Question for DU smart people re: boil water notice

[tanyev]

I’m not under one yet, but some areas around me are. I have a supply of Potable Aqua tablets. Would that be sufficient for water treatment or would I still need to boil?

Also, these tablets are a few years old, but I don’t see an expiry date on the little bottle. Does that make a difference in your answer?

ETA: Just checked my Amazon account and the tablets might be as recent as June 2020 or as old as August 2017.


Thanks for any answers.

[orwell]

1. I would boil the water...

...especially if there is any doubt about the tablet's efficacy.

FWIW I have done IT support for public water companies. When they issue a boil water notice it is for a reason.

[procon]

6. Just boil it.

Put a large covered pot, clean plastic tub or bucket outside in the cold and just keep boiling smaller pots of water to fill up your outside storage containers.

No worries about having safe drinking water if you boil it long enough.

[Kaleva]

2. I'd boil the water .I believe CDC recommends boiling for a min of 1-3 minutes depending on elevation

[hlthe2b]

3. Those are iodine and chloride tablets and yes will disinfect water for bacterial contamination. But,

protozoan parasites (cryptosporidium, cyclospora, giardia) may or may not be killed, as chlorine disinfection alone does not kill their spores. A municipal water system that has been offline can allow these parasites through since their filtration systems can be overwhelmed.

So, your tablets can be used--but boiling for a roiling boil at least one-thee minutes may be the better option. Especially if the water is cloudy (consider filtering though a coffee filter, if so first).

[dalton99a]

8. +1.

[drray23]

11. most water purification systems sold for hikers do kill protozoan parasites.

the technology has evolved way beyond simple tablets.

For example, I use a sawyer squeeze water system.
From their specs:

Hollow-fiber membrane filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and Cryptosporidium

I am not putting a link to it because that could be flagged as commercial spam? but you can google for it.

Now, even thought it works well, this is not practical for filtering large quantities. Its good for survival situations however.

[hlthe2b]

12. That is the filtration that is addressing the protozoans, NOT the Iodine or Chloride tablets

There are many species of Cryptosporidium that infect animals, some of which also infect humans. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body for long periods of time and makes it very tolerant to chlorine disinfection.

This is why we have Crypto (and cyclosporidium)- related swimming pool outbreaks every year--despite high levels of chlorine use.

As I said previously, municipal water systems that have been offline may stagnate with particulate matter, rendering their filtration abilities temporarily insufficient. It is for THAT reason, that boiling is the better option.

Can you use tablets with your hiking/camping filtration system. Sure. The combination should be similarly effective as long as you let any debris settle first.

[marble falls]

4. Boil first. If you can't boil, go for option two, even if you got them yesterday.

[Mr.Bill]

5. I would check with the provider of your water.

It could make a difference whatever the water is contaminated with.

[tanyev]

7. Looks like a unanimous recommendation to boil.

Thank you all!

[Skittles]

16. much easier if you have electricity!

[tanyev]

17. Oh yes. I've been very fortunate with that,

but so many are facing a trifecta of misery.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Very doable with the outside bar-b-que

We had hot coffee water and hot soups using the BBQ, last time we lost power a couple months ago.
BBQ on the back deck, not in the house, just to clarify.

Now we have a 3 burner camping stove with extra propane bottles, can use that in the roofed carport if needs be.
I have a strong feeling we will need to use it at some point down the road.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

9. Those tablets make water taste awful.

I tried them once. Yuk.

[tanyev]

10. Well that's good to know.

I’ve never used them before and don’t even remember why I got them. Some Trump debacle, I’m sure, but at this point there have been so many.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. One cap full or tablespoon of bleach per gallon, let stand for an hour, will sterilize it.

.

While it will have a slight bleach taste, it will be potable and will not be harmful to ingest.

This is if you do not have access to filtered and boiled water.

Do not eat icicles as they often contain bird poop and other fecal matter. Also, not the first hour of snow and not the last bit but the stuff in the middle will be cleaner.

.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Boil It

As mentioned, iodine tabs are not completely effective against all biologics. The vast majority, but not all.
In addition, low molecular weight organics are easily removed with activated carbon beds in a water supply facility.
But, if they don't have full power, I wouldn't trust them to be working.
Boiling removes these as they are very low level and more volatile than water.
The purification tabs do nothing to those possible contaminants.
So, there's 2 reasons to boil.

[pansypoo53219]

15. i'd boil. when milw had cryptosporidium, apparently the bug survived heavy disinfectant according

to the book 'the coming plague' i read.

[Peacetrain]

18. I would definitely boil.... even tank water

because with all the pipes bursting everything would be contaminated by now.. unless you have access to tank water that has been there since prior to the emergency.. which by now is I am sure a big old NO!..

[jmowreader]

19. If you don't have a Katadyn filter, boil it

Katadyn filters will remove anything but viruses from your water, including bacteria. However, they’re ultra expensive...hundreds of dollars expensive.

[tanyev]

21. Thank you, I just looked at the Katadyn website.

I have no outdoorsy experience, so that is all new info for me. Not much help at the moment of course, but something I could have on hand in the future.

[raccoon]

20. You can also make water drinkable by using very small amounts of Clorox.

See:

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/BePreparedBeSafe/SevereWeatherandNaturalDisasters/WaterPurification