Aquamira Water Purification Drops

I purchased the Aquamira water purification drops from Zpacks in February 2018. They are easy to use and a great backup to my water filtration options such as the Katadyn BeFree, Katadyn Vario, Sawyer Mini, or Sawyer Squeeze filter. I will generally use my Aquamira Water Purification Drops when I know the water is clear with no turbidity, and when I can wait to drink it after the time required to wait for the drops to purify my water. By using Aquamira Water Purification Drops as well as my water filters, I extend the life of my filters while also using the drops before they expire.

I find the Aquamira Water Purification Drops to have less of a chemical taste in comparison to the Katadyn MicroPur tablets I've used in the past. While dropping a tablet into water is more convenient than mixing a two part system, Aquamira is a far better value in my opinion. In early 2019, MicroPur tablets are about $10.95 for 20 tablets that will treat a total of 20 liters/5.25 gallons while a 1 oz/30 ml package of Aquamira will treat 30 gallons/113.5 liters for $14.99.

Both Aquamira and MicroPur are chlorine dioxide treatments and have a shelf life of four years from date of manufacture. Chlorine dioxide treatments are effective against bacterias, viruses, and cysts. Dirty and/or very cold water, and cysts take longer for chlorine dioxide to be effective, so please refer to the instructions on the product packaging.

In 2015, I learned that having a backup is crucial when I was backpacking with 15 others through Yellowstone's Cascade Corner and we had both of our pump filters fail.

In 2019, I began transferring Aquamira into smaller liquid containers as I didn't need the full-size bottles for the trips I typically go on.