Passing Of The Water Purification Tablet

[hawgrider]

For decades, drinking water made safe with water purification tablets was a right of passage for young men and women.

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, water purification tablets was a must have for any hiking or camping trip. I would fill my canteen with a bandanna over the top to filter out large contaminates, then add a water purification tablet and lastly, shake well.

Then I bought my first water filter in the mid-1990s. After I bought my first filter, I still carried water purification tablets and added them to the water, even though the water had been filtered. The logic for continuing to use the tablets, portable filters were new and tablets had been around for decades.

Over the next few years I slowly stopped using water purification tablets. With the limited shelf-life, it is a wonder people still buy them. On various discussion forums, the tablets have fallen out of favor for modern water filters.

Do the tablets have a place? http://www.alloutdoor.com/2017/03/14/passing-water-purification-tablet/

[Arklatex]

They still have a place IMO. You can get chlorine based tablets that have a better shelf life than the iodine based ones. And if you're in a below freezing environment a filter element can freeze and crack. The tablets will still work.

[hawgrider]

They still have a place IMO. You can get chlorine based tablets that have a better shelf life than the iodine based ones. And if you're in a below freezing environment a filter element can freeze and crack. The tablets will still work.

I've still got some in my gear.

[Dwight55]

Personally, . . . I'll get the little bottle of Iodine, . . . an eye dropper, . . . and use it that way.

THEN, . . . I've also got something to use on cuts and lacerations as well.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Arklatex]

Personally, . . . I'll get the little bottle of Iodine, . . . an eye dropper, . . . and use it that way.

THEN, . . . I've also got something to use on cuts and lacerations as well.

May God bless,
Dwight
That's exactly why I keep it in my lil first aid kit. 10 drops per quart, shake, wait 30 mins. Learned it from that barefoot hippy Cody Lundin.

[Dwight55]

Actually, . . . as an adult, I had forgotten iodine, methiolate, mercurichrome, and the other stuff Mom's used on us when we were kids.

There was spray stuff, . . . and swab stuff, . . . and whatever.

UNTIL, . . . I went in to the hospital, . . . they cut me open like a Thanksgiving turkey, . . . to replace my aortic valve.

I was "checking myself out" a couple days later, . . . saw this ugly yellowish orange stuff smeared all over my chest and stomach, . . . all out 8 or 10 inches every way from the incision. Took me a while to figure it out.

Yeah, . . . they still use it, . . . and it still works. One of the few disinfectants I am told, . . . that will whack some of the new bugs found in the hospitals.

Anyway, . . . it's good stuff, . . . still.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Baglady]

That's exactly why I keep it in my lil first aid kit. 10 drops per quart, shake, wait 30 mins. Learned it from that barefoot hippy Cody Lundin.

I think I'll buy some iodine. Better to be safe than sorry. Thanks.

[Sparkyprep]

I keep isopropyl alcohol, but not iodine. Maybe I should get some. I also don't keep water tabs in my pack. Just the filter.

[Kfilly]

For the minimal weight of the tablets, I carry a full box of the individually wrapped tablets. They can be really useful especially when on the move.

[Kfilly]

They still have a place IMO. You can get chlorine based tablets that have a better shelf life than the iodine based ones. And if you're in a below freezing environment a filter element can freeze and crack. The tablets will still work.

I saw a video about a trick I want to try this summer. Anyway, the guy said you can use a 3" long, 1" diameter pine tree branch as a straw water filter. It is supposed to make the water safe enough to drink from a biological stand point. I presume it will do little for chemical contamination though.