MoapaPk wrote:Looks good, but there is a little caveat:
"In theory, the method could be used in disaster relief or refugee camps. However, supplying bottles may be more difficult than providing equivalent disinfecting tablets containing chlorine, bromine, or iodine. Additionally, in some circumstances, it may be difficult to guarantee that the water will be left in the sun for the necessary time."There are times when I could use this method -- especially if I'm leaving a high camp for the day. I could just leave one of my PETE (US recycle #1) out in the sun till I return (and find it chewed up by a marmot!).
Hi MoapaPK,
Nice to see someone showing some interest in SODIS (Solar Water Disinfection) technology, even though it was not my intention to promote it amongst SPers. In my post I just wanted to make two points:
1) PET plastic bottles are the best water containers available for mountaineering/hiking: free, light, convenient, ecological, etc, etc. I just don't understand the whole fashion around very expensive and pseudo-technical water bottles, while PET bottles are widely available. Once again, it just shows the power of marketing in creating demand for unnecessary goods.
2) For Dskoon who expressed some concerns about potentially toxic plastic byproducts, I gave this link to the SODIS webpage, where this issue has been widely investigate over the past 10-12 years, in order to show that PET bottles are very safe to this regard.
But back to SODIS, I don't think that there is a big potential for hikers/climbers (besides saving fuel at Base Camps), neither for disasters/refugees/IDPs during a first emergency phase. SODIS has actually been developed as a household-based disinfection method for rural & peri-urban areas in developing countries, where people have no access to safe drinking water. In such contexts SODIS has for the users huge advantages compared to the traditional water boiling promoted with limited success only over the past decades (saving fuel costs, better taste, safe container for water storage after treatment, convenient and simple).
Cheers,
Bruno