Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets 30-Pack

There is no excuse for not having a pack of these in your home, car, backpack, bug-out bag, etc. None. In the wake of a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, clean water becomes difficult to come by and most are left executing a half-baked strategy of filling up the bathtub and crossing their fingers. The cleanliness of that water is questionable after only a few moments. How often do you disinfect your bathtub? How many times have you pulled back the shower curtain and found a spider? Water being the one resource you absolutely must have regularly and abundantly, why would you take the chance?

One pack of these tablets is enough for 30 liters, or about 8 gallons of water. Rationed wisely, that’s enough for one person for about a week. Not bad for 15 bucks. Full disclosure, my recent purchase had 40 tablets in a sealed case labeled 30. Is this intentional or just a happy coincidence? Don’t know, don’t care. Tested one tablet for flavor and its slightly chemical but not unsavory. Better than most iodine-based purification tabs on the market or that I used in the Army. I only waited about 2 hours or so before I had a sip though, and everything I’ve read is that the flavor mellows with more time. Besides, its nothing that a pack of Crystal Light can’t fix.

Katadyn is the Cadillac of the water-purification market and their products are always top-notch. It may seem pricey to drop so much on purification tabs, but come crunch-time, you’ll be glad you have them.

I can’t comment on the effectiveness of this product in treating contaminated water because I haven’t had to use it yet (and I pray I never will). After receiving a note from my local authorities that every family should be ready to live without services for 72 hours, I finally broke down and started building my 72 hour emergency kit. A little research on Google reinforced my thought that safe, drinkable water was a primary need in an extended emergency. I have several sources of good water in reserve already, so this is really for a worst case scenario where I’m forced to start using alternative water supplies like the rain water in my sump pump pit. If it gets that far, I’d like to have some confidence that I’ve killed as many germs as I can with one of these tablets.

What I like about these water treatment tablets is as follows:

– long shelf life means I’m only replacing these every 5 years
– low cost means I can afford to replace them every 5 years
– small size, 30 tablets takes almost no room in my 72 hour kit and they weigh almost nothing
– individually wrapped tablets so the unused tablets aren’t exposed to the environment when I use one
– each tablet treats 1 quart of water which is a manageable size for me

I plan on adding something like the “Katadyn Hiker PRO Water Microfilter” to my kit to provide additional options.

The reason I purchased these is to keep the water in my hydration packs from spoiling. I have several and they tend to spend a great deal of time just sitting around, waiting to be used. Sometimes in the car, sometimes on a shelf in my room, sometimes hanging in the basement or garage, high temps and low temps, high and low light conditions, everything. If I don’t use some sort of preservation method, they all eventually accumulate a biofilm on the tubes and inner surface, discoloring it and making it slick to the touch. Cleaning them is a chore, but more importantly, the water becomes unsafe to drink.

These are a very easy way to keep the hydration packs in good order. I like them better than the drops only because they are so lightweight that I can keep them in my pack and drop one in when I fill up, even if I am not at home. This ensures that I won’t forget to treat the water later and that the water will be usable when I need it.

The effect on flavor is minimal – in a 3L hydration pack, I can just barely taste the chlorine even if I have used three tabs. Easier to control the dose with these than drops. Unlike drops, though, It typically takes ~6h for them to dissolve completely before they are effective, which for me isn’t a problem, but would likely be troublesome if you were in a spot. Recall that I use these for preservation, not purification; the water I am working with is typically tap water or something out of the spigot outside, so I can’t comment on their ability to treat water from a completely natural source like a stream.

I can say, however, that they work quite well for preservation. I treated a transparent 2L hydration pack which I habitually leave sitting on a shelf in the light for months at a time. Previously, the water would go bad within 4m or so, no matter how I cleaned the bladder. This time, it has been sitting several months – through three seasons almost – and the water is still completely clear. As such, I would recommend it for this purpose.