Newbie Question re Water

[Tim Hollingworth]

Newbie question so bear with me…

My primary concern being cross contamination, would anyone care to lend advice on what the generally accepted best practices are surrounding getting water out of the source, purified and into the container in which it will be carried?

The disclaimer is that for personal reasons and coming from a cycling and running background, I like to hydrate early and hydrate often. Hydration bladders and bite valves suite my style. I would be willing to consider reasonable alternatives but my focus here is not to start a discussion of specific gear but of technique in general.

So in short, how do you get the water from the pond, stream or dripping crack in the rock, get it filtered if needed, get it purified and then get it into the container, all without contaminating your hands, your other gear or the opening of the container from which you will drink?

Any expertise would be greatly appreciated.

-Tim-

[Tim Hollingworth]

Sorry… just saw the recent thread re filling a platypus. It did shed some light.

-Tim-

[Ashley Brown]

You needn't worry about "cross-contamination". A few drops of water on your hands, your gear, or container opening will not make you ill unless the water is almost pure sewage. If you check back through the archives you'll see a ton of threads on filtering and purification (including some recently).

[Unknown abc]

Tom, the only thing you should worry about is getting some unfiltered water into your hydration bladder. I am a particular fan of hydration systems myself and you don't have to worry about any cross contamination, even with a thin plastic rubber bag. As long as you are aware of what you're doing while filtering your water, nothing bad should happen. But as a saftey measure, I use a little Purrel or Germ-x on my hands before heading to the lake or river with my Camelbak.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Tim

> So in short, how do you get the water from the pond, stream … without contaminating
> your hands, your other gear or the opening of the container from which you will drink?

With a cup.
Basically, you are worrying FAR too much. A few drops of most anything (reasonable) are not going to hurt you.

Cheers

[Paul Tree]

Pump directly into your platy via your drink tube.
Saves weight of one of the pump hoses.
Suck out any air first.

[Tim Hollingworth]

Sweet!

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