View Full Version : How much Klearwater for a thru?
I'm planning on using the new Klearwater stuff for my thruhike..but I'm not sure how much I need to buy. Can anyone give me a rough idea how much I'll need? Thanks!
:) Mindi
About $600 worth of the stuff at 13 bucks a bottle that treats about 7 gals of water, and for a six month hike. Sounds higher than good wiskey to me.
bulldog49
06-08-2006, 08:27
A 30 ml bottle costs $13 and will treat 30 liters of water. If you treated 4 liters of water a day, that's one bottle per week. Cost for a thru hike would be around $300.
Footslogger
06-08-2006, 08:42
Well ...it's no doubt more expensive than other alternatives. But remember that you don't need to purify every drop of water you gather on a thru. Example, I don't purify the water I boil and use for meals. I think what you need to consider is the amount of water you'll drink or use to prepare gatorade etc during the day. Also ...there are times when you will scoop and drink right out of the streams (higher elevations and away from towns).
All in all, I think the $300 estimate above is probably pretty accurate.
If you want to use a Chlorine Dioxide treatment and you are concerned with cost you might want to consider AquaMira. You can get a set of AquaMira these days for around $10 and it treats 30 GALLONS of water. For a thru hike I think it is probably the most cost effective alternative, assuming you are going to purify water (which some hikers consider unecessary).
I own some KlearWater and plan to use it for hikes lasting two weeks or less. At that rate the cost and ease of use of the KlearWater starts to make a lot of sense.
'Slogger
minnesotasmith
06-08-2006, 09:01
I use AquaMira, and it is inevitably about 13 bucks a pair of bottles at outfitters.
Footslogger
06-08-2006, 09:04
I use AquaMira, and it is inevitably about 13 bucks a pair of bottles at outfitters.
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Normal retail is about $13. That's what I paid for it during my thru. But if you have the lead time and are willing to order off the internet you can now get it for cloer to $10 a set.
'Slogger
Sounds like the AquaMira is a better choice...the reason that I was going to use the Klearwater is because it doesn't require mixing, and I read that usually one bottle runs out before the other.
How do I manage water purification if I don't want to do maildrops? Do I need to buy a filter instead, or are there enough places to find Aqua Mira along the trail? I certainly don't want to have to carry a zillion bottles.
Thanks for the advice, everyone!
:) Mindi
Footslogger
06-08-2006, 10:44
[quote=mindi]How do I manage water purification if I don't want to do maildrops? Do I need to buy a filter instead, or are there enough places to find Aqua Mira along the trail?
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I did buy several sets of AquaMira prior to my thru in 2003 and stashed them in my bounce box. That said ...I found several outfitters along the way who now carry AquaMira. I would think that by now more outfitters carry it. Only problem is that you couldn't be certain in advance that a specific outfitter would have it when you needed it.
I carried 2 sets with me at all times. What I found was that I could always find a replacement set at an outfitter OR if necessary grab one out of my bounce box when needed.
'Slogger
Aquamira is less expensive, easier to find and just as effective. The mixing is a pain, however.
I use Klearwater for short local hikes with really poor water quality. On the AT next year, I'll use bleach, which I used in 03 and 04 with no problem. AT water quality is very good as long as you remember to get water upstream of the herd.
With klear water, as well as aqua mira, cant you half the dosage but double the waiting time? i would imagine at camp you can boil your water for cooking, then treat 2 liters before you go to bed, by the time you wake up the next days water is treated and ready to go? this should help reduce consumption, but its still expensive...
i wounder if your using aqua mira, could you just carry a small dropper bottle (they have them at BPL.com) and premix i dunno 30 drops in the mourning, and then during the day you'd have it premixed and ready to go?
mike!
What's so difficult about mixing Aquamira? I've seen a lot of people mention this, but I've not used the stuff yet (planning my hike for next year!). Do you put the chemicals in your water container first and then add water? How long does it take? Thanks.
Footslogger
06-09-2006, 08:47
What's so difficult about mixing Aquamira? I've seen a lot of people mention this, but I've not used the stuff yet (planning my hike for next year!). Do you put the chemicals in your water container first and then add water? How long does it take? Thanks.
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"Difficult" might not be the correct word here. Compared to an all-in-one solution it is less convenient. That said ...it's not a big hassle. One of the AquaMira bottles has a small mixing cup that fits over the screw top cap. You pull that off, add drops (7 per Liter) of Part A then the same number of drop of Part B. You wait 5 minutes or so (until the solution turns yellow) and then add it to your water supply. Then you wait 15 minutes or so before drinking it.
