USA, August 31, 2003: Click “source” above to learn several effective methods to treat water. The material was assembled for trekkers, but is useful for any world traveler. The introduction states, “Dipping your head into a cold mountain stream and taking a long refreshing drink is an experience that has basically vanished from the wilderness areas of America. With the increased use of the wilderness, there has also been an increase in the amount of bacteriological contamination of backcountry water supplies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that 90 percent of the world’s water is contaminated in some way. There are a variety of microscopic organisms that can contaminate water supplies and cause potentially serious, even fatal, illnesses among wilderness travelers.” The site then goes on to describe various methods of purification including boiling, chlorine, iodine and filters. It offers one “trick of the trail” for iodine purification. Iodine works very well but the resulting purified water tastes strongly of iodine. The addition of vitamin C to the water after the purification process is finished will eliminate both the color and taste of iodine.
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