Sawyer mini vs chlorine (or other) water treatment tabs

The chlorine dioxide tabs take about 4 hours to work. Fine for overnight treatment, and this is reported to also kill cryptosporidium and giardia.

Liquid AquaMira (also chlorine dioxide) using the pre-mix method is a lot quicker (about 15 minutes) although it doesn’t kill cryptosporidium or giardia.

Boiling as the primary method of water treatment is a PITA and takes a lot of time and fuel. Boiling all water consumes a lot of fuel, which is no problem if the fuel is wood and if it is plentiful and if there’s no fire ban in place. But it’s still time-consuming and some folks can’t abide the inevitable sooty mess it makes. In an emergency?—Heck, yes. Otherwise, I’d still count upon something else as back-up to my primary.

Based upon another recent BPL discussion and a recent experience with friends who have used UV light treatment successfully for a long time, I’m going to try the Steripen Classic 3 which can be had thru Amazon Prime for less than $50 US. I’ve never been sick using the AM pre-mix method, but it’s nice to know that UV treatment also kills (“neuters,” actually) crypto and giardia, and when I read that the Classic 3 works well with my preferred Gatorade bottles and can treat 150 liters on 4 AA lithium batteries, well, that sealed the deal.

According to the CDC, Chlorine Dioxide is very effective against Giardia. Where did you read that liquid Aquamira does not kill Giardia?

CDC Guide to Water Treatment

According to the CDC, Chlorine Dioxide is very effective against Giardia. Where did you read that liquid Aquamira does not kill Giardia?

From McNett, the people who make AquaMira.

Despite the fact that both the Aquamira Water Treatment Drops (http://www.mcnett.com/aquamira/water-treatment-drops#41001) and Aquamira Purifier Tablets (http://www.mcnett.com/aquamira/water-purifier-tablets#41400)  utilize chlorine dioxide, only the tabs have been certified by the EPA as a “water purifier”. Therefore, we cannot make specific claims as to whether it will kill Giardia and Cryptosporidium, as the portion of Aquamira’s EPA testing that is now complete allows it be labeled for treating bacteria in drinking water.

Ahh.  Thanks for the clarification Bob.

I seem to vaguely recall some discussion about this before.  Didn’t someone claim that chemically speaking, there was no difference between the tablets and the drops, and that Aquamira has this “disclaimer” in order to conform with their current EPA certifications?

I wonder why the EPA hasn’t certified the drops…

Previous discussion

Yep, lots of discussions about this.

Bottom line is the chemical reaction to produce ClO2 is different for tabs/liquid (explained in the McNett link above) and also the recommended treatment time is different, among other factors. I’ve read a bunch of those and the ‘takeaway’ that always stuck in my head is the crypto/giardia exception.

It sounds like at the directed dosage, the drops aren’t effective against crypto/giardia as you state, but at triple the recommended dosage, drops would be as effective as the tabs.  This isn’t something that’s in the product packaging, but it was discussed in the other thread and not an official recommendation from the manufacturer, the EPA, CDC, etc.

For me the discussion is largely academic.  I typically carry a Sawyer because my wife can’t mentally get over the idea of drinking water that has “floaties” in it.  But I do own a package of the drops which I keep in my bin in case I get a chance to do any solo trips and want to go light.  In that case, it would be useful for me to completely understand the limitations of the product, and maybe decide I’d be better off pitching the drops in the trash.

I’ve debated that with myself a time or two. :^)

One nice thing about the Steripen option is that when water sources become scarce—as they can even here in my local parks—it is possible to treat and drink quickly when arriving thirsty at the next brook or lake… or swamp. This hasn’t happened a lot to me, but it is not a good feeling when it does.

It seems that Steripen has dealt with all the nagging issues with previous models so I’m giving it a go.

I use the chlorine tabs due to their small package size and VERY low weight. The 4hr mark you just told me about is the first time I have heard about. I have been ‘told’ a time to wait is: 15mins per litre, the packet says 1hr per litre, also got told on BPL a couple years ago that colder water temps increase the time it takes for the chemical to work.

I think it may pay for me to go on their website and also start sniffing around about these chlorine tabs for effective use procedures.

