Aqua Mira tablets v. bleach

For some reason bleach upset my stomach despite measuring it carefully to the recommended dosage. It completely ruined a trip for me and it actually got to be a dangerous situation when I was unable to keep even water down. That apparently is not a problem for most, but be careful to know how you react to chemicals used before you rely on them.

I've never used aquamira so I can't comment on it.

I will say that at 2 ounces, the latest Sawyer offering, the Mini Squeeze is getting down to a pretty minimal weight. Personally even though I am very conscious of weight carried I prefer a filter and at 2 ounces it isn't much of a weight splurge. You can't make weight splurges on a lot of items without it adding up to a significant amount, but in this particular case I think 2 ounces is a reasonable amount to carry for the purpose.

Thanks Pete. I will look into the sawyer. I would still like someone to respond to original question.

Hi Victoria,

I can't comment on effectiveness as I've never had my water tested after treatment but as far as taste goes, the AM tablets certainly have a chlorine taste and require ~ 4 hours or so for treatment per their specs. I've never used the drops but I hear they don't taste as bad as the tablets.

Most of the water I've treated with the tablets is fairly cold and I've never been sick. I suspect that has as much to do with a lack of pathogens in the water as anything else.

Sorry about your back.

Ian

My take, is that the tablets are more of a "just in case" kind of thing. Something to keep in an emer kit. The drops are what mainstream users use when going the chem route. AM is chlorine dioxide, wheras bleach is just chlorine. CDC puts AM just above bleach, although not by much. Neither outperform filtration for cysts. It's about on par with chlorinated city tap water for taste I guess. Of course if you use too much, it may remind you more of the pool at the Y instead. Sometimes I think the water actually tastes "clean", sometimes I think it's kinda funky. Probably depends on what's in the water reacting with the chlorine I suppose. Maybe it's just me :)

I have a Pur Hiker Pro Water Filter (now known as Katadyn Hiker Pro). It weighs a ton, and therefore I've never used it.

If you're considering a filter, the Sawyer mentioned above is probably your best choice based on price, weight, volume and maintenance.

I always use the tablets. Much lighter.

It doesn't really matter what brand they are, they all work very well.

They're a little more expensive than the drops, but less fiddling with for use, and they usually have a 5 year shelf life.

With drops or tablets, they all have been tested with the worst and most suspect water in the world with NO problems.

A very small percentage of the population of outdoor enthusiasts have ill effects from use, but most people have no issues.

The one method I won't use is the Iodine tablets or crystals. Absolutely horrible taste, even with the ones sold with the second bottle that is supposed to neutralize the iodine. Also, a much larger percentage of the population has stomach problems with their use.

If you go with bleach, make sure to use 100% bleach and not bleach with any additives.

With bleach, chlorine / chloramine drops or tablets, vent the water after treatment for 10 minutes before drinking and most of the chlorine taste will have disappeared.

Good luck and happy hiking.

I used chlorine dioxide drops (brand name Pristine, ordered from Canada) from 1999 to 2006, when I switched to a Steripen. I still carry a small amount of Pristine as a "back-up" method.

The drops give your water a slight chlorine-y smell (more smell than taste). I have a very strong sense of smell (unfortunately), but it only bothered me a few times. The chlorine-y taste is extremely mild. All in all, it's pretty acceptable. The downsides are two-fold:
– it's fiddly, with mixing the chemicals; and
– if you really want to be safe — with very cold water, you have to wait a long time for it to be fully purified.

BTW, I just finished a few weeks of physical therapy for my back problems, and the improvement has been nearly miraculous! Jen Mitol (a BPL member) recommended that I look for a physical therapist who is an AAOMPT fellow (do a provider search on aaompt.org), and it has been truly amazing. Of course I don't know what your back problems are, but GOOD physical therapy will help almost everything.

I've used all three in different settings.

Aqua Mira drops have virtually no taste. I accidentally ran a blind taste test with my wife, she didn't even notice.

Bleach tastes like chlorinated tap water(*) at first. If you air it out, you really can't taste it.

Aqua Mira tablets (and similar tablets from Katadyn and others), leave a noticeable taste in the water. Doesn't bother me, YMMV. Might disappear if you let it air out, but I've never bothered to try.

— Rex

(*) A lot of water systems switched from chlorine to chloramine, which tastes and smells completely different. Chloramine has more of an ammonia smell.

Back the question in the original post about kill time with cold water. Since the chemical process is the same, I would posit that Aqua Mira chlorine dioxide liquid drops have the same kill time in cold water as AM chlorine dioxide tablets. You could check the manufacturer's web site.

As to the two tablet solution, I think that is a reference to the use of iodine tablets with the second tablet to suppress the iodine flavor.

I have used AM drops and tablets. When it is dark and especially when you are treating water for two or three people, the tablets while more expensive are just quicker and simpler. As noted above, the shelf life is longer too.

