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Hello all,
My Dad is going on a mission trip to Haiti in a week and is looking for a purifier. What are your suggestions for a easy to use, light, self contained purifier? It would also be something he would use on a backpack or camp hunt.
Thanks for your opinions and help
ddj
Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau
The best part of hunting and fishing was the thinking about going and the talking about it after you got back. - Robert Ruark
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Katadyn Base Camp- lots of water, little effort
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Thanks. That was one I was debating.
ddj
Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau
The best part of hunting and fishing was the thinking about going and the talking about it after you got back. - Robert Ruark
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Katadyn Vario would work well, two filtration systems that can be adjusted depending on water quality.
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I would do a heck of a lot more research on water filters and what you plan on filtering. You start traveling to third world countries and you need to worry about more than just the standard bugs. Viruses need a lot smaller filtration than the Katadyn provides. The Katadyn only removes bacteria, Gidardia and Cryptosporidium. The Sawyer point zero two will remove all of that plus viruses. The Katadyn only does .3 micron, the Sawyer does .02 micron. For research. Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (2009) http://www.indexmundi.com/haiti/major_infectious_diseases.htmlI would be going a whole lot further than what the Katadyn can provide if I were you, but ymmv. 
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
- Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Splitter from Illinois.
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For the record, the Katadyn is NOT a purifier, there is very strict guide lines between "filter" and "purify" and not even the Vario qualifies for the "purify" label.
Do your research, I cannot stress that enough.
From what I'm seeing NONE of the Katadyn products qualify as a "purifier", which means none can filter viruses.
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
- Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Splitter from Illinois.
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When I worked in gear shops, the purifier we recommended as effective for less developed countries/third world was the First Need brand. It was not the easiest to use, but was functional and did all you need.
Check them out
You could also use a filter, sawyer is pretty small, and either bleach or iodine to kill viral beasties!
Polar Pure was also a great water treatment. Filter, then purify would be my best recommendation.
Keep Smiling
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You have to concern yourself with more than just bugs (virus, bacteria, protozoa, fungi). The possibility of toxins is also present in a dump like Haiti..matrix filtering, no matter how fine, does not remove toxins. Charcoal will remove some, but once saturated, the quality of such protection declines quickly.
I'd suggest your dad try very, very hard to bring water with him. Failing that, he would want to conduct four phases of cleaning
#1) pre-filter to remove mud, debris and large particles
#2) fine filtering probably with a ceramic matrix
#3) sterilization... via MIOXX, boiling, UV light or other means
#4) absorbtion using activated carbon / charcoal...bring lots of renewable supply
regards
Jim
FF, Medic, Urban SAR, Hazmat specialist
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I've been to Haiti twice (after the quake) and my experience was that you buy or use bottled water wherever you go. Even if you're going away from Port au prince, you just buy what you need and take it with you. Most places you go will have bottled water. I would be very cautious (as others have said) about drinking the water even with a good filter.
Oh and one small piece of advice, tell him to get some of the bug out wrist bands with geranium oil for mosquito repellent. I swear by them.
Tell your dad good luck and God bless him!
BTW, where's he going exactly?
Last edited by TexasChase; 02/04/13.
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Cholera is the worry now, and I don't know that filters are sufficient.
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Depending on what he will be doing on his mission trip, drinking nothing but purified water in front of the locals can be counter productive to the mission. In several countries I have been in situations where it would have been downright rude to reject the best my hosts had to offer, and awkward in the extreme to purify it in front of them. In some cases there was no way to do that anyway given the container and the liquid.  In one extreme case I was able to get out of sight within ten minutes and I gulped down a quadruple dose of iodine water purifier, hoping to kill some of the stuff I'd just drank while it was still in my stomach. A medical Dr. friend kind of chuckled and said, "You know, that might help!" Another time I surreptiously squirted a big dose of hand sanitizer into a drink in a glass I was handed. Tasted a little weird but I never got sick either time. If your highest priority is to stay healthy, do what you have to. If your goal is to engage as peers with locals in their context, that entails some risks. It helps to define what you want to achieve ahead of time! When health was the priority I have drunk only sealed-cap bottled water even when it was a bit of a slight to our hosts. If they are used to foreigners they will know you will get sick on their water and routinely accept Americans drinking only purified water. In such cases don't accept a bottle if the cap seal is broken. I just realized an unspoken assumption in my post: it is based on being hosted by local people rather than by expatriates and ex-pat organizations. What I've posted above does not apply to most short term trips, but I'll leave it FWIW.
Last edited by Okanagan; 02/06/13.
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How about one of those UV purifiers? Steripen is the maker IIRC.
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I remember some microbiology from college. I don't think you can filter viruses. If a filter "removes viruses" I would be rubbing my head questioning that one. If a filter has an Iodine Matrix and neutralizes viruses, I'd say it's more likely. Water treatment facilities use halides and UV light to kill viruses. The steripen people say they use the same technology which makes sense, but I wouldn't trust my life to it.
