Hi Michael,
I haven’t heard about this; when I lived in Ecuador and Peru (and traveled through many other countries in South and Central America) the concern was more about the potability of drinking water. And Cuenca apparently is one of the few places where the tap water is actually drinkable (though I still sterilized it).

And I have suffered parasites (a few times – but never in Ecuador); the solution is a cheap 1 or 2-week course of meds that I didn’t find agonizing. The diarrhoea leading up to realizing I had a parasite was the worst part. But, not all parasites are the same either.

While I don’t discount the possibility that the contents of the article you read were true, I would do more research if I were in your shoes. It sounds a bit suspect. If this were a real problem, I’d have thought that everybody would know about it. And I’ve certainly never heard of Ecuadorian farmers not using pesticides; again however – I don’t know.

Thanks for the great suggestion, Dragon!

Try the Camelback Groove. It has a carbon straw built into the cap of the bottle it comes with. The cap also fits on my Nalgene 32 oz bottle. After using the Steripen to kill the bad things, drink the water through the carbon straw to improve taste and remove any particulates. The carbon filter does not remove pathogens, only improves taste.

Hey Andrea,
Wow – you ARE deep in the well, so to speak!
While the self-made carbon filter sounds interesting, I somehow doubt it will be any easier or faster to use than the Grayl.
And the tap filter is a great idea! But….perhaps it won’t fit all taps nor do I believe they are made for putting on and taking off so much.
Given your criteria and length of trip, I’d say the Grayl is where it’s at. And good news – their newer models (I have an older one) are apparently much smoother in operation….

PS – Thanks for the kind words about my site! I’m so glad you’re finding it helpful. 🙂

The other thought I had was to get one of those carbon filter attachments for water faucets that appear in pictures easy to take on and off, but I’m not sure how long they would last (planning on travelling for about a year).

I wish there was some sort of test that you could do to verify if it’s working or not before heading out abroad! (Btw, I’m in love with your website and have been scouring your pages for many hours this last week, great job!)

Hi Andrea,
Gosh. I thought from what I read of it that it would be effective on all water-borne ickies of concern (according to the description: “Effective against bacteria (99.9999%), protozoa (99.9%) and particulate; filters up to 2,000 liters without iodine, chlorine or other chemicals”).

Alternately, the Grayl filters everything out, but if you’re doing a large amount of water it’s not particularly fast (or easy).

Hey Ryan,
I hear you! It just takes a few bad experiences to enforce healthier practices…..