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The real water treatment deal


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  • #1748762
    Troy Ammons
    BPL Member

    @tammons

    Interesting point.

    #1748765
    BlackHatGuy
    Spectator

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    "Food goes in and p00p goes out and thats about it"

    Wait, are you saying those two things are related?

    Doh! But of course! How did I miss that one!

    #1748777
    Steven McAllister
    BPL Member

    @brooklynkayak

    Locale: Arizona, US

    All this talk about filters and chemicals. UV is the only practical method as it takes care of all the baddies. Boiling is also good, but time consuming.

    Of course you must pre-filter if the water is turbid when using UV, but who is not going to do that anyway. If you don't pre-filter turbid water, you plug up your pump filter. If you don't filter before using chemicals, you slow the process and also the water will be yucky to drink.

    #1748781
    Troy Ammons
    BPL Member

    @tammons

    While looking around I read a few things about UV water treatment that I did not know.

    Talking handheld UV, not commercial.

    It shuts down the organisms reproductive system but does not kill the bug.
    No big deal if it cant reproduce in your system you pass it and its done.

    Giardia and Cryptosporidium is easier to disable than Bacteria.

    Also stated that if the treated water is left in the light that the organisms reproductive systems can regenerate and turn back on, which makes no sense to me, but so be it. Said to keep your UV treated water in the dark or in a lightproof container.

    Still think its safest to filter to .1 then UV or chem the viruses.

    #1748785
    BlackHatGuy
    Spectator

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    "Also stated that if the treated water is left in the light that the organisms reproductive systems can regenerate and turn back on, which makes no sense to me, but so be it. Said to keep your UV treated water in the dark or in a lightproof container."

    Wow, if this is true then I've either been really lucky or didn't really need to treat the water, because I never do this. Where did you read that Troy?

    #1748787
    Steven McAllister
    BPL Member

    @brooklynkayak

    Locale: Arizona, US

    Yes, a biological fact. UV light makes it impossible for organisms to reproduce, but visible light can help repair and stimulate life in damaged cells.

    So yes, keep your treated water in your pack, or at least in the shade.

    #1748791
    Troy Ammons
    BPL Member

    @tammons

    I doubt its going to be an issue unless you store it for a good while.
    Dont know what the timeframe is for regeneration.

    No wonder cavemen life expectancy was 20.
    Its a Wiki article but its got some interesting info in it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification

    #1748803
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    "God just look at the condition of the Ganges river and people bath in it every day"

    They bathe in the only water available to them, but at least they have the good sense to not eat with the hand they clean their butts with. Which is apparently more than we can say for many backpackers.

    #1748814
    Mike Clelland
    Member

    @mikeclelland

    Locale: The Tetons (via Idaho)

    My favorite article EVER on BPL!

    Sipping the Waters: Techniques for Selecting Untreated Backcountry Water for Drinking

    by Michael von Gortler, MD | 2006-Sept

    LINK:
    http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/sipping_water_drinking_untreated_backcountry_water.html

    #1748827
    W I S N E R !
    Spectator

    @xnomanx

    Thank you for that link Mike, never saw that article back in the day.

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