Aqua Mira anything works on raw water slightly differently than bleach. Bleach supplies free chlorine, and that can work on water as long as the pH is right and as long as the nitrogen compounds aren't too thick. That is also why a public water system can use chlorine, because they can test the water pH to see what is necessary. For those of us who do not carry such lab equipment on a backpacking trip, it is better to use something with less concern about pH. That is Aqua Mira or anything that produces chlorine dioxide.

–B.G.–

Thank you everyone for the input. After weighing all my options, I've decided to go with the Sawyer mini filter. I am used to using a filter and don't care for chunks of anything in my water. If I went with chemicals, I would be bringing a pre-filter, so where's the weight savings in that?…;-)

Just to be clear, I understand the ion that does the work with bleach is Chlorine, but it is Oxygen that does the work with Chlorine Dioxide (ClO2). Oxygen is a very strong disinfectant, hospitals buy industrial sized ClO2 tablets by the bucket full. So forget about the Chlorine in ClO2, it may leave a slight after-taste but that's about all.

All this has probably been hashed out elsewhere, but here’s what the maker of Aquamira says:

The main difference [between the drops and tabs] is the method of delivery of chlorine dioxide (ClO2). In the case of the tablets, ClO2 is generated when the tablet comes in contact with water and it bubbles off as the tablet dissolves. This entire process happens within the container of water that is intended to be treated, so essentially the entire chemical reaction is contained in one container. It is true that when treated according to instructions, the result of the reaction is a 4ppm concentration of ClO2 in 1L of water.

The delivery method of the liquid is much more complex and many factors may come into play that could have an effect on the final concentration of ClO2.

The reason that the instructions call for a reaction wait time of 5 minutes is so that the mixture can be added to the water at the peak of ClO2 production. If a person adds the mixture too early or late, the final concentration of ClO2 in the water can be significantly less than the required 4ppm.

This might explain the difference in odor and taste between the tablets and drops. And it’s a caution against “pre-mixing” the drops in a bottle, and using the pre-mix much later.

— Rex

From what I understand, Aquamira (chlorine dioxide), although not fabulous at it, is much more effective against Giardia and Cryptosporidium than common bleach (hypochlorite), which is not very effective at all against these parasites.

The 4 hour incubation time for Aquamira is for effectively killing Crypto.

If you only wait the 30 minute incubation time that it says on the bottle, then you won't be very protected against a Cryptosporidium infection (not sure about Giardia though)

Giardia is generally regarded as easier to kill than Crypto.

The 2 drops of bleach per liter of water treatment is going to kill the bacterial and viral content in the the water fairly effectively. The parasites will be largely left intact.

The reason more people don't get sick when only using bleach is that Giardia and Crypto just aren't that common in most pristine backcountry settings, so the water is most likely safe to drink anyway.

Livestock and other humans are your main concern when thinking about the possibility of Giardia and Crypto infections. Steer clear of both when selecting water sources. In other words, avoid collecting water downstream of either heavily used campsites or livestock grazing areas.

My take is that clorine bleach does not kill as much stuff (crypto) as Aqua Mira. The tablets and drops are identical in dosage delivery if mixed according to instructions. A typical weekend trips worth of AM drops weighs about 1/3oz to 1/2oz. I use AM drops mostly because I also use 1/2L (500ml) bottles. Tablets are way overkill and drinking a more concentrated dose of AM for several days can give you stomach/intestinal problems.

I have used several filters. They all weigh between 9oz and 2.7oz. For long trips they tend to be weight effective, though. I haven't tried the Sawyer's yet.

For several years now I have been using one of McNett's Frontier Pro filters. The pore size is much larger than the Sawyer Mini Filter, and isn't able to filter out bacteria. So it must be used in conjunction with AM or CLO2 tablets. But is has a couple of interesting features–it has a removable cotton disc that effectively prefilters the water so that even fine silt won't clog the filter, and it also has a carbon element that completely removes the chlorine taste from the chemicals. This filter weighs about the same as the Sawyer Mini. I think it works best for use in a gravity filter setup, although you can also attach it directly to a Platy.

"it has a removable cotton disc"

I have one of those, except that I don't think that the disc is made of cotton. Mine appears to be some polyester felt. Mine seems to be very good at picking out pine needles.

–B.G.–

Glad to hear you went with the mini. I just got back from my first trip with it, and I have to say that it is the best water system I've used yet. I put it inline with my platypus hoser and it is so freeing to just fill it and go. No waiting for chemicals, no chemical taste, no waiting to filter 1-2 liters of water, just fill and go.

And at 2oz, it's actually lighter than the aquamira drops and only costs $10 more.

Yeah, Bob, it's probably a polyester disk. I carry a couple of cotton balls in my emergency kit, and they work well as backup replacements for those rare times when the water has a lot of fine silt in it.

I used to use the 2-part iodine tablets but have switched to the AM one tablet. I like the tablets better than any filter I seen before.

The new Sawyer mini is tempting, but make sure you carry the back flush adapter as you will need to back flush it more frequently than even the larger Sawyer filters given it's small size.

I'm currently doing some section hiking on the PCT and I've met 3 people already who are dealing with clogged Sawyer minis. Apparently putting the back flush adapter in your bounce box is NOT a good idea!