Mountain water safe to drink?

[willyfield]

Giardia (sp?) is a bitch. Been there and done that. Always filter and boil. Last resort, always iodine tab. When thirsty, nothing is better than a cool Colorado brooke; but be careful and don't drink warm, still water no matter how clear without treatment.

Hal

 

[grommit]

When in doubt, boil and then filter. Or filter and then boil. There are many situations where boiling alone will make the water even less potable than it was before. When you boil you will kill almost everything, but all that is actually removed from the water is some of the low vapor pressure organics. That and some of the water itself. Everything else is now even more concentrated than it was before because some percentage of the water has been boiled off.

Boiling will leave all the metals, most of the organics, all the salts, all the carcasses of micro-organisms, worms, etc. that the boiling killed off.

The safest purification would be to pre filter the water and then hard boil the water, preferably in a pressure cooker if you are at any altitude at all, then distill it at a lower temperature, then run it thru a hefty carbon filter to remove the organics that will sneak thru. Even then you are not left with just water. Of course I am a pessimist. But if the situation is dire, the landscape has been changed and you have one shot of getting "out", one little slip with the drinking water can leave you helpless for days, or worse.

 

[Moving Target]

In many parts of the United States 'back-country', wherever there is water there is beaver. Where there is beaver there is giardia.

I can still remember one humorous occassion when my boss and I were out in the field, and stopped at the end of the day for a cool drink from a familiar stream. Right down in the water there as we filled our canteens were some twigs chewed by beaver. Surprisingly, I didnt catch giardia that time but I did later in the summer.

All I can say is be prepared to spend a few days hovering over a toilet if you're going to drink without filtering. Giardia wasn't as horrific or gut-wrenching as they say, but it is pretty uncomfortable, not-to-mention annoying having your whole digestive system hijacked and put to repugnant, humiliating use for a matter of days.

I go with the usual iodine-based tablets if I have to travel very light and the PUR hiker for anything else. Bring drink mix if you use the iodine because it makes water taste nasty. On the other hand, I have sucked green muck out of a puddle with my PUR hiker and ended up with clean, clear, great-tasting water.