I like the sterypen idea but then I am not so fond of the size issue. The sawyer has a new version (might not be sawyer manufactured though the unit looks exactly the same just a green colour) that is claimed filters out as minute stuff as viruses!!! Either way the sawyer will be left at home and either the new version bought or go with my original idea of filter water through clothing then chlorin tab treat it.

Its all about water management strategy. When water is suspect, I give it a full 4 hour treatment, meaning I may have to carry an extra liter of water during the day or use a very small amount of fuel to boil a 1/2 liter of water for immediate consumption (I discussed this in the previous thread about reducing pack weight by camel-ing up on water). But I do try to plan my hikes so I get to my (usually infrequent) water sources at the end of the day.

Chemicals don’t get clogged up like filters, and don’t have electrical problems or dead batteries like the pens. However, I should point out that I have never owned a filter or a pen. It works for me, and it may not work for you. However on a trip one time two people I was with had pen failures at the same water stop… they were thankful I had some extra tablets.

This is one of those “there is no right or best way” to do it. Chemicals work well for me.

@Nick, ta for your response :-).

“When water is suspect”
-we cannot see if water is suspect in terms of bacteria and viruses content. They are too small to see with the human eye. By the same token crystal clear water from a mountain stream could be loaded with bugs from animal fasces or a dead carcass a while upstream. To be sure, EVERY DROP garnished from whatever source out in the wilderness needs to be made sure it’s drinkable.

I’ve used AM (liquid ClO2) quite a bit and have never been sick, knock wood.

One advantage AM has is that it can make very manky water taste pretty darn good. Seems to neutralize the flavor of fairly heavily tannin-laced water. Photo below is from the Catskills about 1.5 months ago after extraordinarily low winter snowfall left the mountains uncharacteristically dry. I borrowed the silicone tube from a friend’s pump system to obtain some water by gravity (being too lazy to pump) and treated with AM. Tasted like the best store-bought water from the Alps, even though it was still the color of pee.

Katadyn used to have this table on their website that explain wait times for Micropur. The real answer is, it depends on the temperature of the water, and the turbidity, what the wait time should be. Also, crypto is a cyst borne parasite and to be sure that it is killed, you have the extremely long wait time of 4 hours, if the water is DIRTY AND COLD.

See the table at:

https://www.travmed.com/pages/health-guide-chapter-5-food-and-drink-safety

I just found out that my aqua tabs (3.5mg NaDCC, also known as Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate or Troclosene Sodium) DOES NOT cover me against crypto :-( http://akvopedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_(NaDCC) …..shitehouse.

Whereas the sawyer mini will remove all the stuff the aquatabs do not and more….lots more https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/

“When water is suspect”
-we cannot see if water is suspect in terms of bacteria and viruses content. They are too small to see with the human eye. By the same token crystal clear water from a mountain stream could be loaded with bugs from animal fasces or a dead carcass a while upstream. To be sure, EVERY DROP garnished from whatever source out in the wilderness needs to be made sure it’s drinkable.

I almost always purify my water. Aqua Mira will kill everything in 30 minutes, except Crypto may take up to four hours depending on the water temperature. Depending on the source and the temperature, I may not wait 4 hours. I am more concerned about Giardia than Crypto.

I have accidentally swallowed gallons of water from several western USA rivers downstream from civilization and cow pastures, and not gotten sick once. I’m a lot more relaxed about treating “every drop” now. I’m skeptical of all statements like “I treated water with X and didn’t get sick, therefore it worked.”

Still, I usually use ClO2 tablets (light weight & dead simple), and wait a while before drinking.

YMMV.

— Rex

Here is a good comparative chart:

http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/2014/01/need-know-water-tablets.html

Most water doesn’t need treatment, at least where I go

And most people will just get a little sick

But if you drink untreated water a lot, eventually you will likely get sick

I treat about half the time – don’t bother sometimes in alpine areas – I’ve never got sick that I know of

Water that I’m heating anyway I don’t treat

If my treatment method failed, filter clogged or Steripen died, I’d just drink untreated water without worrying about it.  My Squeeze has never failed.  My Steripen failed a couple times, once because I used cheap batteries, and another time because I left the batteries in the unit for a month and they trickle discharged,  Take a set of new name brand batteries and Steripen should be pretty reliable.  Or get the one with rechargeable battery and charge it before trip.