Aquamira LIQUID drops vs. Aquamira TABLETS

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Threadbump…

Anyone else noticed that the Aqua Mira tabs are impossible to find these days? …and look at this, the manufacturer is claiming "sold out."

http://www.aquamira.com/consumer/aquamira-water-purifier-tablets-24-pack

http://www.aquamira.com/consumer/aquamira-water-purifier-tablets-12-pack

[Roleigh Martin]

Google finds this a page where it can be ordered

http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/wisconsinpharmacal/the-Potable-Aqua/Categories

Found via this page

http://www.potableaqua.com/products-chlorine-dioxide.php

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Thanks for the PotableAqua link. I was fixating on AquaMira.

My question is: Has there been a recall of AquaMira tabs? Out of production?

[Link .]

they are in stock here and here .

[William Chilton]

Also in stock at Ultralight Designs. (Sorry, no time to create a link.)

[Link .]

the 12 pack is in stock and the 24 pack is out of stock at ultralightdesigns.

[Desert Dweller]

Aquatabs 30 pack for $11.00 is much better $$$ wise!
Amazon.

[Link .]

Desert Dweller, do you have a link for that?

[Roleigh Martin]

Aquatabs are not chemically the same thing. From their web site: "They are effervescent (self-dissolving) tablets, the US EPA approved active ingredient is NaDCC which is also known as Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate or Troclosene Sodium."

While Portable Aqua has Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Tablets and its active ingredients is clorine dioxide tablets.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_dioxide — lots of references, etc. on this.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dichloroisocyanurate — this is so new, hardly any information exists.

I did find these two references at cdc.gov:

Lantagne DS, Cardinali F, Blount BC. Disinfection by-product formation and mitigation strategies in point-of-use chlorination with sodium dichloroisocyanurate in Tanzania. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010;Jul 83(1):135-43. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20595492

Jain S, Sahanoon OK, Blanton E, Schmitz A, Wannemuehler KA, Hoekstra RM, Quick RE. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate tablets for routine treatment of household drinking water in periurban Ghana: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010;Jan 82(1):16-22. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20064989

This newer product works in 30 minutes versus the worst case wait for the chlorine dioxide tablets of 4 hours (but only 20 minutes if you pre-filter with a 1 micron absolute filter for Giardia and Cypto. I like the .5 micron nominal filter for $4 that weighs 1 oz from DudaDiesel.com (use a wire clipper to remove the steel ring at top to get weight down to 1 oz).

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=PTFEP3S

I'd like to hear from more educated, chemically and biochemically, medically, about this newer chemical form.

I believe though this newer chemical is the cause for the one product no longer being distributed. REI has switched to this newer chemical:

http://www.rei.com/product/849795/msr-aquatabs-water-purification-tablets

[Gary Dunckel]

The cootie-killing chemical created by Aquatabs is free chlorine, which isn't effective against cryptosporidium (nor is the iodine from the original Potable Aqua tablets). Chlorine dioxide is somewhat effective at neutralizing crypto, which makes it the best purification tablet available. Except that it doesn't seem to be currently available.

I know that Katadyne had production problems last spring for their Micropur tablets, due to moving their facilities to another location in Switzerland. They indicated that Micropur would be again be available in August, 2013. Hmmm…

Potable Aqua's chlorine dioxide tablets are claimed to be made in the U.S.A. and are distributed by Wisconsin Pharmacal Co. I found it interesting that the foil packaging of the Micropur and the Potable Aqua chlorine dioxide brands are nearly identical, with just 1-2 words on the directions being different. So this is likely an FDA wording requirement, or else both brands might possibly be made by the same manufacturer. Hmmm…

Last week I happened to drop into the store where I bought my Potable Aqua ClO2 tabs in June. They were also out of stock, and they had no clue as to when they would be receiving more. On the Potable Aqua site, they also indicated that it would be available sometime in August 2013. Another hmmm…

All I know is that I prefer chlorine dioxide to all other purification agents. And I'm glad that I stockpiled a bunch of it earlier this summer. With a stash of >100 tablets on a shelf in my basement, I should be good through next spring. But if nobody makes this available by then, I think one of you chemistry guys/gals should start your own company and produce it. For the common good of hikers planet-wide…

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