I would submit this test. If you had to drink water out of your fish bowl, what would you do with it first. Boil it? Kills germs, but you're still drinking fish poop! Yummy! You need to trap the chemicals, and I would think charcoal or clay. Then you have to kill the organisms and I'm thinking iodine or chlorine or some other halide. Then, there's the issue of taste. You can add vitamin C to get rid of some of the iodine taste. You can uncork chlorine and some of it will evaporate.
I have a box of Pur water purifying packets right here. It says "removes dirt, cysts, pollutants and kills viruses and bacteria." It uses Calcium Hydrochloride as the source of chlorine and you mix a little packet with 2.5 gallons of water. You mix 5 minutes, let sit 5 minutes, and pour through a cloth (included)to filter and drink. It bonds to the chemicals and settles them out and the chlorine kills the critters. They use this stuff all over the World. They pass it out in third world countries and advertise the heck out of it. $14 got me 6 packets that will do 15 gallons of water from the Campmor store.
"I didn't get the sophisticated gene in this family. I started the sophisticated gene in this family." Willie Robertson
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Depending on what he will be doing on his mission trip, drinking nothing but purified water in front of the locals can be counter productive to the mission. In several countries I have been in situations where it would have been downright rude to reject the best my hosts had to offer, and awkward in the extreme to purify it in front of them. In some cases there was no way to do that anyway given the container and the liquid. In one extreme case I was able to get out of sight within ten minutes and I gulped down a quadruple dose of iodine water purifier, hoping to kill some of the stuff I'd just drank while it was still in my stomach. A medical Dr. friend kind of chuckled and said, "You know, that might help!" Another time I surreptiously squirted a big dose of hand sanitizer into a drink in a glass I was handed. Tasted a little weird but I never got sick either time. If your highest priority is to stay healthy, do what you have to. If your goal is to engage as peers with locals in their context, that entails some risks. It helps to define what you want to achieve ahead of time! When health was the priority I have drunk only sealed-cap bottled water even when it was a bit of a slight to our hosts. If they are used to foreigners they will know you will get sick on their water and routinely accept Americans drinking only purified water. In such cases don't accept a bottle if the cap seal is broken. I just realized an unspoken assumption in my post: it is based on being hosted by local people rather than by expatriates and ex-pat organizations. What I've posted above does not apply to most short term trips, but I'll leave it FWIW. Th This is straight-up bad advice that has a slim chance or ending your life or making you wish you were dead. This statement is coming from a retired SF Medic who's been to Haiti and a lot of other turd-holes. A good filter like a Katadyn Basecamp will handle all protists and bacteria and an MSR Miox or Katadyn tabs will handle viruses with appropriate contact time. If you are leaving for Haiti soon this research is a tad late. While I'm at it, have you considered malaria prophylaxis?
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Depending on what he will be doing on his mission trip, drinking nothing but purified water in front of the locals can be counter productive to the mission. In several countries I have been in situations where it would have been downright rude to reject the best my hosts had to offer, and awkward in the extreme to purify it in front of them. In some cases there was no way to do that anyway given the container and the liquid. In one extreme case I was able to get out of sight within ten minutes and I gulped down a quadruple dose of iodine water purifier, hoping to kill some of the stuff I'd just drank while it was still in my stomach. A medical Dr. friend kind of chuckled and said, "You know, that might help!" Another time I surreptiously squirted a big dose of hand sanitizer into a drink in a glass I was handed. Tasted a little weird but I never got sick either time. If your highest priority is to stay healthy, do what you have to. If your goal is to engage as peers with locals in their context, that entails some risks. It helps to define what you want to achieve ahead of time! When health was the priority I have drunk only sealed-cap bottled water even when it was a bit of a slight to our hosts. If they are used to foreigners they will know you will get sick on their water and routinely accept Americans drinking only purified water. In such cases don't accept a bottle if the cap seal is broken. I just realized an unspoken assumption in my post: it is based on being hosted by local people rather than by expatriates and ex-pat organizations. What I've posted above does not apply to most short term trips, but I'll leave it FWIW. Th This is straight-up bad advice that has a slim chance or ending your life or making you wish you were dead. This statement is coming from a retired SF Medic who's been to Haiti and a lot of other turd-holes. A good filter like a Katadyn Basecamp will handle all protists and bacteria and an MSR Miox or Katadyn tabs will handle viruses with appropriate contact time. If you are leaving for Haiti soon this research is a tad late. While I'm at it, have you considered malaria prophylaxis? Take a Knee is absolutely correct if health is the primary concern, which it should be in most situations. I knew I shouldn't have posted true stories of conciously taken risk! 
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Cholera is the worry now, and I don't know that filters are sufficient. Cholera is a bacteria, and as such, will be filtered out by a QUALITY, WELL-MAINTAINED filter. I would worry as much about viruses in the tropics, and I'd filter and use a chlorine-based backup, IE bleach, MIOX, Katadyn tabs etc.
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i spent a year in haiti after the quake. boil everything. you can buy filtered water in most places in the 5gal watercooler size jugs. Stick to Babancourt and Prestige, and you'll be fine Everyone goes there on a "mission". Haitians need help, not mythology.
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