What are your chances of getting ill on Vacation?

Travel health warnings predominate around being sure to get the appropriate immunizations to avoid illness/sicknesses for your area of travel, ways to avoid Malaria, or avoid gastro intestinal tract infections through drinking from a contaminated water supply.

Contaminated water and illness are proven to go hand-in-hand. Between 20%-50% of travelers of the estimated 50 million people who travel each year fall ill with ‘Traveler’s Diarrhea’ within 2 weeks, brought on by bacteria or parasites, placing ‘drinking water’ as a significant travel health risk. Around 20% are incredibly sick for 1-2 days, up to 15% for over a week.

Main Causes of Water-Related Travel Health Concerns

Bacterial water contamination can be caused by ineffective water treatment through municipal or smaller water supplies, corroded pipes, poorly monitored and maintained water storage. The severity of the contaminated water is often measured by fecal coliform readings.

Fecal coliform is found in the human digestive system and that of warm-blooded animals. Considered non-harmful, it does, however, indicate dangerous forms of e-coli and related bacteria, causes of hepatitis, diarrhea, and dysentery may be present in the drinking water, illness you do not want to contract but avoidable through water filtration.

Parasitic water contamination is most frequently associated with Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, and Giardia Lamblia. Cysts can exist in water systems for months – often resulting in ‘recreational’ water illness – but after ingestion, the infectious lifecycle begins causing vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and fever. Standard chlorine water treatment is ineffective. However, cysts can be totally removed via a water filter.

Western Countries Also Present Water Health Risks

Don’t necessarily think because you live in or are traveling through a Western country, you will automatically have clean tap water or recreational water. Illnesses can occur in any country.

According to the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council, “More than 45 million Americans drank water supplied by systems where the unregulated and potentially deadly contaminant, Cryptosporidium, was found in their raw or treated water.”

In 1993 Cryptosporidium entered the water supply of a major U.S. city, and more than 400,000 experienced illness from water contamination. In 1998 the residents of an Australian capital city boiled their water for weeks after Cryptosporidium and Giardia were identified. Other incidences of illnesses from water have been experienced in London and Miami.

Sure Aqua products Water Filter Straws Ideal for Home and Overseas Travel ( link to benefits).

Sure Aqua products guard you against sickness from water overseas and offer a tested and proven solution to water-related illnesses caused by waterborne bacteria and protozoa from tap water and other dirty water sources.  The chemical-free Sure Aqua ultra-light pocket water filter is a convenient way of ensuring your holiday and beyond aren’t ruined by the effects of water sickness.

Such a simple precaution against diverse water illnesses/sicknesses with such great results.

We’re not all Superman. Carrying 15kg of bottled water with you whenever you go somewhere without access to safe drinking water isn’t a feasible option for most of us. If you’re planning to go camping, hiking, or holidaying, you’ll need a way to create portable water. Of course, water isn’t really a very portable thing, but if you have access to any water at all, you can make sure you have a method of water purification and a vessel to store it in.

There are several methods of water purification that fail to be portable, potable, AND palatable. 

Of course, the traditional method of water purification is to boil all your water. However, although boiling water means you don’t have to carry it, you do have to carry equipment like a billy and an electric stove. Boiling water limits you to small amounts is slow and often leaves you having to drink hot water on a hot day. You’ll also need to carry a water bottle with you in order to have somewhere to store it. Although it may be potable and palatable, boiling water is quite an ineffective way of creating portable water.

Another popular method that fails to meet the Sure Aqua test for portable, potable, palatable water is to carry water purification tablets. Water purification tablets are light, so they do provide portable water. They use chemicals like iodine to kill bacteria, so although they might not be great for your health, they are potable because they make the water safe to drink. However, water purification tablets fail when it comes to being palatable: even when they try to mask it with strong, sweet flavors like pineapple or orange, water purification tablets usually make water taste terrible.

The only option to create portable, potable, palatable water is to invest in a portable water filter. The Sure Aqua Bottle is a good option for most people. It has a water filter built into the bottle, so it is an idyllic option for portable water. The bottle removes 99.9999% of bacteria, making it potable. And unlike many other water purification methods, Sure Aqua portable water filters don’t use any harsh chemicals, so they create clean, palatable water.

