Just a quick question. The standard treatment is one tablet per quart. But I carry a 16oz bottle in my kit, so is it ok to use one tablet per pint, essentially double-doseing, or would that be harmful to drink? Or do I have to cut the tablet in half, if that's even possible?

Thanks.

Bill

Pill Cutters are dirt cheap and can be purchased at any Pharmacy.

IMO, it's best to stick to the proper dosages.

In a short-term emergency situation it's possible to use higher concentrations than 1 tab./liter. But it would be better if you just got a larger water-bottle or a 1l. platypus bag.

Scissors can cut pills in half, assuming they're not coated (Ok, technically scissors *could* cut coated pills in half, but don't do it, because the coating is there for a reason).

It's wasteful, but you could double dose it as previously described then pour half of it out and fill it up again. just make sure when topping it off you don't lose the half that's treated. You can get away with this because you got to let the treated water sit for a half hour or so (read thre instructions) before you can drink it anyway.

Thanks. I did write the company but they just gave me the standard legal answer, which was that the product was tested at 1 tablet per liter so that's what they recommend using. I guess I'll just have to pack the larger bottle and/or freezer bag.

4 hours per liter.

i think that's only if the water is visibly dirty (ie muddy)

Izzy: "I prefer to chemically treat very dirty water and then boil."

Why? Boiling is the surest way to kill everything. Adding chemicals only wastes time and money, and puts unnecessary chemicals in your body.

As far as treatment times, bacteria and virii are killed in 15 min regardless of temperature, Giardia and Crypto take between 30 min and 4 hours(with Giardia being killed much faster), but the latter is a worse-case scenario for cold, dirty water. Unless the water seems really sketchy, I would usually take my chances after 30 min.


In response to the original question, I'm pretty sure you can double the dose and drink the water safely-much if not most of the chlorine will evaporate anyway, espcially if you shake up the bottle and then let it sit with the cap open for a bit. That's one of the nice things about chlorine dioxide as opposed to chlorine.
It's actually a good idea to double the dose if youre treating very dirty water, or if your water is very cold and/or you don't want to wait as long. There should be a slight chlorine odor when you open the bottle, if not, you probably need to add another tablet.

"Each Potable Aqua tablet contains 20 milligrams of Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide (TGHP), which liberates 8 milligrams (ppm) of titratable iodine. Dissolving Potable Aqua tablets in water releases the iodine bound in the TGHP molecule.

When dissolved, both diatomic iodine (I2) and hypoiodous acid (HIO) are released. Because the tablets contain a buffer, the treated water is maintained at acidic conditions with an approximate pH level of 5.5. Diatomic iodine is more abundant than hypoiodous acid. This mixture provides adequate disinfection of most waters.

Chemical reaction rates, and consequently germicidal effects, are subject to variables such as water temperature and level of contamination in the water. For this reason, two tablets of Potable Aqua and a 30-minute waiting period are required before drinking the water. The iodine works by penetrating the cell wall of the microorganism, therefore rendering it inactive."


I doubt it would hurt you to double the dose. Iodine is important to the thyroid gland, but the best treatment for radiation exposure (which messes up the thyroid first) is to give you an overdose of iodine.

In fact, people like me that live near a nuke plant have an emergency store of iodine pills issued by the nuke company, that we are supposed to take if there is an incident.

I wouldn't take too much Iodine on a daily basis, but in a survival situation? Load it up. I doubt you could overdose on it, particularly with the product above.

This is assuming you are using MicroPur tablets, and not a tablet that is based on a chlorine base, those are poison.

I don't recommend. "just boiling" as in a survival situation, you loose 1/3 of the water in the boiling process, and you might not have the hardware to boil water.

I'd only boil water for survival, well if I didn't have any other way to get water.

Best,
JB