[pct-l] Water Filters

Sat Dec 5 21:56:40 CST 2009

Ernie,
Cattle are common carriers of Cryptosporidium.  That's most likely what you
caught.  Crypto lodges & multiplies in your intestines.  Your body attempts
to FLUSH them out by passing large amounts of waste (which quickly becomes
diarrhea) to get rid of them.  As long as you're healthy this works but the
process can take up to 3-weeks (more usually, 1 week).

I use Polar Pure Iodine Crystals which work great for just about everything
(Keep reading).  A couple of bottles (~$15ea) purify enough water for a thru
hike.  UV works against Crypto albeit not 100% of them are killed in the
typical few seconds that a steripen is used.  Boiling is the only SURE way
to kill Crypto.

Since 100% of my water is iodized and ~35% of my daily water is boiled, I
feel confidently safe against waterborne illnesses.  I have yet to get sick
from water in the thousands of gallons of treated water I've taken-in in the
backcountry over the years.

I DID get sick once years ago.  I believe it to be from untreated water
because, like you, I thought there was no risk from the "pristine" water and
so I never treated it.

I KNOW that there's a million opinions on water...I'll leave others to spend
the next thousand posts arguing how/why their system is the "Best".  I use
iodine CRYSTALS bcuz:
1) I don't mind the taste
2) It purifies
3) It's simple
4) It's LIGHT
5) It's fail-proof (no batteries, filters, equipment, etc to
die/clog/fail/break)
6) It's not immediate, but it's fairly quick (30min 'contact' time).  I have
yet to die from dehydration from having to wait 30mins. For that matter, I
have yet to be majorly inconvenienced from the wait.

Since I treat at least 1L at a time (sometimes up to 6L) and drink it
relatively slowly, the iodine's contact time is often HOURS which increases
the % of Crypto & Giardia CYSTS that it 'kills'.  While iodine DOESN'T Kill
ALL of the cysts even under this set of circumstances, it does kill
(according to Univ. of Az) 48% to 81% of the cysts when the contact time is
this high.

I wonder what percentage of the CYSTS that a steripen 'kills' under typical
PCT conditions. Hmm..

Josh

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Ernie Castillo
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 5:23 PM
To: brooklynkayak at gmail.com; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Water Filters

One of my regrets from my through hike in 1980: not treating my water.

It was a combination of feeling invincible, trusting nature, and laziness.

It caught up to me in Northern California as I was hiking ahead of my group.
I came across a stream, not moving that fast, but looking clean and
pristine. So I just dipped my water bottle into the stream.

Big mistake. I didn't notice the cows grazing by the side of the stream less
than a 100 yards away.My hiking buddies pointed it out to me once they
caught up.

The next day, I was the only having to catch up because I kept having to
take the proverbial dump in the woods. It got worse. I realized later that I
may have got a bout of salmonella poisoning, e coli bacteria, or H pylori. I
was sick for about a week, had trouble keeping food down, had non-stop
diarrhea, and even thought about leaving the trail to find a doctor. But I
persevered and learned a valuable lesson.

 If in doubt, boil it out.

Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201

> From: brooklynkayak at gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:18:01 -0500
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Water Filters
> 
> I either boil, chemically treat and/or filter all water.
> 
> Many people have developed their systems to the point that they can 
> drink almost anything.
> 
> Maybe some day I'll work on that, but for now I don't want to take any
chances.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 7:09 AM, Michael Peterson <depthhappens at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > Thanks Steve. Did you ever not treat the water?
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Steve McAllister 
> > <brooklynkayak at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Filters can make nasty water taste better. Water from forest fire 
> >> areas, water with lots of tannin or other nasty stuff in it can be 
> >> turned into god tasting water.
> >>
> >> Pre-filtering is very important. You can plug up a filter very 
> >> quickly if the water has a lot of suspended particles.
> >>
> >> I have totally plugged up a prefilter from filtering just 2 liters 
> >> from a clear flowing stream in the fall. Turns out there was a lot 
> >> of particles from fallen leaves in the water.
> >>
> >> I use Aqua Mira drops, but will also filter with a very light 
> >> "Frontier Pro2" if the water is nasty.
> >>
> >> On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Michael Peterson 
> >> <wordgrouper at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> > What's the wisdom from the trail regarding water filters?
> >> >
> >> > M
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> >
> >> > "A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
> >> >   Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
> >> >   There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
> >> >   And drinking largely sobers us again."        -  A.Pope
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Pct-l mailing list
> >> > Pct-l at backcountry.net
> >> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, 
> >> there's nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> >>   -- Tom Waits
> >>
> >> http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > "A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
> >    Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
> >    There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
> >    And drinking largely sobers us again."        -  A.Pope
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's 
> nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> -- Tom Waits
> 
> http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

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