Water Filters or Boiling? Which do you prefer?

[yellowcanoe]

I have to say, I was excited when this topic came up. The info has been helpful.

I have a sort of auxiliary question for those who have used the tablet type stuff: How effective are they? I'm thinking compact enough to be a backup/fit in the ditch bag, not for general use.

I've done trips with just tablets but I don't often plan four hours ahead which is necessary to kill crypto

 

[Rippy]

I remember there was a water engineer over on Myccr who claimed that filtering was a waste of time, because of all the cross contamination issues. He maintained that there was no way for the filtered water to remain unblemished because so many parts touched each other. He thought that most incidents of beaver fever on group canoe trips probably came from improper hand washing(trace amounts of fecal content) and food preparation.

I read the post you are mentioning back then but do not remember the details. This morning while sitting on the throne I had this thought. If I get beaver fever from touching my own poo, I must all ready have it to began with.

I too like the taste of ceramic filtered water.

I boil my cooking water. I solo trip and eat right out of the pot. I don't wash the pot with soap each time,I just rinse it and my spoon out in the lake and sterilize it and my spoon next time I boil lake water. I guess I'm lazy when it comes to dish washing. Dave

 

[yellowcanoe]

It's true if you get sick on a short trip you probably did yourself in. Giardia takes a while
And I wonder why we don't get sick from our lake which has a few beaver lodges

 

[wgiles]

Most protozoans, like Cryptosporidium and Giardia, form cysts, which are resistant to chemical disinfectants. Fortunately, these cysts are large enough that they are easily filtered out of the water. They are also fairly easy to kill with UltraViolet radiation. Boiling is also very effective against them. Cysts typically have a diameter larger then two microns and most filters will remove particulates above 0.2 microns. One thing to bear in mind is that the cysts are not killed by the filter and would be alive in the backwash from cleaning the filter. Disinfecting the filter periodically, according to the manufacturer's directions, would probably be a good idea. Bleach or Chlorine Dioxide should be good disinfectants, but would need to remain in the filter long enough to kill the cysts (like overnight). Water clarity is important and cloudy or stained water is more likely to contain microorganisms than clear water, but clarity alone is not enough. True spring water should be free of microorganisms, but, like drinking fountains, can often be contaminated at the surface. Almost all water samples taken at drinking water fountains or unsterilized taps will test positive for bacteria. Proper hygiene is imperative when handling untreated water. Fortunately, detergent and water, with drying, is usually enough.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I wonder if one builds immunity to micro organisms. I've been on well water for the last 50 years
We've had it tested and as it runs high in uranium have a reverse osmosis filter on one tap
But no other treatment. And we do have a bit of e coli as we have beavers deer and moose. The state lab doesn't test on giardia

 

[Iskweo]

Like YC, I am ok with drinking off the top layer of the lake in open water. The whole UV ray thing. We do use a Katadyn gravity system and if you swap out the filter once a year it is generally ok. I noticed that it worked better in the clear water in northern Ontario than in the tea stained water around here. Tasted better too.
I am pretty diligent about water and hygene. I make sure that I have plenty for travel days so that I dont get dehydrated and start gulping down untreated H2O. Mostly because it can cause my fragile stomach to rebel and then I am having to deal with health issues in the bush. Never fun. I make sure that I wash up after meals too, partly to prevent stomach issues and partly to keep a clean site...no left over food laying about. Soap and warm water.

I do mostly use lake water to cook with and make coffee but that is boiled so I am ok with that process. I occasionally harvest rain water too, mostly just for practice, but it is preferable to any of the ground water we have around here too.

Christy

 

[Seeker]

I don't drink ANY "wild" water locally except in one particular area (Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area) after it's been raining, and I'm sure it's mostly rain water. That I'll treat with iodine (Polar Pure). For the rest of my trips in/around Louisiana, I carry it all in a 5 gallon container. If I do the Neches someday (about 40 miles west, in TX) I might treat it, but as long as I have the canoe, I prefer to draw it from the tap. There is just too much ag runoff here in this part of the country (bottom of the Mississippi watershed), the local loggers think nothing of spilling a 5-gallon bucket of hydraulic oil on the ground and kicking dirt over it to avoid cleaning it up, and lord only knows what else has been dumped over the years at Fort Polk (2 major streams originate there).

