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[–] Morbo 0 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago 

Boiling the water may kill off the living organisms that make water potentially dangerous, but it will not remove or destroy the organic/inorganic substances that can also make you sick or dead. If you boil water too much you will end up concentrating the substances that are not driven off or broken down by the heat therefore making it more dangerous in smaller quantities. Full distillation can fix this but the process is less efficient and takes much longer. Long term drinking of distilled water can leach minerals like calcium from your body if you are not getting an adequate amount of them from your food source so you may need to supplement these minerals as well. No matter how you stack it, creating potable water from a polluted source is not ideal for large volumes or quick need. A Life Straw or other personal water cleaner device (including the tablets you speak of) can be a life saver so long as you're only faced with biologics or non-hazardous contaminants in the water source. Ultimately potable water is best to start from relatively clean and dynamic water sources which is what people are afraid to run out of.