However, don’t worry if the bottle isn’t quite what you’re after: Sure Aqua has a portable water product to suit your needs. The Sure Aqua Survival Straw is perfect for those who are traveling lightly. The Sure Aqua Pak  is a great option if you want to incorporate a portable water device into your luggage. The portable water filter is built into the lining of the backpack, so there’s no way you can forget or lose it. Last but certainly not least in the Sure Aqua portable water range is the Sure Aqua Jerry Can. The Survival Jerry Can store 18.5 liters of water but is still portable—perfect for all the car campers out there.

The Sure Aqua filter water bottle is an essential product. Not only does it offer peace-of-mind, but it can also easily replace your normal portable water bottle and offer you clean, healthy water any time. The Sure Aqua filter water bottle is more durable than most water bottles, making it perfect for hiking, camping, or traveling.  

The Sure Aqua filter water bottle is perfect for adventures and everyday use. It simply means one less thing to worry about. Simply by drinking through a Sure Aqua filter water bottle, you can be sure not to be consuming harmful bacteria. Your health is especially important when you’re on-the-go and compromising it with contaminated water could put you out of action for weeks. It’s just not worth the risk.

The Sure Aqua filter water bottle has been designed with your busy, modern lifestyle in mind. We know you don’t have time to wait for hours while water drips through. There are too many other things to do. The Sure Aqua filter water bottle filters out harmful bacteria while you drink, so unlike many other water filters and other water purification methods like boiling water and water purification tablets, there’s no waiting time.

Sterilizing water by boiling is the best way to clean make the water safe to drink. However, it may look unpalatable with solids floating, making it unpleasant to drink.  Typically you could clean the water before boiling by filtering most of the solids through a cloth first.  The water needs to be boiled for at least 5-minutes, especially in mountainous areas, as the boiling temperature can be affected by altitude. While boiling is still a reliable method, it is often inconvenient and may still leave the matter in the water – the cyst may be dead but do you really want to drink it?

Water treatment liquids are often carbon, iodine, or other chemical-based. They eliminate bacteria and viruses but are not effective against all parasitic cysts such as Cryptosporidium, they taste the water, and many should only be used short term. Iodine water treatments should not be used by young children, pregnant women, and those with thyroid disorders.

Water purification tablets, like the liquids, are highly effective against viruses and chemical contamination, with some of the more recent tablets saying they are effective against Cryptosporidium and Giardia Liambia. However, they are a cocktail of chemicals, should only be used short term, and cause the water to taste awful.

Water filters come in many shapes and sizes, from the ‘troupe movement’ filtration units to Sure Aqua products personal water filter straws, ideal for almost every application.

Water Filtration Systems – When Systems Breakdown, It’s Our Health That Suffers

We simply turn on the tap, putting complete trust in our water treatment systems, or we purchase bottled water with implicit faith that the product in the bottle is pure and better for our health.

In developing countries, mainly through a lack of resources, water systems are notorious for contamination by a wide range of bacteria, including Enteroaggregative e-coli, Escherichia coli, salmonella, and pathogens such as Cyclospora, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium.

Yet, even before you get off the plane, you could have consumed contaminated water, with the EPA reporting fecal coliform bacteria and e-coli in the drinking water system of several randomly tested passenger planes.

Rainwater systems may be contaminated through bacteria from bird droppings washed from the catchment area. Even though water passes through filters, they are not fine enough to filter out bacterial contamination. Wells and bores also need regular water analysis and a fine micron water purification system.

Not Only Faulty Water Filtration Systems Result In Contamination

Waterborne sickness can also result from faulty business and government systems.

Noted in figures supplied by the Natural Resources Defense Council, “More than 45 million Americans drank water supplied by systems where the unregulated and potentially deadly contaminant, Cryptosporidium, was found in their raw or treated water.”

In the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) oversee water quality; however, there’s a hitch. If the bottled water is packaged then sold within the same State, it is exempt from FDA regulations. An estimated 25% of bottled water is tap water, and an estimated 60% of water is bottled and sold in the same State.

While bottled water treated with a reverse osmosis water system is safer, in an incident reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite the water-bottling company assuring it used an advanced reverse osmosis water treatment system to purify the bottled water, numerous individuals contracted cholera. It was later discovered the bottles were improperly washed with un-filtered water – a critical breakdown in their water purification systems.

There Is a Solution! A Reliable Water Filter System That Travels with You

Using portable-sized Sure Aqua products means you don’t have to rely on the water authority, the airline, hotel, or the bottled water company to get it right. At home or when you’re traveling, you can take your own purifying drinking water system.