Being ill on the road is unpleasant and can be risky. Your body needs water to function properly so learn how to drink healthy.
As soon as you enter many countries around the world, you’re sentenced to carry a two to three-pound weight of water with you every day.
There are many bottles labelled with “boiled,” or “treated with Ozone,” there are others that state “natural water from mineral springs”, but this only means nothing has been done to purify the water at all as it supposedly comes from a safe source.
Is local water safe to drink
Local residents most likely will tell you the water is safe to drink and for them perhaps it is. It might be that their stomachs are used to the water or that they cannot afford to buy the bottled water every day or the fuel cost to boil their water. You should consider the fact that you can afford to drink clean water and you certainly can’t afford not to.
In hot and humid weather and especially when exercising you will need to consume plenty of water and more than you would normally consume. When some travelers don’t have ready access to clean water and when they have to pay for bottled water it often leads travelers to cut back on their water consumption. This is not advisable as it can cause exhaustion, urinary tract problems or even a kidney stone. If you suffer with diarrhea, remember to replace the fluids that you are losing. If safe water is not available, make sure to drink other non-alcoholic fluids.
Prevention
There are travelers that will tell you they drink water in restaurants, even tap water all the time with no ill effects. This is a gamble they are willing to take and at some point the gamble won’t pay out.
It would be unwise to assume the water served in ANY restaurant is safe. On previous trips to third world countries Megan has taken her own water into restaurants to ensure she drank clean safe water. In her time doing this no restaurant staff have appeared to be offended. Remember this water also costs a fraction of the price of restaurant water.
Drinking bottled water is better than drinking tap water if you know for sure the bottled water is actually bottled water. There are some merchants who refill bottles with unpurified water. There are some vendors around the world who will offer to buy back your empty bottles. Make sure the bottled water you purchase has a factory seal and don’t encourage the trade by selling your empty bottles to the unscrupulous vendors. Try to be the person to open bottled water if you buy it from a restaurant as sometimes even restaurants might refill old bottles.
A safer option is to only drink carbonated water from restaurants as it’s a lot harder to replace the carbonation in the bottles.
Ice is sometimes overlooked by travellers when it comes to drinking healthy. Yes Ice is water and it can make you just as ill as drinking from another contaminated source. Always remember to order a drink without ice as otherwise you will be leaving drinks untouched or trying to find a suitable place to put the ice you fished out of your drink. It can get costly to leave these drinks so try to stop the ice from coming in the first place. These ice cubes may have also originated from a much larger block of ice that was dragged through the streets before finding its way into the restaurant and your glass. Spare a thought to that and I’m sure you will refrain from ordering ice in the future.
It would be wise to also brush your teeth with bottled water. I’ve always done this whilst travelling and for some reason my teeth feel that much cleaner!
How to disinfect contaminated water
When you decide you want to treat water from a natural resource, try to collect the water from the safest possible source. Here are some of the possible locations you might try to look for.
- Wells
- Springs
- Water upstream from human habitation
- Fast moving water
- clear water
- water running over a rocky or sandy bed
Boiling
If you find yourself on a trip that will restrict you from taking enough clean drinking water, you might want to consider purifying water by boiling. This is an effective means to purify water and will only require you to bring the water to a rolling boil. If the water is heated and steam starts to come off along with a gentle disturbance then the water is not yet boiling and therefore probably not at the correct temperature to kill off the bacteria and parasites. Make sure you boil the water for a few minutes to be sure you’ve done the job.
Filtering
Filtering is often considered an alternative to boiling. Here are some of the contaminents in water and how effective filtering can be.
- Suspended solids like decaying vegetation and soil. These are reasonably harmless and can be removed with a filter
- Worms, Larvae and similar organisms can be filtered out
- Protozoa, single cell organisms that cause dysentry and other illnesses can be removed with a fine filter
- Chemical contaminents, which cause an unpleasant taste or smell in water can be dangerous and are only removed with some filters
- Bacteria, small single-cell organisms that cause cholera, typhoid, dysentry, salmonella and diarrhea are only removed with very fine filters
- Viruses, including the type that causes Hepatitis A, are too small even for the finest filters to remove. These viruses are however removed if boiled or chemically treated.
Iodine
Iodine solution from any pharmacy will kill parasites, bacteria and viruses. Mix the iodine solution with the water and let it sit for ten to thirty minutes to make sure the disinfection has taken place. If you find the water is cloudy, let it sit long enough for most of the particles to settle to the bottom before adding the iodine solution. Another option would be to purchase iodine tablets as these will remove the risk of spilling iodine in your pack. Just allow 20-30 minutes for the tablets to do their work.
Iodine does leave an interesting but not particularly pleasant taste of its own and does discolor the water a yellowish brown. Iodine should really be considered a back up purification option.
Chlorine
Chlorine can also be used to treat water. You need to check the bottle to locate the percentage of chlorine. If it’s one percent then add ten drops per quart of contaminated water. If it’s four to six percent, add two drops per quart of water. Once the chlorine has been added, let the mixture stand for thirty minutes before drinking.
To help stay healthy whilst you travel just remember to use bottled water that you break the seal on. If you can’t drink bottled water then boil, filter or drop in an iodine tablet and avoid containers that might be contaminated.
Just take a little time to think before you drink and you will be on your way to being a healthy traveler.
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