Water

Hello everyone!

Since I'm from sweden I'm used to be able to drink water directly from streams without filtering it first.

Does that work in NZ aswell or do you have some kind of bacteria or something in the water (or in the general nature) that I should be aware about?

If I do need to filter water, can you guys recommend some lightweight device that I can use to cleanse water?

Boiling water is not an option, it's simply not sustainable in the long run.

Thanks in advance! :)

/Oscar

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NewbiePermalink Reply by Benjamin Foord on July 4, 2014 at 22:02

Most places will tell you to treat or boil water due to the risk of giardia or cryptosporidium, but personally if I'm anywhere in the hills away from farmland (important), then I don't bother with treatment.

I just carry water treatment tablets in case I have to take water from somewhere less than ideal, like a hut water tank or something. You can get them quite cheap, and you just put 1 into a litre of water and it dissolves into a harmless, tasteless salt which kills anything nasty.

I live in the South Island though, so I think as long as you are not on farmland and you know there's no settlements or animals up stream, then I wouldn't bother with water treatment.

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NewbiePermalink Reply by Oscar on July 5, 2014 at 2:59

Out of curiosity, why is it that I should avoid water going trough farmland? Is it because they fertilize the land? I can understand why that is a bad thing to drink.

Hmm.. So what are those tablets called? And where can I buy them? It's not some kind of chlorine tablets, right? I have looked into a device that uses UV light to kill all bacteria and stuff, but it is a kind of heavy and the cleaning process is a little bit to advanced to be a practical thing to carry.

Okay. So do you think this applies for the north island aswell? I'm tramping across the whole country, you see.

Thank you for your response! :)

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NewbiePermalink Reply by Benjamin Foord on July 5, 2014 at 8:20

Well, fertilizer, yes. But mostly because of cow shit. A lot of water sources near farms end up with a lot of run-off from the animals.

Here is an example of the tablets: http://www.macpac.co.nz/chlorine-dioxide-tablets.html

There is an explanation on the page about how they work. They have an element of chlorine, but there is a reaction taking place, they work by oxidation.

Tablets are by far the simplest/cheapest/easiest way to deal with water quality.

You can buy them at any outdoor store.

Yes, this applies to the whole country, I would be more inclined to purify water in the North Island than the South.

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ShrafterPermalink Reply by Dave on July 8, 2014 at 12:36

I agree about the tablets. 20 tablets cost about $20 to $25.

There are different kinds of tablets available. My preference is the Chlorine Dioxide that Ben has mentioned. It kills Cryptosporidium and Giardia (which I think normal treatment tablets and Iodine does not kill).

Boiling water is also very effective but can use up a lot of your fuel.

There is a lot of variety available with portable water filters, some small enough for your pocket. A good selection can be found on www.top-gear.co.nz He ships internationally as well.

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NewbiePermalink Reply by Benjamin Foord on July 8, 2014 at 15:11

http://eartheasy.com/lifestraw

These are very cool too. If there are frequent water sources, you could bring a couple of litres of water, then just use the straw to drink when water is available and save your extra water for later.

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ShrafterPermalink Reply by Vinícius Monteiro Bezerra on July 12, 2014 at 13:07

Hi there.

Well, I'm from Brazil and here we are told to treat water before drinking. It's just like Benjamin said. It depends on the place where you find the water source.

Personaly, I prefer water purification tablets but the lifestraw as a great option as well.

You mentioned a UV light treatment and one item came up to me. Have you ever heard about Steripen? It's a portable UV water treatment device and it's pretty good. Here is a place where you can find it in NZ: http://www.macpac.co.nz/accessories/hydration-platypus/12203-non-os...

Best regards,

Vinícius

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ShrafterPermalink Reply by Kev Webb on August 31, 2014 at 21:39

I use a sawyers water filter system which are excellent and very cost effective. I bought mine from Highwater Filters in the States at a very good price, even when mailed to New Zealand. http://www.highwaterfilters.com/

Worth checking out too are the water2go systems; http://www.watertogo.co.nz/

regards

Kev