Among the most important issues you'll want to check when you are evaluating a camping water filter is whether it is able to fully strip away highly noxious and toxic chemical substances in your drinking water resource. By way of example, will your drinking water filtration eliminate antimony?

Antimony is a metallic element which can exist as a silvery metal or a gray powder. This element is practically used in lead alloys, paint, ceramics, glass, and industrial processes such as manufacturing of semiconductors. Extraction can include mining like gold, since it is present in ores. But, antimony is also freely present in the environment. In fact, small amounts are present in the soil and perhaps readily adsorbed by groundwater.

Antimony has been of great use to humans. However, like any other element, some threats to human health have also been identified and related to the element.  This element has been one of the known water contaminants. Immediate results of intoxication include headaches, coughing, troubled sleep, and even vertigo. These are usually similar to the effects of arsenic water contamination, so it would not be easy to pinpoint easily which element is the culprit.

Since it can exist as a powdery substance, inhaling it would cause irritation of the respiratory system. More or less the same effect occurs when too much antimony is contained in your drinking water.

Prolonged exposure to antimony could lead to lung cancer, liver damage, and other respiratory tract-related diseases. It also irritates your gastrointestinal mucosa and would cause you to vomit, experience nausea, and mild to severe diarrhea.

Other symptoms of antimony contamination include abdominal cramps. Among women, it has been discovered that continuous intake of antimony-contaminated water can cause premature birth. What is worse is that it can also contribute to spontaneous abortions among pregnant women.

The reproductive and respiratory systems are not the only ones affected. Antimony intoxication can also affect the eyes and lead to optic nerve destruction and retinal bleeding. Other long-term effects of overexposure to this element include increase in blood cholesterol and decrease in blood sugar.

Aside from the natural occurrence of antimony in ground water which is made into drinking water, the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or plastic bottles in storing drinking water could add to the intoxication. Antimony is used in producing these plastic bottles. When exposed to unlikely conditions like too much heat, intoxication level might go up, increasing the risk of your drinking water's unsafeness. However, there have been standards monitoring the maximum level of contamination by antimony. Proper agencies are making sure that these set standards are followed.

To conclude, definitely appraise the brand of camping water filter that like to spend money on. Make certain that it filters out or takes away noxious chemicals such as antimony from your very own water supply.