water

[Wags]

iodine won't kill crypto, so i wouldn't rely on it tbh. i'd prefer bleach as a chemical agent. however it tastes like opening my mouth in a swimming pool. i prefer the steripen b/c of the weight and hassle of a filter. a quick story.

i was out hiking this past weekend, adn i stopped at a shelter for lunch. there was a small family there. dad was down at the stream getting water, said the kids. dad came back up after about 15 minutes with a big water bladder, but it barely had any water in it. he asked the kids where the chapstick was. apparently something got jammed in his msr filter and he needed to take the whole thing apart, rub some of the waxy chapstick on some piece, and put it all back together. then he went back down and got his water. i guestimate it took him 1 hour to get water.

if this happened to me i would've probably stopped at a post office, mailed my filter home out of frustration, and continued hiking w/o filtering - running the risk of getting some GI issues. i mean, seriously, an hour to get water? ultimately i agree w/ sgt rock's stance of 'use what you like'. agreeing w/ sgt rock seems to be a reoccuring theme in my mind

[mindi]

Aqua Mira gave me horrible heartburn, so I switched to a Steripen, and had no problems whatsoever.

[SGT Rock]

iodine won't kill crypto, so i wouldn't rely on it tbh. i'd prefer bleach as a chemical agent. however it tastes like opening my mouth in a swimming pool. i prefer the steripen b/c of the weight and hassle of a filter. a quick story.

But then you get into the whole "what exactly are you going to have as a viable threat on the trail" thing.

The last big Crypto outbreak in the US was in a city park with water fountains treated with standard bleach.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Steripen.

[Evil Eye]

SteriPen for me - thru'd in '07 without issue. Did carry an extra set of batteries (small weight penalty for almost "on demand" water). Carry chemical backup in case of a technical issue.
Make obvious/smart water choices - upstream from trail, most pastures are risky, higher elevation the better, out of pipe better, smells, floatys, etc.
IMHO - general sanitation is more often the health issue than the water. Hand sanitizer - often - after each nature call, prior to any food/water handling, don't share food that has been handled by others, clean pots/cups/water bladders thoroughly at each town stop with soap and hot water, replace "commercial" Gatoraid/water bottles often.

[phillycheze]

i heard steripens are easy to break? anything to support this?

[Kevinz]

But Aqua mira is not only the last choice...There are better water water purifying systems which creates very tasty and pure drinking water from air! I have used it and it works great.

[D-wreck]

On my SOBO hike last year, I saw people a fair amount of people with the Steri-pen.

In Maine, a couple people sent them home because they couldn't get them to work right. This was the newer smaller version with watch type batteries. They seemed to go through lots of very expensive batteries.

I ended up hiking the last half of the trail with the Vermont Mafia. They used the original Steripen, it used AA batteries. I had my doubts at first, but I grew to love it. I think the key to making it work is never getting the top wet (make sure the metal probes are dry before dunking it too) and being extra gentle with it. They used rechargeable batteries, charger in the bounce box, and never ran out of power.

If they could make the Steripen more durable and waterproof I would carry one.

[Wags]

i cut a small 1"x1" section of a car chamoix thing and keep it right with my steripen case. i use this little section to dry my pen and the metal prongs after each use (also if i need to dose more than 1 L at a time, the prongs must be dry for the pen to work properly. haven't had any issues w/ durability or waterproofness yet.

[summitnh]

If the water source is a spring, I don't filter. Georgia and North Carolina...hardly filtered at all

[phillycheze]

so, on the steripen, does it really get rid of everything?

on aqua mira, why 2 bottles? MSR makes chlorine dioxide in one bottle???????

[Dogwood]

Guzzle a Coke and pee in the water. It will kill everything.

i've been reading and don't really have any clue on what most of yall do for purifying water. this topic is more random than popcorn.

do u use a filter? drops/tabs? or both? or none at all? or just figure it out as you go?

and why aquamira? on the bottle and website it says it's for large tanks...
what about MSR's chlorine dioxide drops? same stuff?

[JAK]

Yes, Aqua-mira does have some taste, but I didn't think it was overpowering.

Once you get past the smell you can't really taste it. lol
(I've since learned to keep my nose back from the wedding bottle after I mix it.)

[phillycheze]

anyone have info on MSR's drops?

[shakinfist]

not to used to using it yet, had to laminate the instructions to carry em with me but it seems sound, plus i cant find liquid aqua mira anywhere..... ill let ya know if it works (ill know at about 3 am when its 10 degrees)

[McKeever]

Iodine works for me. Polar Pure to be exact.

The thing about water is everyone has their system. In all the years I have been posting here and other sites I've figured out the main thing to realize is you gotta go with what makes you comfortable. People can get into long debates about what filter protects from what disease, what solution doesn't protect from some other disease, the actual likelihood of encountering the disease you are protecting against with your method of water treatment, the actual likely causes of disease, etc. In the end it is faith. You have faith your system works and it does work for you. No amount of information to the contrary or to support a different method is going to change some peoples minds.

I've used Polar Pure forever and will put it up against AquaMira if needed here. I'm now going to make the change to the Steripen Adventurer for the following reasons and would like everyone's input:

1. It scrambles more bugs than any chemical treatment and eventually will make all chemical treatment and micro filtration obsolite.

2. It is for all practical purposes an instant treatment with no pumping, wait time, or temperture issues.

3. The no wait time and no pumping alone is enough reason to change given the lower price of the Steripen adventurer now.

4. If I am correct takes 10 hours for AquaMira to kill crypto and Polar Pure will not report on the iodine and the effects on crypto.

5. AquaMira is not yet FDA approved (if that means anything :/)

4. It weights the same as a full bottle of Polar Pure and is much less expensive over the life of the unit compared to Aquamira. For the weight, you can treat and endless supply of bottles without waiting or pumping.

5. Aquamira is expensive. A years Aquama Mira can cost more than a Steripen that should last until it is obsolite.

6. Considering the reports of units not working propserly I belive that most of the reports are user error and not fully understading all of the directions and troubleshooting steps.

7. Even if the unit fails, all the major retailers will replace them while under warranty. If it fails after the waranty, the long distance hiker argument ususally gets gear replaced for free within a reasonable amount of time and usage.

Now the question is where to buy the most recently manufacturered unit at the lowest price.

[gwalker]

any more info on bleach?

[bfayer]

any more info on bleach?

See my post here, #30

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=#post1846883

[squeezebox]

I worked with an older woman who had been a nurse aide for 50 yrs. or so. She would wash peoples butts not wearing gloves, a very short hand wash then on to the next. Seems like too many of her patients ended up in isolation with big GI problems. Typhoid Mary ?? Maybe ??
Geez!!! Just filter your water, it's not that much time / work. And just might save you or someone else from a serious illness.

[Another Kevin]

Unfortunately, Polar Pure is now illegal to sell. So I use Aqua Mira in winter and filter in summer. (You have to throw out a filter element if it freezes, so I don't carry a filter in winter. The new Sawyer Mini might change my mind, since it's small enough to ride in an inside pocket.)