Review: Purinize water-purifying tincture

I was as a young man waaaay into Dungeons & Dragons, as well as video game RPGs like the Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior series. There was always some bottled liquid to cure your ailments and even restore life, should your mighty berserker be somehow felled by an elf. Those indoors-for-hours days rushed to my memory when we received our latest product to review: Purinize, a potion promising to render water potable by vanquishing microscopic assailants and coagulating sediments.

How does Purinize manage these extraordinary feats? Why, by the sensible and scientific application of VOLCANO SALTS.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]

I would as a writer of mysteries be terrible, for you, dear reader/run commuter, likely already see my telegraphed conclusion: bunk. Snake oil. Flim-flam. Let’s get it out up front, but before you close this window, allow me to ‘splain why.

There are some key phrases in Purinize’s promotional materials and indeed on the bottle itself that should give one pause. Its ingredients: 2% sulfate mineral salts; 98% purified water. It “[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][a]ssists in the removal of” contaminants and protozoa and such. Most telling, though, are the instructions for filtration, and the fact that we received along with this elixir a Sawyer mini-filter system (which I love).

Although one bottle of Purinize purports to render potable up to 60 liters of water, the Sawyer can do the same, and quicker and with guaranteed success, for up to 100,000 gallons. That’s a little more than six bottles of Purinize. Advising the thirsty and those desirous of avoiding giardia to first use Purinize’s sorcery, then siphon and filter the water through the Sawyer, is suggesting a redundant effort. When you’re trying to avoid ingesting heavy metals and unseen flagellate water-scum, I suppose such redundancy can’t hurt, yet I question its necessity, particularly for folks on the go, like run commuters, or in the field.

I did have questions, Purinize Bottle, so I went to the company’s website as you directed. Most of it is a marketing push to a certain crowd, touting the product’s safety over typical water purification solutions, like iodine tabs, which are, according to Purinize, toxic and detrimental to the earth’s flora and fauna. Neither iodine nor chlorine can compete with Mother Earth’s natural purification process, the company proclaims in one of its bonkers videos. Here’s the volcanic science behind Purinize.

This bottle of salty alchemy, when added to freshwater, “… causes dissolved impurities to become insoluble and coagulate together. As this occurs, impurities are neutralized. Once coagulated, the neutralized impurities precipitate and are deposited to the bottom of your water container.” One needs to let this stuff sit and settle, which means no motion. That means it won’t work for run commuters, trail and ultra racers, thru-hikers, and other movers who would shake it. Perhaps it would serve at the base camp of some folks spending time out in the wilderness.

But Purinize’s target market, based on their zany promotional cartoons, are not the active crowd, but white, suburban, yuppie preppers. Myriad cataclysmic dangers can befall even the most upper-middle-classiest of us, though, including, but not limited to, global strife, massive electrical grid failures, and, of course, sunny day tornadoes sweeping through one’s back yard, having stolen all our flat screen televisions and even wielding a knife:

I tried Purinize on tap water and some from a nearby stream. Both looked initially clean. Nothing settled in the tap water, though some particulate did descend to the bottom of that from the stream. I filtered the stream water through the Sawyer, and it tasted fine. There was no noticeable difference in taste for the tap water.

My overall recommendation for Purinize would be not to bother, but opt instead for a Sawyer or comparable filtration system, which you would need anyway. If you are, or a loved is (Christmas is coming!), a careful and cautious prepper, though, there’s good news: Purinize will last virtually forever, lacking an expiration date, and will exist long after your bones are dust and your home an empty, cobwebbed husk.

(Disclosure of Material Connection: we received Purinize for free from Purinize as coordinated by Deep Creek Public Relations in consideration for review publication.)[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]