We’ve got two water filters and are trying to decide which to take. One of them can only handle very clear water so that may be the deciding factor. How clean will the water be?
Nancy Sathre-Vogel
How clean is the water?
system
#2
How clean is the water? In most cases it’s pristine. About 50% of the water that I drank was unfiltered, untreated. You need to be very careful about judging where livestock might be present upstream as they can pollute the water source from several miles away. However, if you can pretty much see the entire watershed, you have a fair idea about the potential level of contamination. When I could see that the watershed was free of livestock, I didn’t bother to treat the water.
South of Route 50, water becomes more scarce and you sometimes end up drinking cow-water. But this is a problem only for a couple of stretches of perhaps 20 miles each. You should have no trouble with your filter even at the poor sources, but crappy water tastes like crappy water even if it’s filtered.
Loup
system
#3
That’s great to hear. We’ll take the filter that likes clean water then. It’s so much easier to use in general, but tends to get clogged up fast if the water isn’t really clear to begin with.
Nancy Sathre-Vogel
system
#4
With the number of people you have in your group, I’d take 2 filters. That way you won’t be knocked off the trail if one fails. Plus filtering 3 bottles for 3 or 4 people at once could take a long time.
Gershon
system
#5
Or take Aqua Mira, you can do 6 bottles at the same time and look at the scenery in the 5 minutes it takes to set before mixing. This would also save at least 1.5-2 pounds.
KarlG
system
#8
This is what I have been using for years…since 1992…I can’t believe nobody else on this site has heard of this! And I’m happy to pass this along. It is drops that oxygenate the water…not iodine. No more need for expensive, bulky, time-consuming water filters. It kills all bacteria, etc. It’s simple, easy, lightweight, inexpensive. Check out the website for yourself. Works for pets too. Many, many other benefits. Check out: www.oxygenforlife.net You will be glad you did!
horse gal
system
#9
One of the nicest things about backpacking is the delicious water. Adding toxic chemicals will certainly kill bacteria but it certainly doesn’t taste as good. No thanks.
grumpy
system
#10
Nancy,
its true you can spend a lot of time filtering water. Try googling “hanging water filter” these things filter by gravity in 15 minutes or so. I saw one that weighed 11 ounces. Even so, I always carry a chemical back-up in case the filter fails. Giardia is not fun.
LA
system
#11
MANUFACTURER: 24 HR. EMERGENCY TELEPHONE
AQUAMIRA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. NUMBERS
917 West 600 North, Ste 105 Emergency Phone: 1-800-255-3924
Logan, Ut 84321 Outside US (Collect) USA 813-248-0585
2. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
CAS Registry #
2% Stabilized Chlorine Dioxide 19949-04-4
3. HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION
POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS
EYES: Irritating to eyes.
SKIN: May cause irritation; prolonged contact may cause dermatitis.
INGESTION: Harmful if swallowed; may cause irritation of the gastrointestinal
tract, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
INHALATION: Irritating; may cause sore throat, coughing, and difficulty breathing
4. FIRST AID MEASURES
EYES: Flush with large amounts of water for at least 15 minutes holding eyelids open.
Get medical attention.
SKIN: Wash off immediately with plenty of water. Remove and wash contaminated
clothing before re-use.
INGESTION: If conscious, give water to rinse mouth, then one glass to drink. Treat
symptomatically. Do not induce vomiting in an unconscious person. Never give
anything by mouth to an unconscious or convulsing person. Seek medical advice.
INHALATION: Move to fresh air. Seek medical attention if person is experiencing
respiratory distress.
truth
system
#12
The hazard information on the MSDS for AquaMira refers to the concentrate purchased, not diluted with up to 30 gallons of water.
The same risk goes for iodine tablets. These tablets should be dissolved in the appropriate amount of water rather than taken internally in pill form with untreated water. During my outdoor retail days, a customer complained that ingesting the iodine tablets made him sick during a backpacking trip.
Use as directed!
Bernard
system
#13
While AquaMira is marketed as some sort of alternative, it is just another chlorine disinfectant. All chlorines are powerful oxygenators, which is why AquaMira is marketed using that word. MSR’s Miox device is similarly misrepresented. It converts rock salt to chlorine but the perception is that it is something else. Chlorine Dioxide, which is the active ingredient of AquaMira, is extremely potent so less is needed than if using laundry bleach. That is why the chlorine taste is less in AquaMira, but it is still chlorine.
It amazes me that many of the same people who routinely consume bottled water due to purity issues have no qualms about adding significant doses of disinfectants to on a hike.
truth
system
#14
I would agree that most water sources on the CT are not in need of treatment. During my 2009 section hikes, the first sign of cattle near a water source was in Segment 16 at Tank Seven Creek. I remained vigilant about filtering water through Segments 17 - 19 during the last two years. It would be a shame to have to end a thru-hike due to contracting Giardia.
