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filter pump or tablets...?


banos

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If speed is crucial and you're taking are steps to go lite, then go with tabs. Otherwise take the filter and enjoy the clean clear water. If you go with the filter, make sure it's in top working order before you leave and take the little repair/lub kit with you. I always have a few tabs in my kit just in case.

Edited by Mikester
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I feel guilt and even shame about this, but almost never treat water.

That's because your system is used to water from the Passaic River.

 

I second the AquaMira. Don't have the weight to carry, the worry of failure or constant maint. For murky water (which isn't often) I use a coffee filter to screen out the shiz.

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I still use iodine tabs. Note you can save some $ by getting ascorbic acid in bulk at the nat. food store; this is what is in the second little bottle often sold along with the iodine tabs. Only need to add a little bit to preciptate out the iodide ions.

Edited by bobinc
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If it is oversees or in a really bad area,(swampy area or a desert slot canyon) then filters are the way to go. If a GI problem is a big issue (like on the way up aconcagua) then you need the real deal filter. If you are poking around the states, chemical treatment is fine. I have used the aquamira for many years now. No issues.

Where are thinking of heading for your week?

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Wise and informed people are familiar with this medical article:

 

http://www.wemjournal.org/pdfserv/i1080-6032-015-04-0235.pdf

And this one

http://www.wemjournal.org/pdfserv/i1080-6032-006-02-0162.pdf

 

and at minimum this one

 

http://www.yosemite.org/naturenotes/Giardia.htm

 

Lots of uninformed people have never read this stuff...One simply doesn't know how they formed their opinions.

 

Probably the same way they decided it's better to pay $300 than $19 for a cheap, coated puptent with a sewn-in floor.

Edited by johndavidjr
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Whatever water treatment you choose, you should also throw in some antiseptic handwash gel.

 

I have used the 2 part chlorine based stuff before on South America and it is OK. I brought a mini-syringe to do the mixing. Overall though my preference was to use regular tincture of iodine since it is dual purpose as a first aid kit item and water treatment, plus it is easily scalable for varying quality/clarity of water and it leaves less aftertaste than the tabs

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Lots of uninformed people have never read this stuff...One simply doesn't know how they formed their opinions.

 

Probably the same way they decided it's better to pay $300 than $19 for a cheap, coated puptent with a sewn-in floor.

 

I suppose that's like driving on the freeway without wearing a seat belt and using the rationale that you've been doing it for years and never got in a wreck. For me, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've never had the pleasure of getting giardiasis but know enough people who have that I certainly don't want to risk it. Most of the folks I know who have gotten it, did so here in the US and some of them suffered from it for many years after the fact. I'd much rather be "un-informed" if it keeps me from getting a nasty bug like giardiasis.

 

BTW, I have a cheap WalMart car camping tent and it is a total piece of crap. I knew that when I bought it for $50 but wanted a tent for stuff like concerts and such so I would not have to worry about it getting stolen. The zippers suck, the poles suck, it it a pain to set up (compared to some of my nice, expensive tents) and it leaks a bit too. Ya get what-cha pay for, at least most of the time.

 

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Ten percent of Americans are asymptomatic Giardia carriers. So lots of people do get sick from it, but not from backcountry water. Plenty of science explaining this in links provided above. Read and learn.

 

Treating water if you like is fine, though it might distract from hygiene, which is the relevant concern while grubbing around with friends.

 

BTW I can see that a cheap car-camping tent, given its relative complexity, might be more problematic than a small and simple shelter, especially if seams aren't carefully sealed. I've no experience, and no problem with your word on it.

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I know a large handful of people who HAVE gotten SICK from drinking unfiltered back country water...giardia. I prefer to remain ignorant to all this "science" you talk about and keep throwing a few tabs of iodine in every time i fill up in the BC.

 

And enough with the goddamn tents, we know all the corporations are trying to fluck us out of our money.

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Bla, Bla, Bla science...Bla, bla, bla

 

I have read it all, hence my willingness to not treat all the water I drink. I may or may not have gotten get sick from those sources I treat, but it sure makes me feel better. Then again I like my poop to be on a regular schedual and not exploding out my butt.

 

Bla, bla, bla tents, bla bla bla.

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Except food poisoning and giardiasis are completely different. Giardiasis can last for years, whereas food poisoning or a flu lasts a matter of days. JDJ, do you even spend time in the cascades? I think if you did you would have very different opinions/information about everything from H2O purification to tents. Quit trolling cc.com and go back to Jersey.

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Having had the pleasure both of Giardia (Baker) and Salmonella (Peru) over the last few years, I consider myself an expert on the subject of GI problems. In Washington I hardly ever treat my water; only in popular areas, or when the water is in or came from a questionable source (lakes or ponds mostly). I have even drank untreated water running alongside logging roads a few times when I was really thirsty (descent from Slesse comes to mind). I figure it's good to let your ammune system stretch it's legs from time to time. When I do treat it I use iodine because it's light and I don't mind the taste. If you do use a filter remember to replace the O rings and filter sometimes. In Peru this last summer I spent a lot of time sick, in part because I forgot to do this on my old filter which I was using to treat tap water for the first couple of weeks.

 

Another option is to take a shot of bleach after you drink water.

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Dannible, with all due respect for your experience, you haven't done your reading assignments.

 

Giardiasis can take two weeks or more to develop. If you were on Baker continuously for more than two weeks, then you can be somewhat confident you got it there and not at Denny's the week before, where the risk is not inconsiderable.

 

But if so, you probably didn't get it from contaminated water. If during those two weeks you didn't shared food with anyone, and never let anyone drink from your water bottles, (remember, 10% of people carry Giardia) or use your hands to pass objects to anyone, etc., etc., only then can you say that you know you got Giardiasis from drinking untreated water.

 

COMMONLY how people get Giardiasis in the U.S. is from contaminated food and from hand-to-mouth contact, and remember there are millions of cases annually and the disease is studied intensively.

 

 

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