Choosing a Water Treatment

Which water purification method is best for you? Safe drinking water is essential for good health - but when you're travelling, how can you be sure the water you're drinking won't make you ill? Our water treatment comparison gives you the information to choose the best way to ensure your drinking water is safe.

Tablets & Drops

Tablets and drops work through a chemical process. After adding the tablets or drops to the contaminated water, the chemicals neutralise the viruses, bacteria and other harmful organisms contained within.

Because of the way in which these products work, it can take upwards of 20 minutes for them to be fully effective. They can also alter the taste, smell and colouration of the water after they are added.

Unlike filters, tablets and drops will not remove particle matter such as silt or harmful chemicals from the water.

Filters & Purifiers

At its simplest, these work by straining water through them. They trap and remove silt and particle matter, some right down the size scale to bacteria and water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Some filters use activated carbon to further remove chemical and organic compounds to make water even safter and taste better.

Purifiers frequently incorporate an extra chemical stage to kill organisms too small to be filtered.

Many filters and purifiers can be damaged by high dirt loads or salty water.