Purify and Boil Water?

[Pak-Man]

The wife and I went to the RMNP recently and did a 25 mile loop. We took my trusty gravity filter which is a katadyn hiker pro filter in a sea to summit bag.

We also took some aqua pure for emergencies.

When we actually got on the trail we realized just how much stock they move up and down that trail. This being our first time out west we really did not have a clue. So I did not want to risk getting sick and I filtered and used the tablets.

Problem is that stuff tastes like well chemicals and crap and makes you look like you are drinking urine... So we counted our boils and had just enough fuel to get through our trip.

I also went ahead and filtered the water (I felt like why not) and then boiled it.. So my question I suppose is did I go to far? Would I have been ok with just the Gravity Filter?

Thanks.. been a while since I posted..

[HooKooDooKu]

The general consensus that I see when this type of subject comes up is that for back country camping in the U.S., filtering from a clear flowing stream is enough.

From the various things I've read, it seams like the main things you're trying to filter for are Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and E. coli. These are the parasites and bacteria that humans and animals are most likely to contaminate a water source and what most filters designed for back country use will filter.

Of course someone will soon come along and say that they don't filter water... that person-to-person contact is a more likely source of contamination. While it is true that person-to-person contact is the most likely source of illness. But simply put, any water source YOU come across in the back country, other people and animals have definitely also come across and they might have contaminated it. So it's best to always filter.

I would consider it a separate subject to discuss what is appropriate if your water is coming from a stagnate source or if it's located in an area possibly contaminated by industry.


[Edit]
Perhaps yet another tangent would be what you would need to do if you think there is a possibility that the water has been contaminated by a virus, because most filters are not designed to filter things that small. Filters that claim to deal with viruses are usually going to do so by killing the virus with either a chemical or UV light. But most free flowing streams found in the U.S. back country are unlikely to be contaminated with harmful viruses... hence the reason filtering is often considered to be good enough.

[Hikingjim]

I just filter unless I am stuck with something that is clearly a stagnant and questionable pond or other pooling of water.

[GoldenBear]

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/drinking/Backcountry_Water_Treatment.pdf

As the CDC notes, boiling water definitely kills every kind of pathogen, filtration alone OR disinfecting alone probably kills a lot (but NOT all!) of pathogens, and the combination of filtration & disinfecting does an awfully good job against almost all pathogens.

So if you boiled your water, you're definitely safe, and no further treatment is necessary.

[garlic08]

My first thought would be to get water that's not flowing past horse pasture. (A few of the times I treated water on the AT were in pasture.)

If there's nothing but wilderness above me, I feel fine about the water, even if there's trail stock in the area. That's pretty common out West.

If there's a chance of a septic tank, a pasture, a flock of sheep, etc. upstream, I treat as I normally would.

If I need to draw nasty cattle tank water (more often than I wanted on the CDT and AZT, for instance), I will treat twice.

[KDogg]

With filtering you are missing most of the viruses. You really have very little chance of getting sick from a virus breaking through your filter unless the water source is contaminated by human feces. This is why filters are so effective when camping. Filter away and don't worry about livestock in RMNP at all.

[nsherry61]

Lots of good advice. I'm not sure that you mean by Aqua Pure since aqua pure is a 3M filteration and treatment system, not emergency backup tablets, which I think is what you are refrering to.

For what it's worth, Portable Aqua (and other brands I'm sure) are iodine based which taste awful (unless you post treat the water with some acetic acid) and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why they are still on the market or used by anyone since there are so many options that are so much better to choose from in chemical back-country water treatment.

Aqua Tabs and Micro Pure are a couple of brands (of which there are others) that are chlorine based water purification that does not discolor the water and don't actually taste to bad at all. If you were using iodine tablets, dispose of them and get some of the chlorine based tablets as backup. Iodine is cheaper, but individually packaged chlorine dioxide type tablets last longer for emergencies because they are individually wrapped.

[TexasBob]

With filtering you are missing most of the viruses. You really have very little chance of getting sick from a virus breaking through your filter unless the water source is contaminated by human feces. This is why filters are so effective when camping. Filter away and don't worry about livestock in RMNP at all.

Filters don't remove viruses. Bacteria yes, viruses no.

[MuddyWaters]

The wife and I went to the RMNP recently and did a 25 mile loop. We took my trusty gravity filter which is a katadyn hiker pro filter in a sea to summit bag.

We also took some aqua pure for emergencies.

When we actually got on the trail we realized just how much stock they move up and down that trail. This being our first time out west we really did not have a clue. So I did not want to risk getting sick and I filtered and used the tablets.

Problem is that stuff tastes like well chemicals and crap and makes you look like you are drinking urine... So we counted our boils and had just enough fuel to get through our trip.

I also went ahead and filtered the water (I felt like why not) and then boiled it.. So my question I suppose is did I go to far? Would I have been ok with just the Gravity Filter?

Thanks.. been a while since I posted..

You would have been fine just filtering.



Filters don't remove viruses. Bacteria yes, viruses no.

Sawyer makes a 0.02 micron filter that do remove viruses. Your correct, in that most do not.

https://sawyer.com/products/feature/n002-micron/

[ScareBear]

That sawyer .02 weighs 17 ounces. For that weight, why not just get the First Need Deluxe XLE and be able to pump your way to purification instead of being forced to gravity hang?

[Pak-Man]

Thanks everyone for the insight.. I felt like the gravity filter would have been enough, but I was out there with no service and honestly it had been too long for me to remember what the filter got. I could not look it up so tried to error on the side of caution... And I love my gravity filter, it is simple and effective, I can grab some water and do my chores and it does the work.. I had a MSR miniworks for the longest time (still in my emergency stuff) I hated having to carry a Nalgene to fit it and the bladders with that size mouth are a pain in the A$$.. thank you all again.