Yeah, I just use the bottle cap of each bottle I'm treating.
no love for iodine tablets? Tastes better than chlorine in my opinion and is cheaper.
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Now that I think of it, does anyone have a working link to the military study that looked at e effectiveness of chlorine dioxide?
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I remember that study, but can't find it now. Here's another specifically studying iodine:
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=get...fier=ADA453960
The conclusions:
iodine is marginally effective on giardia and not effective on crypto. It is effective on virus and bacteria.
Chlorine dioxide is effective for virus, bacteria, giardia and crypto, but requires long treatment time for giardia and cryptosporidium. You might need a higher concentration of chlorine dioxide for giardia and crypto (which the tablets provide), but those are temporarily hard to find.
I too remember that study and have been searching through my archives for it; I'll let you know when I find it. I carried the same AquaMira from Lincoln, NH to Springer Mt. and treated my water a total of eight times getting sick zero times. I carried a Katadyn filter to Monson then sending it home; from there if I felt the need to treat the water I just broke out the stove and boiled the water using a bandana to filter the floaties out. I used the filter twice in the 100 mile; the water was frequent, cold and tasty. This is an approach I took and have taken this approach for a majority of my hikes on the AT. I also take the same approach when on the Long Trail and in the Adirondacks. I have yet to hit the trails out west, but hear the water at times can be of the highest quality. I will be purchasing a Steri Pen shortly because I would like to get away from the carcinogens in chemicals and weights of filters.
"I choose to carry very little, but that little is chosen with care." Earl V. Shaffer
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
50 years ago when my boy scout troop hiked for two weeks in the White Mountains, we NEVER purified water. We filled our canteens right out of the streams and drink nothing else. No one got sick. I read something a few months ago that so experts think that most people that get sick in the woods don't get sick from the water, but from their own unsanitary hands after going to the bathroom. I think that's probably the case.
That being said, the trails are so crowded now, and I find so much human and dog excrement close to the trails, that I'm not confident that people/pets aren't defecating near the water supplies. So if I don't boil it, I treat it. I'm less worried about the beavers.
I grew up in SE PA. Our water is chlorinated. I love the micropur tabs, love them, love them, love them. I don't really mind the tint of chlorine-lets me know it's safe to drink. I am 43, still kick'in it after using many tabs ( of micropur)
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
I think that most of us would wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Te best way to treat your water is to wash your hands.
I do agree with this as well. One of my favorite examples is a pristine looking stream I know of in the Berkshires that is a marked water source on the A.T. maps, it is one of the more beautiful sources i've seen and normally if I came across a source like it I wouldn't bother treating...unfortunately I am also aware that a few hundred yards upstream the A.T. Crossing the creek originates at a shallow lake owned by a summer camp, complete with a swim area, canoe, kayaks and ski boats. It's always a good idea to be cautious when dealing with water sources in an area that is a densely populated as much of the Appalachian trail.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
If you've never been to the beach you haven't had awful tasting water... I drank stream water treated with aqua mira and it wasnt bad at all.
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"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).
Uh, yeah there is an easy way around it. Just carry one of those little plastic covers that come on small disposable water bottles. They are flat bottomed, clear, and weigh almost nothing. If you don't want to do that, then just mix the solution in the lids of your liter bottles.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.
I have lots of experience with chlorine dioxide, specifically Micropur tablets. They take forever to work(as does AM) and the taste is only mediocre. It's not even that light when you think how long you are having to carry water before you can drink it. Sawyer Squeeze(and now the Mini) for me.
Ryan