Drinking water?
As newbies traveling an RV into Mexico, we have a question no doubt everyone had at some point in time: what do you do for drinking water? Do we buy a filter to make sure nothing but clean water ge...
Forum Discussion
In another thread I had agreed with Tallyhoe's 2 filter method. I have since found that the WHO does not approve of Carbon materials for removing E coli. Here is the wording:
"Charcoal and activated carbon have been used extensively as adsorbents for water treatment in the developed and developing world. The main application is the reduction of toxic organic compounds as well as objectionable taste and odor compounds in the water. In developed countries granular or powdered activated carbon are used in community water treatment and granular or pressed carbon block is typically used for point-of-use or household water treatment (AWWA, 1999; LeChevallier and McFeters, 1990. Although fresh or virgin charcoal or activated carbon will adsorb microbes, including pathogens, from water, dissolved organic matter in the water rapidly takes up adsorption sites and the carbon rapidly develops a biofilm. Therefore, carbon is not likely to appreciably reduce pathogenic enteric microbes in water over an extended period of time. If anything, carbon particles are prone to shedding heterotrophic plate count bacteria and other colonizing microbes into the product water, thereby reducing the microbial quality. In many point-of-use devices the carbon is impregnated or commingled with silver that serves as a bacteriostatic agent to reduce microbial colonization and control microbial proliferation in the product water. Fecal indicator bacteria, such as total and fecal coliforms, and opportunistic bacterial pathogens, such as Aeromonas species are capable of colonizing carbon particles and appearing in product water. For these reasons, activated carbon is not recommended as a treatment method to reduce pathogenic microbes in drinking water. Additional treatment, such as chemical disinfection, often is needed to reduce microbe levels in carbon-treated water. Mixed media containing carbon along with chemical agents effective in microbial retention have been developed and evaluated. For example, carbon filters containing aluminum or iron precipitates have been described, and these filters have achieved appreciable microbial reduction in laboratory scale tests (Farrah et al., 2000). Therefore, it is possible that granular activated carbon filter media prepared with chemical agents more effective in retaining microbes may eventually become more widely available for point-of-use treatment of household water. However, the conventional charcoal and activated carbon media currently available for water treatment are not recommended for use at the household level to reduce microbial contaminants. Only charcoal or activated carbon media that been combined with other materials to improve microbial reductions should be considered for household treatment of collected and stores water and then only if there are performance data or certifications to verify effective microbial reductions"
If you have a few days to Google here is a lot more info on methods of purifying water. The most common include filters AND something to kill the Bacteria ( Chlorine, UV, RO). Unfortunately a lot of the information comes from mfrs. and sellers of filters. The WHO, UN and the NSF are 3 good sources of accurate information. Every person is different and anyone with a compromised immune system could die from E coli. This is serious s---.
Here are a few links:
www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/gen_info/filters.html
www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/travel/backcountry_water_treatment.html
Moisheh
"Charcoal and activated carbon have been used extensively as adsorbents for water treatment in the developed and developing world. The main application is the reduction of toxic organic compounds as well as objectionable taste and odor compounds in the water. In developed countries granular or powdered activated carbon are used in community water treatment and granular or pressed carbon block is typically used for point-of-use or household water treatment (AWWA, 1999; LeChevallier and McFeters, 1990. Although fresh or virgin charcoal or activated carbon will adsorb microbes, including pathogens, from water, dissolved organic matter in the water rapidly takes up adsorption sites and the carbon rapidly develops a biofilm. Therefore, carbon is not likely to appreciably reduce pathogenic enteric microbes in water over an extended period of time. If anything, carbon particles are prone to shedding heterotrophic plate count bacteria and other colonizing microbes into the product water, thereby reducing the microbial quality. In many point-of-use devices the carbon is impregnated or commingled with silver that serves as a bacteriostatic agent to reduce microbial colonization and control microbial proliferation in the product water. Fecal indicator bacteria, such as total and fecal coliforms, and opportunistic bacterial pathogens, such as Aeromonas species are capable of colonizing carbon particles and appearing in product water. For these reasons, activated carbon is not recommended as a treatment method to reduce pathogenic microbes in drinking water. Additional treatment, such as chemical disinfection, often is needed to reduce microbe levels in carbon-treated water. Mixed media containing carbon along with chemical agents effective in microbial retention have been developed and evaluated. For example, carbon filters containing aluminum or iron precipitates have been described, and these filters have achieved appreciable microbial reduction in laboratory scale tests (Farrah et al., 2000). Therefore, it is possible that granular activated carbon filter media prepared with chemical agents more effective in retaining microbes may eventually become more widely available for point-of-use treatment of household water. However, the conventional charcoal and activated carbon media currently available for water treatment are not recommended for use at the household level to reduce microbial contaminants. Only charcoal or activated carbon media that been combined with other materials to improve microbial reductions should be considered for household treatment of collected and stores water and then only if there are performance data or certifications to verify effective microbial reductions"
If you have a few days to Google here is a lot more info on methods of purifying water. The most common include filters AND something to kill the Bacteria ( Chlorine, UV, RO). Unfortunately a lot of the information comes from mfrs. and sellers of filters. The WHO, UN and the NSF are 3 good sources of accurate information. Every person is different and anyone with a compromised immune system could die from E coli. This is serious s---.
Here are a few links:
www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/gen_info/filters.html
www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/travel/backcountry_water_treatment.html
Moisheh
