[at-l] Katadyn Micropur tablets

[icw@xxxxxxxxxxx (Clark Wright)]

easy now - while I do not personally disagree with the basic point you
are making, go a bit easier with the tone . . . also, many of my clients
are not spending millions on possibly going to ultraviolet disinfection
for their municipal and industrial plants for nothing . . . EPA is in
the middle of a process of trying to phase out
chlorination/dechlorination as the standard for most water disinfection
processes . . . or at least they were on that kick for a number of
years.  Lastly, the whole issue of chronic effects is always a real
screwy one to prove or disprove . . . you always get into those
epidemiological studies where you can prove or not prove just about
anything by playing with the control variables . . .

anyhow, i reckon all I'm saying is that I am personally pretty much with
you, but just with a bit more humility and qualification . . .

clark wright
[thru-thinker]

J Bryan Kramer wrote:

> In general all the chlorination agents react with water to form the actual
> killing agent HOCl, hypochlorous acid. Chlorine, Chlorine Dioxide ( which is
> a gas and so might be tough to make into a tablet) and Sodium and Calcium
> Hypochlorite all work more or less the same way.
>
> We've talked before about DEET being used by so many people with very rare
> adverse effects but chlorination agents are used by hundreds of millions if
> not billions of people each day, multiple times a day. I haven't heard of
> folks dropping dead or breaking out in green spots after quaffing a glass of
> water. So all this chest beating over their safety is the usual moronic
> prattle we hear from a certain fraction of the population best known as
> chowder heads, twerps or dimwits.
>
> Chlorine disinfectants probably have saved more people from disease than all
> the doctors and antibiotics have ever saved. I don't know of any persistent
> disinfectant that could replace them with the possible exception of bromine
> and iodine which are both in the same chemical group. Ozone is not
> persistent and thus of little use for water distribution systems.
>
> Now as to whether you need to use these on the trail, I cannot say lacking
> evidence one way or the other. But if you do use them they are perfectly
> safe to use. Chlorine in high enough doses will kill just about any
> pathogen, you may not find the water too tasty after getting the dose high
> enough but it will kill them. Giardi for instance needs 10 ppm to kill it.
>
> As for the price, I agree: just use bleach it is virtually free. One of my
> environmental engineering profs said that he carried a dropper bottle of
> bleach with him at all times overseas to treat any water he drank.
>
> Bryan
>
> "Si vis pacem para bellum"
>
>
>>There's a very complex chemistry involved in trail water
>>purification, which I
>>don't pretend to know. But chemicals don't remove pesticides and
>>herbicides and
>>other chemical contaminants, which are probably at least as
>>dangerous and as
>>likely to be found as giardia or crypto.
>>
>>Chlorine, and maybe iodine since they are related elements,
>>combine with organic
>>matter in the water to produce particularly potent
>>disease-producing substances.
>>
>>Though all of the popular chemicals certainly are capable of killing some
>>disease organisms, none of them will kill all such organisms.
>>
>>It is beyond my powers of statistical analysis to say what this
>>means in terms
>>of overall protection if you are using the chemicals over a six
>>month hike.
>>
>>
>
>
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