Water dilemma
February 26th, 2010I had to laugh when we were sat in a cafe in Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu and I heard a young American tourist complaining about the amount of plastic rubbish on the beach . . . whilst drinking a PLASTIC bottle of mineral water. Hey, dude, what do you think’s going to happen to your bottle once you’ve finished with it?
In a hot country, like most of India is, you have to drink a lot of water — at least two litres a day — and in India tap water is not recommended unless you’ve spent a lot of time getting used to it. And even then . . . But if you buy two or three bottles of water a day you’re contributing to the increasingly visible problem of plastic waste. Last time I went to India I added to the mountain of plastic to the tune of about 150 bottles in two months. This track record does rather dent my righteousness on the issue. But this time I was determined to treat all my drinking water myself.
There are a number of different ways to do this, and I chose to take along the equipment to try out three of the most practical and commonly used methods: ultra-violet (UV) sterilisation, chlorine tablets and liquid iodine.
I have been delivering the UV treatment with a product called the SteriPEN Traveler. It is the quickest method of the three, producing almost instantly drinkable water, though it does also have its downsides. The ‘pen’ is formed of a silver plastic case about 15cm long. Underneath the cover at one end is a glass tube, the bulb that delivers the UV light. It runs on two CR123 batteries which are able to treat 50 litres, or less with rechargeable batteries. This is one of the main problems with this technique -– it still produces waste in the form of batteries, and batteries run out. The sterilised water only lasts for 24 hours –- the UV light doesn’t actually kill bacteria in the water, it merely stops it from reproducing. The SteriPEN is also breakable and expensive, retailing for around 80 GBP in the UK. It has also not been completely reliable –- it should be possible to choose between whether you want to sterilise half a litre or a full litre, but the mechanism to do this does not always work which leads to wasted battery life. And then, after four months on the road, it packed up completely. I’m planning to take it back to the shop where I bought it — Snow & Rock — and either get a replacement or my money back.
Liquid iodine tincture is a very reliable method for making water safe to drink. Just add three to four drops of 2 per cent solution to a litre of water using a dropper and it takes about 30 minutes to make it safe. It is cheap and a little iodine lasts for a very long time. But it is not possible to use iodine over an extended period of time – the maximum amount of time as far as I’m aware is three months. The taste is not great but you adjust to it and it’s possible to buy neutralising tablets that take away some of the iodine tang. Also, you have to carry a dropper and the iodine is generally bought (from a pharmacy) in a (breakable) glass bottle. And the stuff stains like hell if you spill it.
The taste of chlorine tablets is also not so great and, as with iodine, you have to wait for 20 to 30 minutes before you’re able to drink the treated water. These small tablets make the water taste a little chlorinated but it’s hardly like a swimming pool and they’re extremely easy to carry — lightweight and non-breakable. You can also use neutralising tablets to make the taste a bit better. They’re available from camping/travel stores like Cotswold Camping and Nomad Travel.
There are mechanical filters available to buy also but I haven’t had the opportunity to test one of these yet. Perhaps when I do I will update this blog post.
The amount of plastic waste produced by tourists may seem like a tiny amount compared to the waste generated by the local population in a country like India but if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. So if you’re going travelling you might want to consider investing in some form of water purification method and if you don’t, at the very least, please don’t bitch about plastic pollution when you’re helping to create it.




