For chemically purified water ...

During a conversation with one of my crew, water purification came up. We got on the subj of chemical purification and the taste of it. I mentioned that GI's put frozen strawberries in the Lister bags to hide the chemical taste in the field. He mentioned that he carried the individual packets of Koolaid and Crystal Light packets to do the same thing. D'uh, so simple , like the Jitterbug, it plumb evaded me until then. Anybody else doing this?

I like the mild flavor of Nuun electrolite tablets. I imagine they would mask purifying chemicals.

Just make sure that you do not add Kool-Aid, powdered Gatorade, Nuun (yum) or anything else to the water until after treatment is complete. You can negate the disinfectant by adding things to the water before disinfection is complete.

Long years ago, when I was a starving student, I used iodine tablets for water purification. Effective but disgusting. Adding a small amount of instant iced tea crystals masked the flavour enough that I could stay hydrated.

My favorite method involves bringing the water to a boil and throwing in a tea bag or two. When you are seriously thirsty, however, the taste of the water doesn't matter...

Amen bro, Amen!

Tea is eminently more civilized than iodine. (Haven't used iodine tabs in two decades and don't miss them one bit.)

The iced tea did let me push more water, though, and for me that's important. By the time I'm seriously thirsty, I'm already significantly dehydrated. YMMV

Any thing with ascorbic acid (vitamin C)will neutralize the iodine flavor.I believe Aqua Pure is the brand name but it comes in a two bottle package.Use the first pill to purify and the second pill to neutralize.On the bottle it says active ingredient:ascorbic acid.Now I use a Sawyer filter or chlorine dioxide.Also carry a means to boil if I need to.

BOATMAN
John

Sometimes use lemon juice, comes in small (55ml) squeezy lemon shaped bottles here in the UK.

Also rather good on pancakes.

Who in this day and age still uses Iodine to treat water? I have not seen anyone in at least 15 years carry Iodine. There are much better modern alternatives out there such as Aquatabs, Kataydn Micropur and Pristine CLO2 to name a few. Of these, I have personally used Aquatab to treat untold numbers of bottles of water.

If anyone insists on still using Iodine, consider getting some Nuun electrolyte replacement tablets to mask the Iodine taste. These tablets are usually packaged in a vial of 12 and in different fruit flavors.

I 'm not using iodine but aquapure tablets. I still think the powdered flavoring may help increase the palatability of chemically treated water.

I'm fully converted to filters. Too much non-biological junk in the water and no chemcial taste.

I do still have two bottles of polarpure wrapped in allumnium foil and mylar in storage for emergencies. (that stuff eats through regular ziplocs and mylar bags).

What's nice about chlorine dioxide tablets is that you can always have them with you. On a day hike where we're carrying our own water, I won't usually bring a filter.

I like chlorine tablets for convenience, too. But keep in mind they don't help much against chemical pollutants. Though to be honest, neither does boiling or most other conventional methods other than quality filters.

A little off topic but I have experimented lately with the Lifestraw:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeStraw

Interesting concept and seems to work well so far. Should be pretty effective at what it does if the advertised info can be trusted. In any case, it comes in a fairly compact package and the water tastes just fine.

Absolutely right. As I understand it, ceramic filters won't eliminate chemical impurities without other filter elements.

What "quality filters" are effective for chemicals - which chemicals?

The EU banned the sale of Iodine for water treatment purposes in 2009.

A very fine mesh nano membrane in combination with an activated carbon filter should remove a high percentage of many common pesticides and toxic heavy metals (lead, cadmium, strontium, uranium...).

I've used Lifesaver (the bottle version), which is supposedly among the more effective portable filters. Silverline also makes similar products, some portable and some intended for home/stationary use.

Hikermor, I have one of these, but I have not used it yet:

Renovo Water

It claims to be able to do some chemicals, and has easily replaceable components. I just need time to research the normal contaminants in the ground water in our area, and a lab that is willing to test for me without charging an arm and a leg.

Not my first choice, but the Coghlans version is still available, even in little stores in very out of the way places. It's the two-step set, so no need for iced tea crystals. I was waxing nostalgic, sort of.

Why would that matter? Well, I've seen a few situations where the ability to augment my mini-kit would be worthwhile. This includes work situations where a field office job morphs into remote site visits without warning. Fortunately the chlorine tabs are also increasingly available.

NATO Forces still use chlorine tablets which, if the truth be told, is the real reason for drink mixes in MRE's etc. Hides the taste. Take it from someone who has been there that the taste of chloinated water gets old quick. As does the low level sore throat from the chlorine. Give me CLO2 tablets anytime.

I use little those individual packs too. Our faves are Koolaid and Tang. Small, light, packable and they hide that chemical taste pretty well.

Great advice!!