Contaminants 101

John AdamaStaff - December 21, 2020

[See the full post at: Contaminants 101]

7  

Good information. Thanks.

 

I’m enjoying your course. Been interested in water disinfection largely due to my outdoor activities, and also from working in a clinic in Honduras, and teaching people to use the Sawyer filters. With regard to contaminants, it seems to me one that is puzzling is cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae as it’s also called. When this stuff infects the water, it can be deadly to animals (and people) who drink it. Since animals aren’t put off by the ick factor of drinking nasty-looking water, they’re affected more. Most people aren’t going be be gulping down water that looks like green paint. Usually blooms only happen in the heat of summer. What is your understanding of blue-green algae? And can the toxins be filtered out? 

Looking forward to the rest of the course.  Cheers. 

 

Great question. The short answers seem to be:

• A lot of unknowns, like the EPA doc below saying they don’t have enough research etc.
• Membrane filters can help with the algae, but not the toxins. Even the algae itself can be small enough to go through sub-micron filters.
• UV and other disinfectants can neutralize the algae, but not all of their toxins.
• There isn’t a universal way to treat all the toxins. eg. Seems like some types of toxins are controlled with chlorination, while others survive it, and so on.
• So the best way for an individual to treat the toxins, if they really need to use that water, is through a meaningful carbon filter (to absorb the toxins) or to use distillation — the same general rules of thumb for any water with chemicals, toxins, pesticides, etc.

This chart comes from the EPA

Some more sources:

• https://www.cdc.gov/habs/general.html
• https://www.purewaterproducts.com/water-problems/algae-and-cyanobacteria
• https://cnycentral.com/news/local/can-a-water-filter-combat-blue-green-algae
• http://foca.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fact-Sheet-Information-for-drinking-water-system-owners-and-operators-High-resolution-version.pdf

 

The included out-takes of laughter after “you’re probably dead” and in the video where John pushed the water container off the table, etc. are AWESOME!!!!

 

Thank you 🙂 We had fun on set even though it was at height of covid, and sometimes you gotta laugh about certain convos in prepping! 

 

Great info!

 

I remember using the tablets when we were backpacking as kids. Man it tasted horrible. But I did not die! Ha ha ha!