Aquamira Water Treatment Drops Review

The Aquamira Chlorine Dioxide treatment stands out for being practical, lightweight, and easy to use. The resulting water doesn't have the worst taste and is an excellent option for those trying to go light and save some money.

Water Quality

These drops do a great job of eliminating everything from bacteria to viruses, but since there is no physical filter, you can't expect them to remove particulates or dirt from your water. Thus, while they can enhance water quality by killing things that could potentially make you sick, they don't perform as well overall as a physical filtration system regarding particulate matter.

The active ingredient in these drops is chlorine dioxide; think bleach, but less harmful. While many other brands of drops and tablets can kill bacteria, viruses, and most protozoans (like Giardia), they will not kill Cryptosporidium. These spores have a longer incubation time and are resilient against the active ingredients used in other chemical treatment methods. This is one of the primary reasons Aquamira does so well in this metric: it can kill all of these, including Cryptosporidium. It's the most effective on-the-go chemical treatment we have found yet.

Test results from third-party SGS Labs showed the drops effectively eliminated 99.9% of bacteria and viruses tested for. As far as Giardia and Cryptosporidium go, the current test process can only measure results for filters that physically remove these protozoa, rather than tablets or treatment drops that kill them. We plan to improve testing in our next update to more accurately test for protozoa in tablets and treatment drops that don't physically remove the harmful components.

Nevertheless, this is a trustworthy filter option and an excellent method to employ when faced with particularly contaminated water sources since it combats a wide variety of diseases and even treats the water on the threads of your bottle. The downside? You are adding a tiny amount of chemicals to your water, something many users may be actively trying to avoid. However, according to Aquamira, these drops have been proven quite safe if used as directed. In contrast, iodine treatments may pose more health risks if ingested regularly over extended periods of time. Just don't get drops on your clothing, or you may find they leave bleach marks.

While secondary to pathogen removal, we all prefer clean-tasting water over a mouthful of chemical flavor. So, to make sure the water was still palatable after treatment, we did a blind taste test where we had friends guess which glass of water we had added the Aquamira drops to. While they grimaced and made faces when consuming other chemical treatments like Iodine tablets, our friends didn't guess the Aquamira was a treated cup. Later on, during testing, some said they could taste it, but it wasn't that bad. It adds a faint sterile flavor to the water, or some say it tastes of citrus. In the case of really gross water, it improves the taste and helps eliminate odors by killing the bacteria causing them.

Overall, of the chemical treatments out there, this by far produces the best water quality. It's tried and tested by several thru-hikers and is a very reliable system, but it does not filter out particulates. So, if you don't have a filtration system on hand, we recommend carrying a bandana or buff for this purpose. Pour the water through the bandana first, then treat the water and enjoy a lightweight and inexpensive system with top-notch water quality.

Ease of Use

Of all the chemical treatments, this requires the most attention to achieve each step in the process. If you're in an area where the water isn't clear, you're going to need to pre-filter your water. Using a handkerchief or thin material, gather water and pour it through the material to pre-filter out particulates first. After you've done this step, it's time to treat your water. If you're lucky enough to be hiking alongside clear water, there is next to no setup. But before you can add the drops to your water, you need to activate the chlorine dioxide. The directions state that for each liter, add seven drops from each bottle, Part A and Part B, and wait five minutes for the mixture to activate and turn yellow.

After the activation, add the chemicals to your water and wait 15 minutes. If the water is turbid, let it stand for 30 minutes. If you're worried about Cryptosporidium, wait longer to ensure that the active ingredients can work to kill these resilient parasitic cysts. According to Aquamira, this can take up to four hours of waiting time. In this case, you can work around this by using the treatment before you go to bed, but good luck on the trail.

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Durability and Maintenance

There isn't much to this system here. The bottles are well constructed, and aside from maybe losing the lid, there are no maintenance or durability issues. The 1 oz bottle we tested is purportedly able to treat 30 gallons of water, so it is unlikely that you will run out unless you are on a multi-month journey or traveling with a large group. The worst thing that can happen is you might accidentally knock over a bottle while treating your water.

In this case, keep the lids screwed on tight, and you'll be just fine. The other issue is that because they are small, they can get lost easily or left behind. We found that putting them in a little brightly colored pouch helped ensure we wouldn't misplace them along the way.

Treatment Time

Most chemical treatments take about the same amount of time. Activation takes about five minutes. Then, once you add the activated chemicals to your water, you must wait 20 to 30 minutes for sterilization. The more turbid (or murky) the water, the longer the process will take. According to Aquamira, different organisms take longer to kill. If you are worried about Cryptosporidium, a particularly resilient protozoan, you will have to wait up to four hours. For viruses, you should wait 40 minutes. Bacteria should take the allotted time mentioned above.

There are many other options out there that are much faster than the Aquamira drops. In fact, any physical filter will be faster. However, few are as reliable, cheap, or portable. If you have time for treatment, this is a great option. Using a personal-sized squeeze bottle is your best bet if you need faster treatment times.

Weight and Packability

This system consists of two single-ounce bottles with mixing caps weighing 3.15 ounces in total. For shorter trips, the liquids can be decanted into smaller bottles to make for an even lighter system. This fact is one of the biggest benefits of this system. You'll be hard-pressed to find something else that is as packable and produces water that doesn't taste bad.

However, you'll still have to pack your own drinking vessel to hold the treated water, and when you factor that in, the field gets more competitive. There are some squeeze bottles that have a filter and vessel all in one, in a package that weighs about the same as the two Aquamira bottles.

Should You Buy the Aquamira Water Treatment Drops?

If you are on a seriously small budget and the price of a filtration system is setting you back, a chlorine dioxide treatment is of great value. These drops have the lowest upfront cost of any treatment system we tested. The caveat is that they don't last as long. These bottles can treat up to 30 gallons of water, which is roughly 13 cents per treated liter. Compare that to physical filters that can treat 400-500 gallons, and you come out with something closer to 3-4 cents per gallon. However, chemical treatments have a time and a place - we love to use them as a backup to our regular filter - and as the only chemical treatment that doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, it's our favorite that is available on the market.

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