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Archive for the ‘portable water filters’ Category
Portable Water Filters Protect From Water Borne Bacteria, Parasites, and Viruses
Monday, August 16th, 2010Imagine for a moment a father and his sons go camping in a remote area of the United States and decide to go for a hike. After some exertion, they come upon a crystal clear stream with a small pool of water large enough to swim in. Stripping to their underwear, they dive in and enjoy a refreshing swim. The stream is clear and the water supply unlimited, so the children decide it is safe to quench their thirst. However, this camping trip gets cut short because of violent vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps. How could such a clear and remote water source be contaminated?
Fresh water can look very clean, but actually be very dangerous. Water borne bacteria, parasites, and viruses are invisible to the naked eye, but may times are dangerously present. One reason for this is that streams are the water supply for a variety of animals. Upstream, deer, bears, and other animals may bathe and defecate in the stream. The bacteria ultimately floats downstream, contaminating what appears to be clean water.
So what could have caused the sickness in these camping kids? The symptoms are characteristic of amoebiasis, a protozoan contamination caused by human or animal waste. But, it just as easily could have been bacteria such as giardia, cryptosporidium, or e-Coli.
If you could advise this father on how to handle this situation in the future, what would you tell him? Of course, you would tell him to not let the children drink any water source that is open and susceptible to contamination. But what if they only have a limited supply of safe drinking water for their camping trip? Boiling water for twenty minutes will get rid of most diseases, but it is not always practical.
A practical solution to this problem is to take a gravity fed berkey water filter to the camp site or carry along a portable water filter such as the Berkey sport bottle. Both Berkey products can be filled with questionable water and purified to a clean drinking state. They are extremely effective at removing the harmful bacteria, parasites, and viruses while also leaving in the beneficial minerals needed for the body. Once the water has passed through the Berkey filter, this family will know that their water is safe to drink and won’t have an impact on their vacation.
Karst Conservation Is Essential To Protect Our Drinking Water
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010Karst’s are above or underground caverns, usually made of limestone or calcium carbonate, that over time tend to collect water and create aquifers. When such aquifers are found near residential areas, they make ideal sources of water as the water is assumed to be pure and the supply often endless. However recent studies show that this may be a serious misjudgment as human contamination transported by groundwater runoff is increasingly having an impact on these once pristine sources of drinking water. Without continued proactive karst conservation legislation, many of these delicate ecosystems will eventually be destroyed and lost forever.
Across every continent, except Antarctica, are found above ground and underground caverns. When water dissolves this very soluble rock, the result is a cavern, a waterfall, a lake, a sinkhole, or any number of topographical changes. This is referred to as karst topography.
Recent testing of some karst aquifers have revealed groundwater contamination. Groundwater flows into the underground through conduits allowing little opportunity for filtration or sorption of contaminants before reaching the karst. Reports of karst contamination is appearing more frequently in the news and sometimes resulting in the need to abandon the use of these karst springs and aquifers as a source of drinking water entirely. Some recently impacted regions in the US have been Kentucky, Virginia, and just this past May, Tennessee.
Basin type draining tends to collect anything and everything off the surface of the land and this can leave the water unfit for human use as fecal contamination containing e coli bacteria, pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals used by industry can sometimes find their way into these aquifers. The best way to protect a karst aquifer from pollution is to practice karst conservation, requiring humans to limit industry and other polluting activities over the groundwater basin.
In the meantime, there are new risks that we face from karst drinking water. First, individuals coming across a karst in nature may assume that the clear water is safe to drink. This is becoming less and less the case. The other concern is for those who have relied on a karst for decades to supply them with water. A karst aquifer can provide pure drinking water for 100 years, but can become contaminated very quickly once exposed to chemicals or contaminants.
As the population grows and pollution continues, the risks of contamination also increase, and thus routine testing of these karst aquifers should become a mandatory requirement. Fortunately, there are some glimmers of hope as citizens begin to better understand the sensitivity of these essential ecosystems and endorse karst conservation. Just this month, in British Colombia, karst conservation legislation was introduced to do just that.
Do not assume a clear pool in a natural setting is automatically sanitary. If you are hiking, it is best to take your own water along, even if you will be a long way from any sign of life. Another option is to take along a portable water filter such as the sport berkey that will remove bacteria and contaminants.
If your primary daily water source is from a Karst, a recommended precaution is to filter it prior to ingestion. Even if the water has been tested and deemed safe for drinking in the past, an unknown contamination could occur quickly and put your family’s health at risk. Berkey water filters are one way to accomplish this. They are able to filter out bacterial contamination and other chemicals to undetectable levels while also leaving in the important beneficial minerals that karst aquifer’s regularly possess.
Things To Know When Choosing Your Portable Water Filter
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010Water has always been considered the universal thirst quencher and definitely something that we could never live without. Lately, however, safety in consumption has been an issue due to people’s neglect of the environment and the failure to realize the importance of keeping our resources safe for ourselves and future generations. Portable water filters have recently been developed, allowing convenient water filtration on-the-go, reducing one’s carbon footprint, and saving money on bottled water purchases. The popular Berkey sport water bottle filter does just this.
The Berkey Sport Portable Water Filter
Why A Portable Water Filter?
Deciding to actually invest in something like the berkey water bottle filter will guarantee you savings from all that continuous consumption of purified or bottled water. Imagine this, all you need is just one portable water filter and you will immediately see all the other bottles disappear. It is inexpensive and gives you the freedom from spending a few dollars everyday at the store or vending machines on bottles of water.
If you are wondering how this portable water filter looks and imagine yourself carrying a bulky system resembling something attached to your faucets at home, this is not the case. The sport bottle is 11 inches tall, 2.5 inches in diameter, and has a loop for hooking onto your backpack or shorts. The convenience of having a reliable, high quality water bottle filter available on-the-go is the primary motive that drives more and more people to utilize these. Imagine being able to fill up your bottle with water from any source, any time, any where.
The Sport Berkey Water Bottle Filter
Portable water filters come in different shapes, sizes, prices, and efficiency and they all bring various levels of value, convenience, and safety. Our popular water bottle filter is the 22 ounce sport berkey. This simple and very effective product uses an ionic adsorption micro filtration process removing harmful bacteria, chemicals, and contaminants from water sources such as municipal water and lakes alike.
The most amazing part is that even though the sport berkey water purifier takes care of many toxic chemicals found in water, it is very simple to use. Once your receive your portable water filter, all you need to do is flush the filter with water twice to remove the manufacturing dust and you’re good to go. You can then fill the bottle from any source and just squeeze to be able to enjoy your safe drinking water.
The sport berkey portable water filter will provide it’s owner clean, healthy water over a long duration of time. The mini water filter inside can purify 160 refills of “dirty” untreated water for when you go camping, or 640 “clean” water refills from your home, car, or office. Cleaning after prolonged use and allowing the water filter to air dry will help the filter maintain it’s integrity. Once the water filter has reached saturation capacity, simply swap it out for a sport berkey replacement filter and you’re back in business. This process only takes 30 seconds
Berkey Sport Replacement Filter
Save yourself and the environment the cost and hassle of buying and throwing away another bottle of water and get the sport berkey portable water filter. The water you drink will be pure, convenient, and inexpensive.
