The trekking season is starting, need some help with few dillemas with more experienced hikers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Last year I got seriously ill for 2-7 days after drinking water from mountain source, which was supposed to be clean. This year I need some filtration or UV treatment, but I don't know how are your practical experiences to help me decide.
Scenario 1: Drinking water from mountain huts in central Europe. They use rain water or cisterns I don't know precisely. Should I use UV lamp of water filter on that water? Preferred method. Would that made it good enough to safely drink it or not?
The thing is they transport water with helicopters to some huts and it is almost as expensive as meal+overnight stay combined if you do hard hikes and drink a lot. And there is environmental issue from plastic bottles. I would like to avoid too much plastic bottles.
Scenario 2: Different flowing rivers in wilderness. There won't be any noticeable pollution or human presence above the water collection. Is UV or water filter enough? I guess probably is.
Scenario 3: Water near pastures in alpine terrain with mountains. The water is usually flowing, but perhaps there is reservoir, pond near cattle and could be not save to drink. Is UV or water filter enough?
Scenario 4: Emergency situation. Need to drink it from a pond, lake. The water is standing, perhaps a little muddy, but without any noticeable human presence.
I don't know there is potential issue with safety of UV lamps. Filters filter out most protozoa and bacterias. UV lamp just destroys part of their DNA and you still ingest that damaged DNA from deactivated protozoa and bacteria.
I don't know, what would you do and what are your experiences in that or similar scenarios.
The UV system will expose water to UV light and effectively destroy 99.99% of harmful microbiological contaminants in the water. If you purchase a system with an integrated prefilter, the filter will remove sediment, heavy metals, etc. from the water as these particulates can make it hard for the UV light to effectively sanitize the water.
In the UV water treatment process, water is fed through the UV system's chamber where light is exposed to the water. The UV light damages the microorganism's cellular function so that it is unable to grow or reproduce, and therefore dies.
As long as UV light is applied in the right dosage, UV treatment is effective against all bacteria (including Cryptosporidium and Giardia that have thick cell walls). UV light also works on viruses and protozoa. As a general rule, we recommend our customers install an integrated UV water filter WITH an RO drinking water system. This way, you get the best of all worlds! Microbiological contaminants are removed by the UV system and the reverse osmosis filtration system removes fluoride Fluoride (85-92%), Lead (95-98%), Chlorine (98%), Pesticides (up to 99%), and many other contaminants.