Traveling and Water Purification: You Can Never Been Too Safe
Always assume that when you travel abroad that the water you take is not safe to drink, unless you know how to distinguish whether it is potable and clean. Even European holiday resorts and hotels advise not to drink water from any water source, especially raw water.
The Safe Water for International Travellers or (SWIT) is a self-determining organization that gives the most up-to-date information available with regards to water safety worldwide. This organization provides information gathered from essential and trustworthy resources. This organization has a website where you will find information which categorizes the condition and status of the drinking water in any specific country.
By just drinking contaminated water, possible diseases will attack your body system, diseases like cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, dysentery and diarrhoea. These days, most companies promote sealed bottled water for safe drinking water but ensure that the bottled water you purchase has an intact seal when you receive it. Don’t accept bottled water which is not intact and sealed, as it could be a possibility that the bottle has already been used or refilled from other water sources.
World travellers say, “Don’t drink the water”, for some good reason. But you can be practical; just don’t directly drink tap water in developing countries if there is no assurance that the water is safe and also don’t eat street food to avoid having additional diseases aside from the disease from contaminant water. Consider bringing with you your backpack with elasticized pockets where you can place your own purified bottled water.
There are gadgets introduced in the market nowadays that can prevent diseases. These gadgets have their own purifying process; these are the travel water purifier, water bottle and life straw. The purifier bottle helps eliminate bacteria and germs in raw water, river or lakes. It helps kill 99% of waterborne diseases and filters odour-causing, tasteless tasting sediments. And the life straw is quite like a drinking straw that can keep microorganisms from going through your water. These products are quite expensive yet effective purifiers for travelling purposes.
Water purification entails disinfection and removal of suspended particles. There are three options available: Boiling, Filtration and Iodination.
The most efficient and simplest method of water purification is boiling. Boil water for approximately five minutes and when it is cooled, keep water in a potable sealed container to keep away from re-contamination. Chemical purification using Iodine is the other option but it is not advisable to take too much. Iodine should only be utilized for short periods of time, but people who have thyroid problems and pregnant women are advised not to drink water with chemicals. Consult your doctor before using it. Iodination is preferable to chlorination; thus, iodine is efficient against waterborne diseases and is effective as a disinfectant. Amoebic cyst and Giardia can be killed by chlorine. Chlorine can also be used for cooking and washing. After adding iodine in the water, let it stand for at least 30 minutes before using it. The third method is filtration. Filtration is important when the water has a high degree of suspended substances and is turbid.