In the Smokies and Adirondacks, I just treat it all with iodine for drinking, or boil it as part of a meal (I'm lazy... dehydrated meals are about all I do.) Boiling is a major pain... my biggest pot is about 2 qts/1.9l, and I go through a bit more than that in a day. Water is also heavy, so I don't like to carry more than 2 qts, especially when backpacking. I usually have one brewing and one to drink from.

I don't filter... tried it backpacking for a couple years, but the filter alone is a pound... Tried Aqua Mira drops, but the mixing is inconvenient. Iodine is a bit faster, stupid-simple, and takes no longer. So once I tried Polar Pure, I never looked back. You can't get it anymore, but they still sell the jar (with the insert to keep the crystals from falling out). You can buy the crystals ("prilled iodine") through eBay or a company in Canada called RAEMS.

 

[yknpdlr]

PolarPure is in fact back on the market (even though the website says it is not, the page has not been updated). I recently bought another bottle from Amazon. It was unavailable, thanks to the DEA, for about 4 years, but is now back on the approved list. I think they will only allow you to purchase a limited number now (the DEA suspected it was being used for drug manufacture). PolarPure is what I have used for at least 20 years without any issue (other than the taste, which you get used to ). One small bottle never outdates and lasts for up to 2000 liters.

 

[Odyssey]

My Katadyn gravity filter packed in on day 2 of our much anticipated trip. I didn't anticipate my trusty bag filter gagging on fairly clean lake water. My plan B had been to boil. Thanks to the untiring generosity of Mihun and Iskweo, they kept us supplied. I'm seriously considering bringing along a pump as a back up from now on. Standing on the shore of a reedy loon crapty river doesn't inspire confidence in dipping a pail for boiling/rehydrating dinner.

 

[snapper]

I'm like a lot of folks who have already chimed in and use boiling when cooking and Polar Pure, iodine tabs or Aqua Mira for drinking water. Typically I'll carry 2, one quart water bottles so I can drink from one while the other one is "treating" for future use. I might consider a filter for solo trips, I'm really looking into the Sawyer Squeeze set-up, but for groups (which is what I'm typically doing) I find that filters tend to clog more quickly. I'm sure it's all part of our student's learning curve but after spending one trip constantly clearing the filter, I only use them now on school trips when I have a student who has iodine allergies.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Guest]

My Katadyn gravity filter packed in on day 2 of our much anticipated trip. I'm seriously considering bringing along a pump as a back up from now on. Standing on the shore of a reedy loon crapty river doesn't inspire confidence in dipping a pail for boiling/rehydrating dinner.

On trips where weight is not an issue (read 90 percent of what I paddle) I bring a back up filter, usually a pump filter as well as a gravity filter, giving me different strokes for different sources.

And a couple of weightless coffee filters to use as pre-filters. And a brown bottle of saturated iodine crystals with an eye dropper cap as a back up to the back up.

That is admittedly a belt, suspenders and elastic waist band approach, but I have run short of potable water on four occasions (three desert, one tidal) and never want to go there again.

I rarely use boiled water, even for simple meal rehydration. I try to maintain ample filtered water; a couple of canteens and in-camp a dromedary bag, either carried in on tidal trips or filtered and refilled from some source along the way.

Of course many of my preferred paddle places are either tidal, heavily silted or suspect of upstream run off from agriculture or industry, and I’m not keen on using dip and boil water from pig farm or chicken house run off for meal prep. See also any upstream agricultural practices dependant on pesticides or herbicides.

Or antiquated sewage treatment facilities, chemical industry, fish with three eyes and vestigial legs….I am mid-Atlantic megalopolis; those conditions are far too common.

Nice clean lake or river water, where the only hazard is Giardia, is a different story. But even then the recommended boil time can a drain on fuel supplies. I have had Giardia (poor practices on the North Fork Shoshone), and while it is an excellent mal-abortion weight loss program, once was enough.

I can be a water worrier, especially on trips where a good, filterable water source is uncommon. I get anxious about reaching a known source of filterable water when I get down close to just the two canteens. The two big Kleen Kanteens hold 80oz of water, which would see me through a day, but that margin is cutting it close.

Given the choice between another bout of Giardia, growing a third eye or going thirsty I pick none of the above

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

My Katadyn gravity filter packed in on day 2 of our much anticipated trip. I didn't anticipate my trusty bag filter gagging on fairly clean lake water.

