A Survey of Water Hazards and Water Treatment Methods - Part 1

Water in the field is not always safe to drink. We examine some of the problems that can exist, and we survey all lightweight water treatment methods for use against these problems. We also illustrate each method with at least one commercial product, but this is not meant to be a State of the Market survey of products.

Everyone needs to drink water when working. Yes, one can go for days (or weeks in some famous cases) without food, but after a few days without water, you die. However, not all water sources found in the wild are safe (and some at home are a bit questionable too!). So, in Part 1 of this series, we start by discussing what 'stuff' can be found in water sources and whether it is dangerous to you. While this will get a little technical in places, we will try to keep it comprehensible to all.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Abstract
Introduction
Acknowledgements
The Risks - What's in the Water?
Dissolved but harmless materials
Suspended matter
Chemicals
'Bugs and Wogs'
- Viruses
- Bacteria
- Protozoa
- Nematodes, helminths and larger
Is this the End of the Earth?

# WORDS: 5040
# PHOTOS: 17

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Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

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Jul 24, 2012 at 2:53 pm #1292294

Stephanie Jordan
Spectator

@maia
Locale: Rocky Mountains

Companion forum thread to:

A Survey of Water Hazards and Water Treatment Methods – Part 1

Jul 24, 2012 at 3:11 pm #1897248

Ken Thompson
BPL Member

@here
Locale: Right there

More on the subject

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/backcountry_water_quality_technologies_trends_paranoia

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

Jul 24, 2012 at 3:52 pm #1897258

Jerry Adams
BPL Member

@retiredjerry
Locale: Oregon and Washington

Nice article Roger, I'm looking forward to part 2 and 3.

I am surprised there is any more that can be said on the subject : )

Jul 24, 2012 at 6:01 pm #1897303

Will Rietveld
BPL Member

@williwabbit
Locale: Southwest Colorado

Excellent overview Roger, concise and understandable.

One summer I decided to not treat water and instead choose water from the purest sources. That included water running from snowdrifts. Well, I got sick after two consecutive trips. It wasn't Giardia because the symptoms came on soon after I got back and only lasted a day or two. It was early summer and my theory is the meltwater contained a variety of bugs captured in the snow, enough to make one sick. I have since treated my drinking water.

Jul 25, 2012 at 9:55 am #1897452

Kurt Lammers
BPL Member

@smackpacker
Locale: Pacific Northwest

My favorite kind of BPL article, can't wait to read parts 2 & 3. Cheers.

Jul 25, 2012 at 10:54 am #1897469

mitchell Keil
Member

@mkeil
Locale: Surf City

Well done intro to the subject. Can't wait for the follow up articles. Having just experienced LG up close this year, I have a keen interest in the subject and look forward especially to Part III. LG is something one wants to avoid in the future once you have experienced the "fun" that the infestation provides.

Jul 25, 2012 at 11:10 am #1897471

Dean F.
BPL Member

@acrosome
Locale: Back in the Front Range

Necator americanus is my favorite parasite, I must admit. Primarily because it's Linnaean name means "American killer." Heh, heh.

But Ascaris worms scare me more- they can burrow anywhere in your body. They've been found in people's brains, scrota, etc. Ew. (My medical school had an unusually comprehensive parasitology curriculum…)

Jul 25, 2012 at 11:55 am #1897484

David Ure
Member

@familyguy

I saw Prometheus last night. I have decided that I don't like worms.

Jul 25, 2012 at 5:39 pm #1897570

HkNewman
BPL Member

@hknewman
Locale: Western US

Getting water that hasn't passed through agricultural, industrial, or residential areas can lead to carrying your water in many hikes in the desert (hiking along the Verde River in Arizona's Maltazal for example, or the eastern, less visited parts of Big Bend NP in Texas).

Then again all wild water isn't pristine. One hot summer trip, we filtered water out of a creek (not much else was left) and then found a dead elk carcass festering upstream in the same water. Fresh water right out a spring will work for me, though.

Jul 26, 2012 at 3:08 am #1897649

Tim Drescher
BPL Member

@timdcy
Locale: Gore Range

Excellent job at injecting humor into the article! I’m glad to see a very noteworthy and sometimes overlooked topic being discussed here.

This certainly peaks my interest being that my educational and professional background is in the water treatment industry. Sewerage is a word I don’t hear too often. I’d be interested in knowing why you’re so certain the virus you received some years ago was from your local wastewater treatment facility. It sounds as if the same removal limits are not as stringent in Australia as what is handed down from the EPA, to the 50 States, and then to local municipalities. Most of our problems in the states come from non-point sources.

Aug 24, 2012 at 12:44 am #1905560

T N
BPL Member

@tordnado
Locale: Europe

Edit: Sorry about the double post!

Any chance the author or someone else could comment on the http://www.bwtechnologies.com ability to take away potential chemicals from rivers with farmlands and possibly factoires upstreams? I´ve looked at their webpage and the tests but it does not really tell me if it would be useful or not. Where I´m hiking the majority of my hikes I can choose between safe sources such as taps or well but that means carrying 3-5 liters or take water from rivers or creeks with chemicals from farmlands. That is why I am so keen on understanding the potential of the http://www.bwtechnologies.com.

Thanks in advance.

Sep 10, 2012 at 10:10 am #1910865

Buck Nelson
BPL Member

@colter
Locale: Alaska

I've been researching this whole topic a lot recently. One thing I found is that giardias infectious dose is lower than 10 cysts, depite what is repeated in many sources, including some medical literature.

The FDA says one or more cysts may cause disease
Another researcher said There is no biological reason why single cysts of Giardia would not also be infectious.
The source of all the 10+ cyst estimates apparently come from one study from which I show a key chart here.

It's easy to see that the minimum infectious dose is less than 10 cysts.

Giardia is found in the animals mentioned and in most species of wild mammals and many species of birds.

Sep 12, 2012 at 1:21 am #1911497

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

Hi Tim and all

Lengthy delay in answering: we are just back from 2 months walking the Via Alpina Purple route in Europe.

> why you’re so certain the virus you received some years ago was from your local
> wastewater treatment facility.
I subsequently found out that both the very ancient and severely overloaded plant and the river downstream from it were appallingly notorious for this.

But it was not a 'local' wastewater treatment facility, it was the plant for a medium country town. The town council (ie the ratepayers) could see no reason to do anything about it as it would cost them (the ratepayers) lots of money. It was not a problem for them,. Ah, but the river drained into the main water supply dam for Sydney: the State capital, with over 5 million people. However, neither the State Gov't nor Sydney Water could force the town to do anything about it. In the end, the State government had to build a complete replacement plant out of the State budget. I imagine the town council had a party over that.

Politics.
Cheers
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