Lovers of long hikes in areas remote from civilization are most likely aware of the problem of lack of drinking water. Carry the necessary stock with you is unrealistic. Drinking water from sources found is dangerous. Therefore, experienced travelers use proven water purification methods. To do this, they add special means to it, boil it, pass through a filter that is marching for water through its own hand-made or factory-made filter.
What water can I drink on a camping trip?
It is good if the path runs through a mountainous area rich in crystal clear streams and springs. But what about when the campaign is by no means carried out in an ecologically clean area? The first thing to learn is that drinking water should not be taken from the first source that comes along the way. The best option is flowing out of the ground. But, unfortunately, such springs are rare. If they are not nearby, you should choose a water source, which is located in the most picturesque corner of nature.
If there is a blooming nature around - you can safely take water. If you value your health, bypass the liquid with a bad smell and color. Do not use water from a source surrounded by wilting greens, animal skeletons, if there is any factory or village nearby. Using such a liquid without preliminary cleaning, you run the risk of ending your trip ahead of schedule.
How to purify water on a camping trip
The issue of drinking water should be taken care of in advance, even before you decide to hit the road. Study the map of the terrain you will be moving around. Identify sources where you can wash and get water for drinking. Consider cleaning methods and bring along some of the materials that you may need to make the water filter your own.
A great option that saves many travelers is a factory-made road filter. If you take it with you, you practically do not need to rack your brains over where to get water suitable for drinking. Filters for water purification under traveling conditions are produced with such characteristics that their operation is as convenient as possible in such a situation. A special place in the life of travelers is the tourist (or hiking) filter "Aquaphor Universal". What explains such popularity?
"Aquafor Universal" - an assistant to tourists and summer residents
Camping water filter "Aquafor Universal" is actually designed not only for cleaning liquids taken from open sources. It is actively used by summer residents or owners of suburban cottages, where there is no centralized water supply. Its ability to neutralize chlorine also suggests that the manufacturer suggests that the device will also be used to purify drinking water from a faucet.
Using this filter, water, in whatever initial state it may be, can be almost 100% eliminated from impurities such as:
- phenol;
- heavy metals;
- petroleum products;
- pesticides;
- active chlorine.
Using the Aquaphor Wagon Filter in Camping Conditions
Camping water filter "Aquaphor Universal" is very compact and easy to use. It weighs only 400 g, has dimensions of 65x90 mm. It is capable of purifying up to 300 liters of water from open sources. In a minute, with its help you can get 300 ml of drinking water. So, just one filter with your head is enough for a whole group of tourists.
The filter "Aquafor Universal" has a hole for attaching to a water tap, and with the help of a special nozzle it can be attached to any plastic bottle, which is very practical in a hike. But it is important to consider one important nuance. Water taken from open natural sources must be boiled before passing through a filter. This only indicates that not all 100% of the microorganisms living in it can be eliminated by this cleaner, and the risk of infection, although minimal, exists.
Boiling is the first way to disinfect water
Experienced tourists know that there are several ways to disinfect water from natural sources if the camp filter for water treatment is not available for any reason. Most often they resort to boiling. But it is important not only to wait until the water begins to boil violently, but also to keep it in this state for at least 10 minutes, and preferably 20 or even 30.
For the best effect in boiling water it is worth adding young branches of any coniferous tree. You can use for this purpose the bark of oak, beech, willow, hazelnut or walnut, as well as young birch bark. Grasses that are at hand are also suitable: calendula, arnica, tumbleweed, feather grass, camel thorn, yarrow, field violet. All components must be added in the amount of one or two glasses per bucket of water during boiling or when it will be removed from the heat to stand for 6 hours.
How to rid water of germs in a campaign
- Adding pills. This is not the best way to disinfect water , but with chemical components it is still not as harmful as untreated liquid from the river. For this purpose, you can use such means: pantocide, aquacept, clorcept, hydrochloronazone. With just one tablet of any of the proposed drugs, you can disinfect half a liter of water in 20 minutes.
- Potassium permanganate . On a bucket, it should be taken in an amount of only 1-2 g. Make sure that the solution does not turn out to be saturated in color, otherwise you may get dysbacteriosis undesirable in the campaign.
- Salt. Adding one or two tablespoons of table salt, you can disinfect not so dirty water. But remember, the constant use of such a composition can lead to dehydration.
Mechanical purification of water in a campaign
If the water produced in the campaign is too turbid and has relatively large impurities, you can build a camping water filter with your own hands. There are several options here:
- Any particles folded into several layers will help get rid of large particles, earth, sand. You can take a bandage or clean socks.
- During long-term parking, you can simply defend water in large barrels or baklag. Under the influence of sunlight, microorganisms die in it.
- Another way to get more or less clean water is to let it seep through the ground. To do this, dig a hole a stone's throw from the reservoir and wait until the water runs there.
- You can make a kind of wick of wool and lower its ends into a tank with and without water. Water will gradually overflow.
- Also, tourists often independently make a water filter in camping conditions from three sticks, fabric, grass, fine sand and charcoal. A tripod is installed from the sticks, to which a fabric with the listed contents is tied. After passing through grass, sand and coal, the water will become transparent.
- Another way to make a filter marching for water is to make it out of a can and sand. To do this, make several small holes in a can of canned food, lay on top a piece of cloth or several layers of gauze and pour hot sand. The filter is ready. Now it remains to pour small portions of water into it and patiently wait for it to pour out of the holes. Instead of cans, a plastic bottle is often used.
Improving water quality in the field
Water will become a little cleaner and tastier if you add a little wine to it. If the liquid is bitter and has an unpleasant odor, you can defend it for several hours with charcoal taken from the fire. Chunks of clay or wool are sometimes thrown into boiling water. And then, taking them out, squeeze them.
Berries of hawthorn will improve the taste of salt water. Another way to get tasty water is to mix it with clean earth and let it settle well. The liquid will improve the quality and taste if you defend it with a few fresh or dry leaves of mountain ash.
The easiest and safest way to clean water from contaminants and germs is to pass it through a factory filter, for example, "Aquafor Universal". But if this kind of filter is not suitable for water, then you can use the means at hand to make it yourself and use one of the disinfection methods. Thus, saving water from impurities and dangerous microorganisms, you get a completely safe liquid for drinking. And using the tips to improve its quality and taste, you can even to some extent enjoy the process of quenching thirst.