Getting drinking water while outdoors

Water, or rather drinking it, is one of the basic and essential needs of humans and other animals. Inadequate drinking can cause dehydration. Symptoms include headaches, double vision, dizziness, irritability, dry mouth and chapped lips. Absolute lack of water, or dehydration, can kill a person within an average of three days.

ENSURING THE AVAILABILITY OF DRINKING WATER

If you're going outdoors for a hike or a staycation, always pack plenty of water as well. Think about the fact that you don't just have to drink the water, but you can also use it for cooking. Always find out if there is a source of clean, drinkable water in the area so that you can refill your water if needed. If you unexpectedly find yourself outdoors without water, you will have to improvise. If you can find a water source, the basic principles of how you will know that the water is likely to be drinkable are colourless (clear water), neutral taste and smell. However, even these signs do not guarantee that the water is 100% drinkable and free of defects, so don't overdo it, at the very least it could cause indigestion. Running water (stream, river, spring) is likely to be less harmful than water from a lake, reservoir or puddle.

Water obtained in nature should be filtered, and there are several ways to do this. It should be poured into a container over a piece of cloth. For example, leaves, gravel, grass (but not clay) and crushed charcoal should also be placed on top of the cloth. All these elements will help to purify the water and reduce its iron content. The water should then be boiled for at least 10 minutes to kill possible viruses and bacteria. If you do not want to undergo these procedures in nature, there are also technical devices - filters - to purify the water.

WATER FILTRATION BY TECHNICAL MEANS

The market offers a variety of filtration devices that you can take with you outdoors to filter water when needed. One of them, for example, is the device Katadyn Hiker Pro, which is a filter pump. With it, you can pump and filter water from a natural source into a container or bottle. The filter has a lifespan of over 1,000 litres of water and reliably eliminates bacteria, cysts, algae, sediments and other impurities.

A smaller device of this Swiss brand is a filter with a bottle Katadyn Befree. The bottle is collapsible and flexible, the filter with EZ-Clean Membrane™ technology has a lifespan of up to 1,000 litres of filtered water and eliminates bacteria, microorganisms, cysts, sediments and purifies even slightly cloudy water. A smaller filtration device is also offered by the German brand Surao in its model of bottle with filter Life 2 Go Basic. The advantage of this device is the fact that the filter can also be screwed directly onto standard PET bottles. The filter also has a lifespan of up to 1,000 litres of filtered water and removes up to 99.99% of harmful substances from the water, including bacteria and micro-organisms.