Water filters and treatment discussion..Part 1, source and filters.

chipc said:

Don't mean to continue the tangent, but probably most sane people are out enjoying the day instead of looking at a blue sky through their office window.

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Excellent thread ChipC, Lawn Sale, and Doug! I've enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I'm sorry to hear that at least some of you have been looking at blue sky through glass, rather than enjoying it first hand. I was one of the lucky people to be out enjoying the day, although I make no claims as to being sane. I hope all of you get to enjoy tomorrow's forecasted warm and sunny weather. Thanks again to each of you for an informative discussion, great writing, and useful information!

chipc said:

Don't mean to continue the tangent, but probably most sane people are out enjoying the day instead of looking at a blue sky through their office window.

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Roxi said:

Excellent thread ChipC, Lawn Sale, and Doug! I've enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I'm sorry to hear that at least some of you have been looking at blue sky through glass, rather than enjoying it first hand. I was one of the lucky people to be out enjoying the day, although I make no claims as to being sane. I hope all of you get to enjoy tomorrow's forecasted warm and sunny weather. Thanks again to each of you for an informative discussion, great writing, and useful information!

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I went out for a bike ride yesterday, today, and have plans for another ride tomorrow. Does that count?

Doug

I took Friday afternoon off and climbed Monadnock. As I passed Falcon Spring, I was wondering if is considered a "safe" source, considering all the use that Monadnock gets. On my way down, I had consumed all my water, but still didn't drink from the spring. It sure looked good, but I didn't want to chance it.

Anyone know?

Thanks

I can't answer your question. However, most surface springs in a public area are questionable. It might test OK for coliform today, but overnight become contaminated from any number of sources.

If it were me, I wouldn't chance drinking it except in an emergency. And now, having read Lawnsale's info, I'm even less inclined.

The following search ttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Falcon+Spring%22+%22Mt+Monadnock%22&btnG=Google+Search returns a number of pages. Most suggest the water is potable. None seems authoritative.

The S. NH guidebook says nothing about the safety of the water.

Ask the rangers next time you go there.

Doug

Just wanted to add some additional info on chlorine. Chlorine is a wide spectrum disinfectant. At proper concentrations, chlorine can disrupt the cell membrane/wall, or diffuse across the membrane to cause damage via free radicals and reactive oxygen species. Like what everyone has said about evolution of resistance, some organisms have intrinsic resistance to chlorine (cysts and spores are notoriously resistant to chlorine, antibiotics, etc), and others develop resistance through sublethal exposure. In the case of chlorine, certain enzymes are produced that limit the production of free radicals, and thus, prevent damage/death. By the way, giardia cysts and cryptosporidia are pretty resistant to chlorine.

Antibiotic resistance is a huge concern in the medical field. More and more pathogens are gaining resistance to antibiotics. This in itself is a thesis, but I cannot emphasize enough about the proper use of antibiotics. More and more of the "heavy duty" antibiotics are becoming less effective.

aviarome

Many, many thanks to all for clearing that up, it makes sense now.

Let's just hope we can stay ahead of the evolutionary changes.

I did manage to get out today, but not hiking as I'm still weary about my knee. But, I did 18 miles on the bike Thursday and am planning on another 20 tomorrow. I wish we could build a resistance to injuries, now wouldn't that be nice!

Steri-Pen

I started another post on my visit to Hyrdo-Photon, the makers of the Steri-Pen in an effort to have some questions answered. The thread is here

Lawn Sale said:

Many, many thanks to all for clearing that up, it makes sense now.

Let's just hope we can stay ahead of the evolutionary changes.

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They are relentless... You have to keep running just to stay in place.

Doug

Wanderer1 said:

What I really was curious about is, after you've washed/rinsed something and it has dried (Water evaporated) do all the living organisms die once dry or can they still be harmful? Do you need to wash and rinse with safe water?

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Please correct me, someone, if I am wrong.....

Even a disinfectant soap and air drying wont kill all organisms on whatever you are washing. See Lawn Sales comments near the start of the thread in regards to need a certain concentration of a "sterilizing agent". I think for the common man boiling is pretty much considered "the kills all the living organisms" treatment. Soap and water helps clean it and removes whatever degree of stuff, living and non living on said item.

For the record even after this thread, I'm still a treat or not based on personal judgment. If I'm with someone else who treats or is unsure, I treat. Some water is bad, some is not. I personally think poor group/individual hygiene is more of a problem in this regards.

When treating I'm pretty sold on aqua mira, I carry iodine as a backup, but try not to use it as I drink less water due to the taste. I prefer an inline filter to all other filters at this point, except in larger groups or during severe droughts where the reach of a hose and a pump can be handy.

AquaMira

When I do treat water while hiking, I usually use AquaMira or iodine.

However, while scanning though the most recent AMC outdoors, I noticed that undisolved Aquamira drops are extremely toxic.

I wonder exactly how toxic. And what the likelyhood is of getting poisoned from the treatment vs getting sick from the water itself.

LifeStraw?

Someone just sent me these sites. I'd be interested in any input on this. particularly from Lawn Sale. I'm not thinking of going out and buying one, but I'm just wondering how effective this LifeStraw really is, given size of giardia.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4967452.stm
http://www.lifestraw.com/