[pct-l] Water Purification

[Steel-Eye]

Good afternoon, JJ,

I've hiked 2,184.5 miles of the PCT.  Only the last 479.0 miles of northern
California remain.

I am fortunate to have never contracted what I believe to be a waterborne
illness.  Sometimes I do not treat the water at all, specifically, water
from domestic sources, water from what I believe is an uncontaminated
spring, or most free-flowing surface water in the Sierras and parts of the
Cascades.

I've used a Katadyn Mini-Filter quite a bit, but at 9.2 oz. it's something I
can easily leave at home.   It provides what I find to be the best-tasting
water, but I don't like the weight and I don't like to sit around and do the
pumping.

I've used the various iodine products on short hikes, but I don't like it
for prolonged use because I don't know what the significant increase in
iodine consumption might do to my body.  Maybe nothing, but since other
options are available I choose to avoid iodine.  I use Aqua Mira
occasionally, and to me the taste is probably the best of all the chemical
treatments.  What I don't like is the expense, the relative difficulty
in buying the stuff, the need to use about 14 drops per liter, and the need
to wait 5 minutes for the two constituents to mix before adding them to the
water.

What I currently use is common, unscented Clorox Bleach.  I've found it to
be effective using 2-4 drops per liter and the same waiting period as with
Aqua Mira but without the 5-minute mix wait.  Clorox is readily available
and is a very good value, costing only about $1.00 per pint.  One pint will
treat about 3,500 liters of water.  I don't notice any objectionable smell
to taste, but I've consumed chlorinated water for much of my life so I
probably wouldn't notice or care.  The waiting period is not much greater
than the time required to pump water, but I can be walking during that time
rather than pumping and feeding mosquitoes.

I intend to become informed about any new process or technology that may
emerge, but with what I know now I won't change.

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=173861

Drink up ....

Steel-Eye

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Keener" <jj at oldmanwalking.net>
To: "PCT MailingList" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:21 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Water Purification


> Greetings,
>
> Sorry to raise an old issue, but I have some specific questions about
> water purification.
>
> 1. How much of the PCT have you hiked?
> 2. What did you do about water purification?
> 3. Would you make changes? What would you change?
>
> Thanks,
> Jim Keener ( J J )
> http://oldmanwalking.net
>
>
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