What do you guys think is the best method of water purification? Im intending to make my way to some smaller cities, a bit off the gringo trail. Is it easier to rely on bottled water with some iodine pills for a backup or spring for a pump purifier? if so what brand is best?
1
hopefulist
We traveled for years (and backpacked in the Pacific NW USA) with an MSR Sweetwater purification pump/system. Now I travel to CA with a steripen and have had good luck with it. If I'm staying in one spot for awhile I buy large containers of purified water and we typically cook with boiled tap water. I can't speak specificially to availability in Nica, though.
2
kolpez
Bottled water is readily available everywhere in NI except in the smallest rural comunidades. I definitely wouldn't bother with a Steripen or pump. To be safe, I always have some purification tablets (Micropur) in my First-Aid kit when I venture out in the wild, but have hardly had the need to use them. And I've been to lots of small communities out on the Atlantic coast.
"Sodis" works wonders too, if you're in a tight spot: fill a 1.5 to 2-litre bottle with well water and leave it out in the sun for at least 6 hours. Kills most if not all the germs known to man.
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