Does anybody just boil drinking water?

[modiyooch]

3. Be selective where you collect water and don't treat it

This is my game plan. I carry a filter for emergency only. I rarely use it.

[think0075]

filters are a waste of time just as much as boiling water. if it looks sketchy use three drops of bleach to a liter otherwise just fill up and drink up. If you use your judgement most of the sources especially up north you don't have to treat at all thats the best tasting water.

[leaftye]

Many water sources are safe to drink as is.

A thru-hiker kept telling me that too. He said he's pretty sure he only caught giardia twice on the AT.

[Mags]

AS Sgt Rock said..water treatment is like religion. Ya can't argue it and people will do what they want anyway.

[Panzer1]

boiling water is not practical for a thru hiker or a long section hiker.

Panzer

[Jack Tarlin]

I dunno my miles out here tho a reporter recently asked.

But it's a bunch.

And I've never, repeat NEVER seen anyone boiling their drinking water on the Appalachian Trail, and I'm sure I'd have remembered if I'd seen it.

In short......it don't happen.

[weary]

If I was going to boil all my water, I'd do a double treatment with hypochlorite. I'd also use a wood stove. The only thing I don't like about your plan is that it means carrying a full day of water every morning since you're planning on treating your water in camp.

I can't think of any reason for adding hypochlorite, either before or after boiling. Boiling is the ultimate treatment against germs and viruses. Neither boiling nor chemicals remove most of the harmful chemicals that may be present.

Boiled water doesn't taste great just off the fire. But I find that after a few hours of slopping around in a container in my pack, the taste of unboiled water returns so it's hard to tell its been treated.

As for Jack's comment. except for 4 or 5 military surplus iodine tablets that I carried for "emergencies" boiling was the only water treatment I used during the six months I spent walking between Georgia and Katahdin in 1993. I tended to boil a two liter nalgene bottle of water each evening using my wood-burning Zip stove. That became my "emergency" supply the next day when going through farm country or other areas that I thought looked suspect. I drank untreated water coming from springs along the high ridges.

Weary

[leaftye]

I can't think of any reason for adding hypochlorite, either before or after boiling.

To reduce boiling time, or rather, to catch whatever inadvertent inadequate boiling doesn't catch. Did I mention that it weighs and costs very little?

[greatwillies]

Well boiled water is clean and fresh, and bacterialess also. Thats why I always drink boiled water. That can give you the best quality of purity and you will never have to face the problems related to the water.

[Egads]

boiling water is a purification method of last resort. wastes fuel unless you cook on a campfire

[weary]

boiling water is a purification method of last resort. wastes fuel unless you cook on a campfire

Boiling -- and near boiling for that matter -- kills every tiny creature known to harm humans that lives in water.

The safety it provides in areas where water is suspect is why I use a wood-burning zip stove and strongly recommend it's use for long distance hiking. The fuel is free and readily available. The Zip fire is easy to start and maintain and the protection it provides from water borne disease is virtually absolute. Neither filters, nor even the most virulent chemicals, come close to providing abolute protection.

Not that any protection is needed from water from most high level springs. But for the paranoid among us, nothing surpasses a Zip Stove.

Best of all a Zip is the lightest combination cooking, water protection, mechanical device around. If you add a filter and fuel weight, a Zip is lighter than the tiniest beer can stove, once you add in fuel, fuel bottle, and an efficient filter.

Water treatment chemicals, combined with beer can/alcohol device, are lighter, but are also the least effective water treatment, espcially as used by most hikers. Very few religiously wait the hours needed for complete treatment before drinking on a hot day.

Weary

[Noah Genda]

Filters rule - I use the First Need filter - pumps quick, and water is as cold and refreshing as the source itself...spend the extra money...

[Trailbender]

Or just carry one ounce of bleach in a dropper bottle.

[weary]

Or just carry one ounce of bleach in a dropper bottle.

Bleach is what I consider a psychological water treatment. A drop or two of bleach makes some hikers feel safer, but does nothing realistically in terms of water safety, at least as used by most hikers.

If you use enough bleach and let it remain in the water for several hours a few of the lesser potential water contaminants are partially rendered harmless.

Bleach is pretty harmless -- especially as used by most hikers -- against the the more serious water-carried organisms. But carry it if you want. If you choose your water source with some common sense it is unlikely to do you any harm even without treatment.

Weary

[leaftye]

Bleach is what I consider a psychological water treatment. A drop or two of bleach makes some hikers feel safer, but does nothing realistically in terms of water safety, at least as used by most hikers.

If you use enough bleach and let it remain in the water for several hours a few of the lesser potential water contaminants are partially rendered harmless.

Bleach is pretty harmless -- especially as used by most hikers -- against the the more serious water-carried organisms. But carry it if you want. If you choose your water source with some common sense it is unlikely to do you any harm even without treatment.

Weary

You know bleach is merely a way of delivering chlorine? So I'll just say bleach instead of chlorine.




Bleach is not effective if you don't use enough. Any treatment is ineffective when you use it insufficiently.

Public water utilities around the world have been using bleach for the last 60 years.

Bleach works quickly. Some utilities add it as the last step before the water goes into distribution pipes.

FEMA, EPA and WHO are among the organizations that recommend using bleach for treating drinking water.




Please share your references showing that bleach is ineffective.

[Lyle]

White Russian has the right idea.

Now, there's nothing wrong with boiling your drinking water - that's how you make "sterile" water anywhere in the world. But it is time-and-fuel-consuming, and THAT'S the drawback.

.

Besides boiled water tastes like Sh#@ when you drink it, even once it's cooled.

[weary]

Besides boiled water tastes like Sh#@ when you drink it, even once it's cooled.

It tastes bad, because the boiling removed the dissolved oxygen and other atmospheric gases. I've found that after sloshing around in my pack for an hour or so, the missing oxygen and other dissolved gases return, along with the taste.

Weary

[leaftye]

Weary, I do see that bleach concentrations have to be high to protect against giardia cysts, at least within 10 minutes. Personally, I filter before I bleach, but almost all of the water I drink has been treated for about an hour before I drink it. I can't advise only using bleach when there are other chemical treatments and a homemade filter can weigh just a few ounces.

If you'd really care to delve into the bleach treatment topic, let's start a new thread and I'll keep looking up data and throw in a calculation or two.

[weary]

Used properly, bleach kills most bacteria. It's use is pretty marginal against CRYPTOSPORIDIUM AND GIARDIA, especially giardia cysts, which is the pollutant of most concern to backpackers.

[leaftye]

I need to double check, but I thought I just read that the crypto problem was more about method and with the water at 25C and waiting 1 hour, there's no concern. I'll double check though. Tomorrow. I need to hit the sack.

Giardia can be treated completely with bleach according to a report or two, but it does require a lot. I need to crunch the numbers, but I think it's something like 20 drops per liter. I also need to reference another book and crunch some numbers to see if that concentration will cause it to react adversely regarding ammonium.