Water purification?

[Sphinx]

pagetops

[Sphinx]

bite me

[b-rock]

Is REI the only place to buy a filter?

[lummox]

water is aid.

[allthumbs]

Hey Bunghole, my vacation is good so far. A little travel, some beach boating, some local mountain shit, some time with my two kids, you know, that kind of vacation.....just getting away from the fucking phones and the fat bitches from work that like to bust my balls.

 

You only buy a MSR once. No filters to replace...scrub the membrane. Buy it from Jim at PMS...fuck REI.

[Thinker]

If you're going to get a filter, Katadyn http://www.katadyn.net/ is the Cadillac, IMHO.

 

They can be completely disassembled, cleaned and repaired without specialzed equipment. It's what I'd take to any 3rd world country.

[Crackbolter]

Miox

[cj001f]

b-rock said:

Is REI the only place to buy a filter?

It's the only place to buy ANYTHING.... if you plan on returning it!

[Attitude]

Crackbolter said:

Miox

It looks like a vibrator.

[mattp]

I think cavey and Erik said it all on page 1: some people are more sensitive to giardia or other water-borne nastiness than others but, for most of us, if you don't get your water from immediately downstream of some popular camping area or from the Duwamish river, you probably won't get sick. I have never carried a water filter, I don't use iodine, and I am not all that careful about my water sources. In Asia I got giardia. In North America I have only once gotten sick from bad water - and it was when I got water from a faucet at a gas station.

[Greg_W]

Gary_Yngve said:

Sphinx said:Just shut the fuck up and purify your fucking water however the fuck you want. Nobody gives a shit. Jesus, this is one of the worst threads ever! Where's a barfing graemlin when you need one?

 

Dude... you need to get laid... or smoke a reefer... or both...

 

GAry, I would think a scrawny little fuck like you would be worried about weight - ditch the filter. I used one once or twice and they blow; fucking pain in the ass. I'm with Caveman; pills rock. I always carry water on the trail anyway.

[skykilo]

I just can't stand disgusting little floaty things in my water! Eke! There's your water filter justification. (I'm really not trying to ridicule anyone here, I've had this sentiment myself after watching copious miniscule fuckers darting through water I took from just below a false summit of Glacier Peak.)

What up Gary, you got the hookup?

[slothrop]

Thinker said:

Giardia Lamblia and Giardiasis With Particular Attention to the Sierra Nevada By Robert L. Rockwell, PhD

 

This theme, that reduced attention to personal hygiene is an important factor for contracting giardiasis in the wilderness, is becoming more frequent in the literature.2, 10, 14, 37, [38]

 

So bring your little bottle of Dr. Bronner's along with a little bottle of iodine and you're safe from all the feces that flies around the wilderness with such abandon.

 

You should probably carry one of these, too (0.3 lbs.):

 

 

[marylou]

Thinker's dug up a lot of useful info on water safety. I'd like to add a few things on the local side of things.

 

I recently did an interview with Dr. Marcia Goldoft, epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health, here are a few things I got from her:

 

How many cases of Giardia and Crypto have been documented in Washington?

 

Giardia: 510 in 2002. 20% from camping or other frontcountry/backountry activities, 24% after international travel.

 

Crypto: 71 in '01 and 62 in '02. 8% from farm animals/agricultural sources, 22% after international travel.

 

According to her, these numbers reflect a small fraction of actual cases. Stats are not complete in terms of sources of the bug, both because the D o H doesn't track the supposed source of every case, and also because I didn't need her to dig up every last piece for my purposes. They don't yet track what they loosely call "camping" with regard to Crypto.

 

Health care professionals don't typically screen for Crypto, if you have an ntestinal bug that was contracted in the woods, it might not hurt to ask for that test.

 

How many cysts does it take for a person to become infected?

 

One.

 

How long do the cysts live outside of water?

 

They don't know the answer to this yet, but "weeks to months" is the current scientific thinking. Crypto is particularly hardy.

 

There is now a cure for Crypto. It is called Nitazoxanide, brand name Alinia. It got FDA labeling in November of '02 for use in children. Children are especially suseptible to Crypto, apparently due to increased poop consumption. Alinia's manufacturer says that it is legal to prescribe the drug off-label for adults, and they've seen good results. Drug labeling is expensive and I imagine they won't do the deal to get it FDA approved for use in adults until the need for such reaches more of a critical mass.

 

As far as the MIOX pen, well, it isn't my beloved product. That was someone else. I just saw one at the show and it looked interesting. Something new out there as another option.

 

 

[allthumbs]

marylou said-

 

How many cases of Giardia and Crypto have been documented in Washington?

 

Giardia: 510 in 2002. 20% from camping or other frontcountry/backountry activities, 24% after international travel.

 

Crypto: 71 in '01 and 62 in '02. 8% from farm animals/agricultural sources, 22% after international travel.

 

According to her, these numbers reflect a small fraction of actual cases.

 

So much for no one getting sick. I'm filtering.

[Ursa_Eagle]

marylou said:

apparently due to increased poop consumption.

[eternalX]

Opening an old thread. All this talk of purification and filters and nobody said which filter is their favorite. Looking to buy one (i'm cool with drops, but the gf, not so much). Is the MSR Sweetwater the one to go with? Seems less expensie than the others and it'll match my stove.

[DirtyHarry]

Which brings up another question: anyone here gotten sick from drinking water in the backcountry? I never purify my water. Though I usually only drink from streams pretty high up and very near the source.

Some folks I know drink right out of Snow Creek. If you drink from the top of pools supposed to be OK.

[fenderfour]

Whatabout the Miox, or an even older gadget, the Steri-pen?

 

The steri-pen uses UV light to purify the water.

[Lars]

so does anyone boil their water? (if you are already carrying a stove for cooking)

[marylou]

FF, I tried the MIOX this past weekend. We were a party of four with one filter and one MIOX. It was definitely easier and quicker than filtering, but it's a hundred and thirty bucks, and it's battery powered, two major drawbacks. The major advantage over drops is that the MIOX is EPA approved. The Katadyn tablets are as well, but I'll tell you, those tablets leave a serious chlorine taste, and the MIOX does not.

 

I haven't tried the Aqua Mira drops, can someone chime in and comment on the chlorine taste? I know it's not a huge big deal, but I much prefer my pure mountain water taste like pure mountain water.

[John Frieh]

the Aqua Mira drops, can someone chime in and comment on the chlorine taste? I know it's not a huge big deal, but I much prefer my pure mountain water taste like pure mountain water.

 

Mileage (taste) will vary depending on how picky you are. Personally after observing two friends enjoy the benefits of giardia (it’s amazing how fast one can get out of there glacier rigs when one has giardia) and personally having amebic dysentery twice myself I would use it even if it made the water taste like cough syrup.

 

With that said I have found aqua mira, though noticeable, isn’t that bad and after a day or two you get use to it. It is also less noxious than iodine.

[marylou]

Iodine has the additional disadvantage as not having been proven effective in killing Crypto.

 

Here's one of the many studies on that, I know it's not the most current, but I'm lazy and it was the first hit on Google.

 

study

[johndavidjr]

Water purification is pointless in the Washington backcountry & similar places. You can't argue with Thinker's link. You get giardisis from sharing food with asypmtomatic, non-hygenic associates.

---------------

[John Frieh]

Take a chance? Shit your pants!