5 TIPS for drinking water in Nepal whilst trekking

Yes – I agree and add a few snippets of my own

Obviously a major consideration to any trek is the availability of Safe Drinking water, In Nepal and you do have several options of getting it !!

Please try and avoid buying bottled water as this does lead to a Huge Littler problem with all the empty plastic bottles being poorly disposed of !!

On the Annapurna Circuit there is a series of Safe Drinking Water Stations that sell water purified by ozonation.
You can read about the scheme and see where these stations are located on This Link

On ABC after passing through Chomrong Bottled water has been banned, you can buy Safe Drinking water which has been boiled from lodges. Most lodges now use solar cookers or gas for boiling the water so this is still quite an environmentally acceptable way to purchase your
Safe Drinking water

Both the above schemes provide an extra income for locally who badly need the money and the AC Safe Drinking Water Stations also help fund ACAP

You can buy Safe Drinking water which has been boiled from lodges on EBC and Langtang too - a lot of water is now boiled on solar cookes, So Safe Drinking Water at no ecological cost and still providing that essential extra income for those people that really need it !!

Another option is Lugol’s Solution of Iodine – This is readily available from chemists in Kathmandu for a few rupees (But bring your own dropper / pipette bottle from home as the ones in comes in leek – Thus making a Big Mess of your pack !!!)
It makes the water taste a bit metallic so you should take something like “Tang” along as well to flavour your water.

Some people now bring their own water filters, although I think that this is a great idea, the downside is that by using your own water filtration system you are depriving local people of a much needed income.

Happy Trekking
Rob

There are also springs. Look for them.

Good advice above. Just a couple of additional tips (1) Dawn mentioned using Rehydration Salts - such as orange flavoured Jeevan Jal (8 to 10 rupees per packet) which is great stuff if you are losing a lot of liquid from perspiration or have been ill with the Kathmandu Quck Step or vomiting - however, if you are not in danger of dehydration and drinking adequate water (3 to 4 litres per day when going to high altitude) by using rehydration salts on a regular basis, daily - you could overdo a good thing and put a strain on your kidneys because of the high salt content. Be careful. It's safer to use dissolvable orange flavored Vit C tablets. After the iodine or other chemical purifier has been in the water for the recommended 30 minutes, add one Vit C tablet to the water and shake the bottle until dissolved. Some chemical purifiers come with their own neutralizng agent to improve the taste of the finished product.

Lodges using solar cookers to purify the water are certainly environmentally friendly but there are still many using kerosene and wood burning stoves unfortunately. I don't feel at all guilty when I use my Steri Pen to purify my water at those places.

A confusion please. If they are burning the bottles in rural areas how does that harm the environment unless someone comes by and mistakes it for glue? Litter would be cured with a match..

I'm with you Elsie. Steripen for me. The convenience is great, whether in the hills, Bangkok or camping at home. Wake up at 3.00 a.m. thirsty? Everyone is asleep and you don't want to wait for the iodine to take effect. One minute for the Steripen. Stuck between villages and really thirsty? Fill up from one of those black pipes and drink it a minute later.

I'm sold.

Gavin

Hi guys, I don't normally enter forums (a bit shy in truth!), but the comment by edwardseco hit a bit of a weak spot...

...burning plastic in rural areas is damaging, not only for the locals but also for the environment, as the article below briefly illustrates.

As a preamble, I'll admit that I don't know the procedure the locals use for burning plastic bottles, but I'm quite confident they can't reach the required high temperature for a safe disposal!

Having said all this, please don't take this message as being argumentative, as it is so easy to mistake tones of messages as being aggressive...only want to clarify the issue (well, at least I hope to do so)...happy trekking and drinking safe water!

"Open burning of plastic waste can be dangerous to your health and the health of the natural environment. The Prince Edward Island Environmental Protection Act Air Quality Regulations (Section 8.1(i)) prohibit the burning of materials containing rubber or plastic without a permit.

Old barrels or wood stoves do not reach high enough temperatures to destroy many of the dangerous chemicals created when plastic burns. Municipal solid waste incinerators...can reach a temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 C), providing plenty of oxygen to complete the burning process. Barrels and wood stoves only tend to smoulder and smoke, releasing plumes of toxic fallout into your backyard and the surrounding community. In addition, this leaves you with potentially hazardous ash, which is not appropriate to spread on the soil.

Plastic such as PVC (polyvinylchloride)is common in such things as vinyl siding, bottles and jugs, vinyl tubing, drainpipes, blister paks, etc. Care should be taken never to burn these at home, as carbon monoxide, dioxins and furans are released into the air. Studies have linked dioxins and furans to cancer and respiratory disease."
http://www.gov.pe.ca/envengfor/index.php3?number=60944&lang=E</a>

Rats, I was hoping for more of a rise than reasoned discussion. However, what is missed is the key item, rural. Let us presume that this isn't a built up city suburb like Secunderabad where they employ this method. Assuming that people have the sense to not sniff it like glue the fumes should disperse. I would admit that if thousands of trekkers pass by in a day and the local population held a big bonfire I wouldn't want to be in the vacinity..

OR ... Take a Steri Pen - which quickly (90 seconds) treats a liter of water (using UV). We used one on for our trek and found it invaluable. Best to bring a pre filter though as the local water has a lot of "crap" in it that you otherwise should let settle.

We also noticed that more than a few lodges carried their water from the central tap to the lodge using an old kerosene container. Not surprisingly the boiled water they gave you could have a nice film on it, or a nice kero odor.

I think I will get a Steripen. It reminds me of how dad explained the unusual yellow rice in Thailand..