filter water when outdoors.
Drinking Stream Water Safely
If you come across a stream of water that is running down the mountain you might think that it looks amazing and clear. This should be enough to ensure that it is clean and ready to drink. Right? The answer is that the things that you might find in water won’t always change the overall look of the water and lead you to believe that is it clean. These microscopic things can be harmful to you health. Two of the main things that you need to be careful of is Giardia and E-coli is you are drinking untreated water. These can lead to stomach cramps, pain, diarrhea which can then lead to dehydration. When you are trying to hydrate this can end up being what creates a dangerous atmosphere for you. This is why you need to find a way to treat the water so that you can drink it.
Does Boiling Water Kill All Bacteria & Parasites?
One of the tried and tested ways to clean and prepare water so that you can then drink is to use the boiling option. This is the easiest way and you don’t need much to do it. You need to be able to start a fire so that you can create the heat that is needed. You also need to make sure that you have a pot that you can use over a fire. You want to start a fire and then collect the water. Once the water has started to boil it needs to continue for one full minute. Then you can let it cool and drink away. The heating is a good way to kill off the bacteria that might be hiding in the water that you cannot see.
Chemicals to Purify Water for Drinking
The other option that you have is to use a chemical component that you can add to water to that will kill off and remove the dangers in the water. There are iodine drops that you can use. The issue is that sometimes the flavor can be off putting. You can also use a chlorine based chemical but it can be expensive to get a hold of. You also could have a filtering system that you bring with you in a water bottle. Sometimes these manual filters will miss some of the bacteria that might be in the water. The reality is that you want to bring enough of your own filtered water from home when possible.