I do think though that we're headed toward the purification tablet, the first of which is the following:
http://www.katadyn.ch/site/us/home/outdoor_products/our_products/ultrlight_series/micropur_mp1_tablets/
'Slogger
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"Difficult" might not be the correct word here. Compared to an all-in-one solution it is less convenient. That said ...it's not a big hassle. One of the AquaMira bottles has a small mixing cup that fits over the screw top cap. You pull that off, add drops (7 per Liter) of Part A then the same number of drop of Part B. You wait 5 minutes or so (until the solution turns yellow) and then add it to your water supply. Then you wait 15 minutes or so before drinking it.
'Slogger
this is one reason why I carry a PUR Hiker Filter..fast,easy and ready to drink.
I do carry iodine tablets for backup just in case
Footslogger
06-09-2006, 09:21
i wounder if your using aqua mira, could you just carry a small dropper bottle (they have them at BPL.com) and premix i dunno 30 drops in the mourning, and then during the day you'd have it premixed and ready to go?
mike!
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That is where I was headed in an earlier post. But so far the responses seem to indicate that AquaMira can not be mixed in larger quantities in advance. Not sure why that is true, since KlearWater is premixed and sold in 30ml vials.
As an added note, what I did with the KlearWater was to pour it into a 30ml vial that I got from my local friendly pharmacist which as a 1ml dropper built into the cap. Much easier (at least for me) than pouring it into the cap or into that little spoon that comes with the KlearWater.
'Slogger
http://www.katadyn.ch/site/us/home/outdoor_products/our_products/ultrlight_series/micropur_mp1_tablets/[/URL]
'Slogger
The real danger on the trail are cysts. The chart says it all. At typical cold spring and late winter, spring stream water temperatures in the south and typical Maine fall temperatures you have to wait 4 hours for what I suspect is less than 100 percent purification. (The ad doesn't say.)
I drink a lot of unpurified water, but when water strikes me as doubtful quality, I just boil up a couple of liters each evening on my Wood-burning zip stove.
Weary
Footslogger
06-09-2006, 10:31
[quote=weary]At typical cold spring and late winter, spring stream water temperatures in the south and typical Maine fall temperatures you have to wait 4 hours for what I suspect is less than 100 percent purification. (The ad doesn't say.)
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Roger that ...in fact, for the time being I'm planning on carrying the MicroPur tablets as a "back-up" and also for my overnight treatment, where time isn't a factor.
'Slogger
So is Aquamira "inconvenient" because you stop to refill water so many times throughout the day? Granted, I've not hit the trail yet, but it's hard for me to imagine that any hiker who loves being outside would find it so terribly inconvenient that he/she couldn't take the time to sit and absorb where they're at for 5 minutes while the stuff mixes. Perhaps I'll understand when I get out there (but I hope not! :) Thanks for the insight.
Does the Klearwater have any kind of taste or after-taste??? I know the taste of some purification tablets to be terrible.
Footslogger
06-10-2006, 11:39
Does the Klearwater have any kind of taste or after-taste??? I know the taste of some purification tablets to be terrible.
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No more so than AquaMira. More of an odor at first than an actual taste in my experience.
'Slogger
I went through $33 worth of Aqua Mira on my hike. You don't need to use treated water to cook or clean with, and you can get water from potable sources in many sections along the trail. In Shenandoah, many mid-atlantic states and the White Mountains there are potable water sources all over the place and you can always carry water out of town. On average I would count on enough water treatment to treat 3-4 liters of water per day you plan on being on the trail.
Amigi'sLastStand
07-02-2006, 22:50
Use a filter. Cheaper in the long run, no waiting time, easy to fill bladders, and better for ya. Also, no chemical treatment is as assured as a good filter (AM is NOT ceritfied by the EPA to treat Gia/Cry. Thats why it doesnt say it on the bottle ). Plus the carbon part of the filter make the water taste better. Never understood the chem treatment thing unless necessary.
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/mdbp/pdf/alter/chapt_4.pdf
5NaClO2 + 4HCl = 4ClO2(g) + 5NaCl + 2H2O This is the reaction for aqua mira. Lotta resultant salts, so if you have high blood pressure, you may want to filter.
The other thing I dont like about AM/Pristine is that in must be kept under 100F and out of sunlight or it is no longer effective. For us folks in Fl, this makes it useless. Also, its ignition temp is around 150F ( very low, keep away from flame ). Yes, AM will burn and burn wildly as it is an oxidant at temperature.
Or you could just get use to giardia and not have to worry at all! ( Not recommended ).