PB & Snark, Quartered with No Crusts

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Can somebody explain how the algae in the water can produce more toxins in the water via boiling, rather than dying off?
 
Got my first set of micarta handles. Not sure which Becker to put them on just yet... The 12 or the 4?
 
From my rudimentary understanding, the toxin isn't like an organism that can be killed with heat. It is a molecule dissolved in the water. Boiling the water can increase the concentration as water boils off into steam. Granted, I sucked at chemistry, so please take it with a grain of salt. :D
 
We have a very large suppy of water hidden away, trying to get non perishable hidden is a different story... Been thinking about getting a few of them emergency food buckets but all that stuff goes bad after awhile....

I usually have my falcon II bag set up for day hikes only.. I'd love it if someone hooked up a med care package or atleast gave me a list I could make for a b.o.b for one of them maxpedition hip bags.. someone here had it set up it a lower bag below there falcon II.
 
dresnor said:
I wonder if you could make a still to purify the water.

I would do some research into that. I doubt algae could travel with the water vapors that would reform into liquid.

Jeremy
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Not sure that would work. Same as with boiling, the cell structure of the contaminate weakens or collapses and releases more toxin. I'm guessing a still would do the same. Question would be if the boiling point of the toxin is higher or lower than the water.

Seems like it must not work, because that is not the way the water plants treat the "contaminated" water.

Here is a good write-up on the toxin

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/microcystin_sections.pdf

Doc
 
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Doc, the link didn't work for me.


Edit: Never mind. I clicked it a third time and it worked. Thanks!

Jeremy
 
Wife and I took a ride to the wildlife sanctuary, and I took a few shots:

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Decompressing after the birthday party. Already three Boston Lagers in. Watching Sharknado.
 
Sweet pictures Warrior

Interesting read Doc. The wife and I were actually looking to retrofit our water softener with a reverse osmosis water filtration system. Seems like a good excuse to get it done haha
 
Jerry D. said:
From my rudimentary understanding, the toxin isn't like an organism that can be killed with heat. It is a molecule dissolved in the water. Boiling the water can increase the concentration as water boils off into steam. Granted, I sucked at chemistry, so please take it with a grain of salt. :D
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Basically, think of the toxin as "algae pee" or more accurately, "dead, decomposing algae releasing stored up algae pee".

It's a bi-product of the algae doing it normal life cycle stuff - grown, eat, shit. pee, reproduced, dying, repeat. The toxin is "always there", in the water. Under "normal" circumstances, the toxin is present in the drinking water. There just isn't enough to cause anyone problems. Under the right set of circumstances (water temp, nutrients in the water, O2/CO2 levels in the water, # or hours of daylight, etc......) you get an abnormal algae bloom, a "population explosion" of algae, where the amount of algae pee (the toxin) present in each drop of water reaches an unsafe level - think of it as putting too much pepper or salt in a dish when making/cooking it. Or to take my pee example, if one person pees in the pool, unless you are close enough to feel the temperature change, we don't realize it's there. If EVERYONE in the pool pees at the same time and the pool turns yellow, the life guard knows we have a problem. In this case, the life guard is the water testing folks.

Doc_Savage said:
Not sure that would work. Same as with boiling, the cell structure of the contaminate weakens or collapses and releases more toxin. I'm guessing a still would do the same. Question would be if the boiling point of the toxin is higher or lower than the water.

Seems like it must not work, because that is not the way the water plants treat the "contaminated" water.

Here is a good write-up on the toxin

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/microcystin_sections.pdf

Doc
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I have been unable to locate any "volatility data" on the toxin, so I can't say if a condensing still similar to a gasoline cracking tower would work well, if at all. Boiling does appear to increase the release of toxin from dead cells busting more readily during the boiling process. Filtering through activated charcoal would cause the toxin to adhere to the charcoal as the contaminated water passed through the charcoal (or a riverbank sand filter, as occurs in real life in streams, creeks and rivers). That process however, is very slow and would not produce sufficient water for a metropolitan area the size of Toledo, and the plant would be extremely expensive to build and maintain. A home COULD be outfitted with a reverse osmosis/charcoal filtration system, but again, the cost might be prohibitive.
 
TBL said:
Sweet pictures Warrior

Interesting read Doc. The wife and I were actually looking to retrofit our water softener with a reverse osmosis water filtration system. Seems like a good excuse to get it done haha
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You know, I have been thinking the same thing. There's a relatively famous island / resort down here called Sanibel Island. There is no freshwater on the island, so rather than pipe it over, they use a huge RO plant to convert the saltwater to fresh... Kinda cool. And it tastes pretty good as well.

Doc
 
Any insight as to whether or not the Sawyer filter would actually filter out the toxin?
 
The machine that my wife was looking at removes 99.76% of everything in water, including chlorine, fluoride, and other dissolved toxins :D It produces 100 gallons a day and has a 60 gallon storage drum. I was thinking about running a separate water line beside each tap to be used as a drinking only water. This way the shower and toilets can stay on the regular city water, and we can ingest the good stuff.
 
Doc_Savage said:
You know, I have been thinking the same thing. There's a relatively famous island / resort down here called Sanibel Island. There is no freshwater on the island, so rather than pipe it over, they use a huge RO plant to convert the saltwater to fresh... Kinda cool. And it tastes pretty good as well.

Doc
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I've been to Sanibel. My mother in law has a condo there. The water tastes salty...actually ALL the water in Florida tastes salty to me lol...even bottled water.
 
I miss Florida. It's been 10 months since my last visit. My inlaws have a place in Melbourne Beach. Every time I go I hit up Orlando gun / knife shows :D
 
Guyon said:
Decompressing after the birthday party. Already three Boston Lagers in. Watching Sharknado.
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G ? Is it your birthday ?

So I handled a Benchmade Bushcrafter in S90v. Its a very nicely done blade. Sharp despite its thickness. Terribly uncomfortable in the hand.
The handle is blocky and to thick, with too much of both taper and swell, and the outer edges instead of having a steady, smooth thinning and rounding, they are rounded square edges.
Its funny how so often handling other knives that look very very nice in a picture, puts how comfy Beckers are into stark perspective.

Benchmade Bushcrafter: For the price ? Great steel, Nice sheath, Micarta handles, Its a lot of knife for the money.
I wouldnt keep one if you gave it to me though. Not without sending it to someone that I trust, to completely redo the handles.
 
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Id been wondering about that benchmade. I hear that the handle take a a little getting used to. Seems there are people who love it, and plently who don't. I'll see if I can't find a link.

In other news, made whoopie slings today. Real easy to do. Sitting in the hammock drinking a beer as I type on my phone.
 
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