Dear B-A,
Last year I mentioned a cheap, easily carried water purification device, LifeStraw, as a potentially useful addition to a birder’s kit . In October, I took a LifeStraw with me on a trip to Sabah and tried it in water of varying qualities, from urban tap water to raw river water. Water through the LifeStraw was quite palatable and I suffered no ill-effect from water borne organisms. I would recommend the LifeStraw as part of a birders kit, even if only for emergency use. I have just returned from a trip to Yunnan, on which I did not take the LifeStraw. I am still recovering from a bad case of Giardiasis which I contracted from a town water supply. Next trip, all my drinking water will pass through a LifeStraw, much cheaper than Doctor’s visits.
Another, even simpler water purification method that birders might find useful, particularly on camping trips, is SODIS (solar disinfection). SODIS uses clean PET or glass bottles filled with water and placed in the sun for 6 hours or more. A very simple and elegant solution to water purification. For information on SODIS, see http://www.sodis.ch/index_EN
Cheers,
Carl Clifford ===============================
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