Chlorine compounds are also used to treat tap water in the U.S. For those people who consume bottled water in favor of tap water, here is an article that may be of interest to you: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100310/why-tap-water-is-better/
Bernard
system
#15
I’ve tried just about everything over the years, including AquaMira, Polar Pure, and several makes and models of filters. While I’ve never really considered Truth’s health objections, I would agree that filtered water really does taste better.
I have been using a 9 ounce ceramic Katdyn Mini filter for several years. With it I can stop, filter, and hydrate thoroughly before continuing. By doing that I am able to carry on with just one liter most of the time.
The sticking point for me with chemicals is that none of them work very quickly in the cold water typical to the Rockies. AquaMira stipulates a 30 minute waiting time before drinking the water, so I found myself carrying more water with the chemicals than with a filter. Since a liter of water weighs 38 ounces, that basically negated any weight advantage of using the chemicals.
bearcreek
system
#16
Although Sheep and Cattle can all carry giardia, it’s spread throughout the Rockies is attributed to beavers. There are beavers just about everywhere you find surface water. Only truly safe sources are springs.
grumpy
system
#17
I’ve had giardia too many times to risk it. We’ll filter all our water carefully and have some iodine as a backup.
Nancy
system
#18
I have used virtually every filter and pill available over the years and would recommend you look at the Steripen. It’s a bit pricey, but using a Steripen for 30 or so seconds and having water immediately available is awesome. I would never go back to any other filter. Check it out. SJ Ron (there are LOTS of beaver ponds, especially south, you need to filter all of your water!)
San Juan Ron
system
#19
I have a Steripen, a MSR filter, and Aqua Mira. I generally use the Aqua Mira as it is lightest and quicker for larger quantities of water and I don’t notice any taste. As a side note, filters only remove Giardia, Protozoa, and bacteria. they are not capable of removing viruses. The Steripen is probably the best for these with the Aqua Mira second. Steripen water is potable immediately after treatment vs 15 minutes for the drops (per the label on my bottle). Below is an article from REI with a link at the end for the remainder of the article. Sorry for the long message…
Purifiers Versus Filters (from REI site)
Water-related illness is typically linked to 1 of 3 types of invisible-to-the-eye pathogens (disease-carrying pests). Caused by animal or human contamination, principally via fecal matter, the following trio of bad boys is potentially lurking in just about any lake, river or stream outside the U.S. and Canada:
Protozoa and cysts (Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia). Single-cell parasites; tiny (between 1 and 20 microns. A micron is 1-millionth of a meter, or 0.00004 inch. The period at the end of this sentence is roughly 500 microns.)
Bacteria (Escherichia coli, or E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae, Yersinia entercolitica, Leptospira interrogans and many others). Very tiny (0.1 to 10 microns).
Viruses (hepatitis A, rotavirus, enterovirus, norovirus). Exceptionally tiny (0.005 to 0.1 micron). Caused by human waste.
Of the portable water-treatment methods offered at REI, any designated as a “purifier” will rid water of all 3 threats. Pump or gravity-based devices commonly called “filters” reliably sift out protozoa, cysts and bacteria but are not effective against miniscule viruses. Water can also be purified (the technical term is “disinfected”) by some chemicals and chemical-based devices.
Handheld water filters designed for backcountry travel are more correctly called “microfilters.” They are more exacting than household tap “filters” by removing very fine particles down to 0.4 microns in size. However, they do not trap super-fine particles as well as industrial-grade “ultrafiltration” and “nanofiltration” methods.
Microfilters physically separate protozoa and bacteria from water by pushing water through an internal “filtering media” — a ceramic cartridge or a cluster of hollow-fiber tubes.
These media look solid to the eye, but they contain microscopic pores (typically 0.2 to 0.4 microns) that water can penetrate, but protozoa, cysts and bacteria cannot. Microbiologists call this process “size exclusion.” The filtering media basically acts as a microscopic colander that strains bugs out of the water.
Viruses, however, are tiny enough to slip through even these pores. Because the risk of viral contamination in North American wilderness waters is considered low, filters are quite sufficient for most domestic backcountry travel. But in less developed international locales where surface water is exposed to all manner of human and animal activity (such as remote villages, primitive farming communities and heavily concentrated population centers), treating water with a purifier is a must.
http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/water+treatment+international.html
KarlG
system
#20
I read a lot about this as it is an interest of mine as a nurse of 30 years. I see that there is a lot of opinion that many/most giardia blamed infections are from cross contamination from other members of the group from poor handwashing/sanitation (it is normal fecal flora for many people). Every time I used my filter I thought about the “clean” end of the system and wondered how clean it really was and how I could keep it cleaner. Every time I cleaned my filter element with the brush and disassembled the system I wondered if I should be boiling parts to make it clean again.
Everyone has to hike their own hike, these are just things I have wondered about.
KarlG