The older models of Katadyn GF used the same "paper" filter as the Hiker pump filter. I don't think these ever coped very well with tannins, even in the pump filter and in the gravity bag where they are sat immersed in water for a long stretch they are even more prone to clogging. I think the latest version uses the new "hollow tube" filters, same as they use in dialysis machines I believe, and as used in the Platypus and MSR gravity systems (same cartridge, different label!) as well as the Sawyer system.

I carried a Sawyer mini as a back up on a recent trip and used it with the supplied straw to simply suck water from the lake when my bottle ran low. The mini is so small it could be plugged directly into the tube of a hydration bladder and you could simply drink straight from the bag.

BV

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks Bothwell. I searched around and found that there's a new upgrade filter for the Katadyn gravity system. I'll buy it. It also didn't help I suppose that I scooped water from shore rather than from out in the lake. And last, but not least, after our trip I checked my Hiker Pro (that I'd left at home) and found that I'd switched filters, installing my new one in the pump and the old one (by several years) in the gravity bag. Which means I tripped with the old one, leaving the new one at home. It felt redundant to consider bringing both filter systems on a trip...until the one and only failed. I won't do that again.

 

[southcove]

On a usage note; according to industry testing giant NSF Intl, there is a safety margin for most filters that typically is +20% of original capacity. Those with an indicator of sorts are designed with that margin, those units without typically are 2X gallons claimed! Odd, but someone very close to me who does restaurant water filtration backed it up. Of course mucky water or not using a pre-filter will destroy/alter filtering capacity in any case.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Thanks Bothwell. I searched around and found that there's a new upgrade filter for the Katadyn gravity system. I'll buy it. It also didn't help I suppose that I scooped water from shore rather than from out in the lake. And last, but not least, after our trip I checked my Hiker Pro (that I'd left at home) and found that I'd switched filters, installing my new one in the pump and the old one (by several years) in the gravity bag. Which means I tripped with the old one, leaving the new one at home. It felt redundant to consider bringing both filter systems on a trip...until the one and only failed. I won't do that again.

Looking at the price of the upgrade I would be tempted to just modify your basecamp to accept a Sawyer cartridge- less than $30

I'm sure the manufacturers like to be optimistic with the claimed lifespan of these filters, same as batteries in flashlights!

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks Bothwell. Given that my pump is a bit warped (no idea how that happened), it might be worth it to just change pump/filter systems. I'll check out Sawyer. When the gravity bag worked, it was great. I'd hate to give that up entirely.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bothwell. Given that my pump is a bit warped (no idea how that happened), it might be worth it to just change pump/filter systems. I'll check out Sawyer. When the gravity bag worked, it was great. I'd hate to give that up entirely.

My limited head-to-head (one-trip) experience with the Platypus gravity filter and a Sawyer filter, used in a gravity guise, is that the Sawyer required more frequent cleaning, and that simply backwashing the Platypus was sufficient to restore the flow. That Sawyer was a mini, and water was far from clean and clear.

A DIY pre-filer (coffee filter and whiffle ball or etc) does help immensely in silty or otherwise particulate laden water, and coffee filters are cheap and weightless.

I will put in a word for filtering into a dromedary bag for in camp use. If I am “making” potable water I prefer to keep going and gravity or pump a bagful while I’m at it, and go to that clean source in camp to refill canteens or cook.

A dromedary bag of water, especially a hang-able one with a spigot at the bottom for dispensing ease, is helluva convenience in camp.

http://www.rei.com/product/601650/m...h=&mr:filter=126983314120&lsft=cm_mmc:cse_PLA

And along the way. I don’t dump potable water until the cost/benefit ratio makes sense weight-wise, and even then I start off with full canteens and a sloshing bellyful.

 

[Barry1954!]

Like others here, I use a filter for my drinking water, and boil cooking water. I also take along extra gas or iodine tablets as a back-up to the filter ever since my previous filter experienced a catastrophic failure on day 2 of a 7 day trip. On that trip, we were very fortunate to be able to buy extra gas from Raymond's Store on the Northeast Carry (and also very fortunate that our shuttle service had not yet moved our cars from the Lobster Stream paring access). We were also able to supplement by catching rainwater flowing off of our tarp.

-rs

Gas ?

 

[yknpdlr]

PolarPure, I've used it for 30 years, or boil when a meal calls for hot water.

 

[Crazy Trout Craft (CTC)]

Filter or boil- steripen in a pinch- I enjoy boiling though… peaceful to make a fire and render those little bugs ineffective.