Iodine drops for Everest Base Camp Trek

Is iodine expensive in the UK ???? Normally it's a very cheap product, including here in Belgium.
I don't know in Nepal, but if you buy ioidine in India it's impossible to know how concentrated (% ?) it is.

Hi

Iodine is readily available in Thamel, the backpackers hub - lots of supermarkets and pharmacies will see it. As far as I can remember Lugol's is available, not sure how much it costs or if other brands are available but hopefully others will post details because, like India, it is difficult know the concentration. If no further info on here consider re-posting on the Nepal branch because it gets more readers and posters.

There other options for safe drinking water on the EBC trek - boiled water is readily available and lodges often have a vat on a rolling boil, bottlrf water too but as well as quality issues the empties are an environmental problem.

By the way, I thought iodine for use as water purification was banned in the EU a couple of years ago...

scoodly

I stopped using iodine long ago so can not speak to its availibility in KTM now but if you plan on using it we used to bring our own small bottles and fitted EYE DROPPER as those used to be hard to obtain in KTM. I could be out of date on that too. In any case I do carry a very small thick strong glass bottle of idodine crystals (very light, minimun water needed, and lasts indefinitly) from the old days for emergency use as back up to my steripen. I pack the bottle of iodine crystals in a good sealing slightly oversized plastic vitamin bottle with a few packing 'peanuts', you know the styrofoam white peanut shaped things that items are shipped in, for crush protection/breakage prevention. The last thing you need is a broken container of iodine in your backpack....

Lugol's solution is available in all pharmacies in Kathmandu, but bring your own dropper. Really the biggest problem is the leaking bottle, or at worst, a broken bottle. That can destroy a lot of gear. Much easier is to buy Potable Aqua pills, you can find those in trekking shops.

That said, you can track the main trails without any water sterilization method. Drink tea, beer, soda pop, eat soups. Buy boiled water from the lodges.

How expensive could this product possibly be?

Well, Lugol's solution was the solution in the eighties, since then better solutions have appeared, like iodine tablets (potable aqua etc.) Really, I have carried iodine pills on several treks and ended up not using them. It is possible to survive a trek relying on local water only.

Thanks Petrus, Roger Ray and Scoodly, that's useful information. As you replied that iodine is now indeed banned, I think I will go for the pills.

Personally I've been using iodine drops for 30 years, and I'm quite satisfied. It is by far the cheapest product, it acts much faster than pills. But bottles in Nepal do leak, you must bring your own empty bottle.

My wife and I used only water from the lodges and their kitchens. I also filled up my bottle in streams along the trek, where the current was strong enough. Pure mountain water of excellent taste and quality.
We never had a problem even though my wife has sensitive stomach.
We had purifying tablets with us that we had bought in Kathmandu but we never used them.

Some people are too cautious if not to say paranoid. I saw a guy from a tour group who treated his bottled mineral water with UV.