A few weeks ago we heard from a woman named ‘Georgeanne’ who asked a question about an alternate test kit for the tablet-based system she currently uses:
We have a water purification system in our home that uses iodine instead of chlorine. I would like to change over from using tablets to test for the strength of the iodine needed for purification to a strip. Do you have a product that can do
this? Thank you.
Thank you, Georgeanne, for your inquiry, and yes, we do carry (as a result of your question) test strips that you can use to test iodine levels in drinking water.
We contacted the makers of the SenSafe and WaterWorks to see if they made anything that would meet the needs of a person looking to test iodine levels in treated drinking water and learned that they manufacture a product called SenSafe Iodine which detects iodine levels in drinking water between 0.02 and 5.0ppm (parts per million).
Iodine as a water disinfectant?
Many people know that iodine gets used in medical applications to treat cuts, scrapes, etc. but not nearly as many know that iodine also gets used as a chemical treatment for water suspected of possibly containing organic contaminants.
Hikers, campers and military personnel on patrol in the wilderness sometimes carry iodine tablets with them as a means of treating ground water and surface water for biological contaminants. Adding the iodine tablets to water collected for drinking and/or cooking can efficiently reduce the risk of accidentally ingesting potentially hazardous water contaminants such as bacteria and parasites.
Iodine of iodine versus chlorine?
In our experience people tend to not like the taste of iodine or chlorine in their water supply… but overall most we have ever asked find the taste of chlorine slightly more palatable (possibly due to familiarity w/ it in tap water?).
Disinfecting capabilities of iodine versus chlorine?
Both work very well at killing off unwanted biological contaminants in drinking water but use of either one does not necessarily guarantee that treated water contains absolutely no unwanted parasites or bacteria… but you will more than likely fair MUCH better with treated water than untreated water!
