water purification with iodine tinture??

[fatsnacka]

hi guys any of you done this ?? is it advisable??

they seem to do it in america a lot just wonder if anyone on hear cleans water this way ??

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Purify-Water-Using-Iodine-Tincture/

would like to know your thoughts i have some iodine tincture with 2.5% potassium iodine and it says it also contains purified water and 89% ethanol

just looking for a point in the right direction

thanks

Andy

[Proventurer]

hi guys any of you done this ?? is it advisable??

they seem to do it in america a lot just wonder if anyone on hear cleans water this way ??

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Purify-Water-Using-Iodine-Tincture/

would like to know your thoughts i have some iodine tincture with 2.5% potassium iodine and it says it also contains purified water and 89% ethanol

just looking for a point in the right direction

thanks

Andy

Suggest you use this as a backstop, ie (absolutly have to use this method) won't kill you but can cause problems in certain medical conditions
such as pregnant women (which you obviously aren't), you are probably better off using chlorine to sterilise your drinking water, either way both methods leave a less than palatable after taste.
If you're going to give it a go, then I suggest you mix your tincture 50/50 with water before hand, to lower the alchohol content.

[Silverback]

Cant see a problem after trawling the internet and my copy of BNF. Except the high ethanol content.

Why not just use potassium permanganate though ?

It has many uses. A cheap and easy way to purify water. Potassium permanganate crystals can be bought from any chemist and you need add only about 3 or 4 crystals per litre of water (or until the water stains a light pink) and leave for 30 minutes.

Make the solution more concentrated (darker) and you have an antiseptic, quote: "Potassium permanganate is a mild antiseptic with astringent properties. It is used in dermatology to treat weeping skin conditions. Potassium permanganate tablets are commonly used in clinical practice. The 400mg (1:1,000) tablets are diluted in four litres of water to give a dilution of 1:10,000 (0.01%) (British Medical Association and Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 2003)."

Its also useful for treating canker, in some cases excema, ringworm and other fungal infections.

Caution is essential because this chemical compound is caustic and can burn the skin if not properly diluted. Even fairly dilute solutions can cause skin irritation and can even burn skin when applied repeatedly, according to the New Zealand Dermatological Society

I remember fondly (not) being painted with purple spots when I had ringworm as a child (which is actually a fungal infection)

Lastly mixed with glycol - it spontaneously combusts... Fire :-)

[fatsnacka]

thanks for the info guys will look into them both

thanks

[BushcraftAndSurvival]

Iodine tablets used to be the way to go for chemical water treatment, the EU Biocides Directive have since removed iodine from the list of safe chemicals to treat water in spite of it being a proven and effective method.

This has never really been explained properly but it is still possible to obtain iodine tincture from sensible dispensing chemists. I have some that i got from a chemist who is into mountaineering, as soon as i explained what i wanted it for, cleaning wounds and purifying water, he made me up a decent sized bottle of it. I did ask in a Boot's chemist and was told that i could not have any in case i abuse it. My reply was "How can you abuse iodine?", to which they were unable to answer.

Find a local, independent chemist and explain why you want it and they might help you.

[Basha72]

Why not just get the chlorine dioxide droplets, think i paid about £6:50 for the two bottles, purifier and activator will treat up to 60 litres and won't leave an after taste like the old puritabs did ;-)

All depends on where your water is coming from, most clear running water sources in uk just need a boil up to be safe, but if your gonna be getting it out of murky ponds and dykes etc then you may need to filter it before you start the other process.

Basha

[udamiano]

The use of Iodine and Chlorine is now considered not sufficienct to kill all protozoa, who have now become, and becoming more immune to all but the highest doses, It will however be ok for a first stage treatment.
You should boil all ground water in the UK as the University of Glasgow (who are the main experts in the water borne pollutants) suggest t (at least 95% is contaminated in the UK.according to their report to DEFRA.

A recent report done for the WHO (World Health Organisation) treated samples of water containing a varied collection of the protozoa we get in the UK,and the USA, and treated them all to different tests common to water treatments. The report can be found here, and believe me it does make interesting reading

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/admicrob5.pdf

It shows that water treated with Iodine have only a small impact on the cysts within the water.
To understand the problem its best to think of these protozoa as being like the yoke within an egg, they are protected from chemical treatments by the shell, which like a real egg is porous, and allows certain amounts of moisture through,to stop the protozoa from drying out, but reduces the amount of chemicals like Iodine that the protozoa actually receive, so thus requiring much higher doses of the chemicals before they are effective, which unfortunately make the water undrinkable to us.
The best method is to use a multi stage method of filtration, then heat, although this is only partially effective on certain chemical compound or heavy metals, these need to be treated with something like 'activated' charcoal, which again only has partial success depending on the compound.

Commercial water treatments use a combination of filtration, chemical treatment to bind to the metals and other compounds, second stage filtration (that now removed the now binder compound and metals) then, settling to give the sun time to act on the bugs and introduced bacteria, then a final filtration then (in some parts of the Uk) addition of Chloride.

Personally I use a fine filter system (about >2 micron silvered ceramic mesh) and then activated charcoal filtration, with a final boiling, this of course largely depends on the state of the source water to begin with.

The main problems are going to be

Floating matter (the stuff you can see)
Protozoa
Virus
Chemical compounds in solution
Heavy metals in solution.

I've been looking into this problem over many years, and have researched it extensively.

Hope that give you a bit more information.

[jus_young]

http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/outdoor-kitchen/water/water-purification-tablets.htm

One tablet to 1litre of water and, if the water is not too dirty, safe to drink in ten minutes (but recommended to leave longer)

Or get one of these but they are pricey! http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/outdoor-kitchen/water/web-tex-surviva-pure-canteen-waterbottle.htm

[udamiano]

Yes Aquaclear is a good product for killing biological pollutants its a chlorine based water treatment that has a oxidation additive to attack the wee beasties

it uses a substance called 'sodium dchloroisocyanurate' as its main ingredient, which has had good results in all tests, It doesn't though remove non-organic compound from water, it is a biocide. but in most situations a really good way of making water at least drinkable, but should always be used in combination with other methods in heavily contaminated areas such as run offs from farm land

[jus_young]

Yes Aquaclear is a good product for killing biological pollutants its a chlorine based water treatment that has a oxidation additive to attack the wee beasties

it uses a substance called 'sodium dchloroisocyanurate' as its main ingredient, which has had good results in all tests, It doesn't though remove non-organic compound from water, it is a biocide. but in most situations a really good way of making water at least drinkable, but should always be used in combination with other methods in heavily contaminated areas such as run offs from farm land

T^

I use the Aquamira Frontier Pro for filtration in combination with the Aquaclear tabs. The filter has been attached to a 2 litre bladder that filters into a 1 litre bottle so dirty and clean are always kept seperate.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/dalesman-frontier-pro-filter-p143744

[udamiano]

Here is the technical information on sodium dchloroisocyanurate just in case you need something to send you asleep LOL

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/second_addendum_sodium_dichloroisocyanurate.pdf

Again issued by the WHO