[philmont] Micro Pur Contact Time

I'll going to respectfully disagree Dan, water management, including
purification is a required skill at the ranch. I'll agree that water
purifiers or filters are a personal preference/luxury item, but suggest that
one per crew is reasonable.

Most trail camps and several staff camps do not have purified water. Your
starting camp often lacks purified water as well as a learning opportunity.

Philmont's water purification protocol, like most other protocols at the
ranch are designed for Philmont, the instructions on the Micropur package
are designed to avoid litigation and apply to the world, or at least North
America. Treatment times are a result of several factors, water temp being
one, what needs to be treated another. As others have posted Katadyn
indicates that all but cysts are treatable in less than 30 minutes. Since
philmont does extensive water quality testing, as does the state of New
Mexico, they know what they are up against and there are, as of 2006, no
cysts in the water at the ranch. When you get your supply of MicroPur at
Camping Services, you will get a nice note from Mark Anderson explaining the
Philmont protocol, last year 30 minutes was the rule, this year it may be
different ... or not ... point is you will know, independent of what the
package or wikapedia or the chemist next door says, what you need to do to
make your water safe given the conditions at the ranch.

In addition, the Scout Motto applies ... in 2004 a staff camp that was
supposed to have purified water had instead a broken purifier, this after
the climb over Phillips so we were near dry ... in this case a pump made
about an hour';s difference as to when we had dinner since in 2004 it was
polar pure, not micro pur, which required a much greater prep & contact
time. In 2006 we had several camps, staffed and unstaffed, without pure
water and several day long hikes with no opportunities for pure water other
than the end points ... so I believe that dealing with micopur is a skill
that each crew member must be comfortable with.

As you make trek selections, and get confirmations begin to figure out where
the water is ... use tools like PhilSearch, and get the detail maps from
TOTT early. When you get to the ranch they will show you the water board in
logistics to give you a sense of the water situation. Even then the
situation will change after you have left base camp. 2007 is shaping up to
be fairly wet a blessing for both the water supply and wildlife issues.

YIS
Jim
HA ASM Troop 6
HA Chair Chester County Council
www.troop6bsa.org?cmd=philmont
PSR '74(16) '04(4) '06(26)
IWTGBTP
www.troop6bsa.org?cmd=philsearch
  -----Original Message-----
  From: philmont@troop47.com [mailto:philmont@troop47.com]On Behalf Of
Daniel Preston
  Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:55 AM
  To: philmont List Member
  Subject: [philmont] Micro Pur Contact Time

  There are so many sources of purified water now at Philmont that you will
rarely need the Micro Pur. I think our ranger told us to wait 30 minutes but
as others have posted, there are websites with definitive information
depending upon water temperature. Leave the water filters at home - they are
way too heavy to justify using a couple of times in a ten day trek.

  Dan Preston
  On Jan 29, 2007, at 11:30 PM, JC Lewis wrote:

    Okay, everyone. What’s the real deal about contact time for the Micro
Pur water purification tablets after they’ve done their Alka Seltzer
imitation and dissolved? The flyer in the package says 4 hours; and I know
they didn’t write that to satisfy their legal staff (at least, I hope not).
However, that really seems to be way too long and totally impractical in the
wilderness.

    A few years ago, soon after MSR put the product into the non-military
market, I was taught to use them by some very experienced adult hikers who
said the usual 20-30 minutes was fine, depending on how cold the water was.
So, that’s what I did. Our Ranger in 2006, said an hour is what they were
taught in Ranger training, but also thought 30 minutes was probably enough
in a pinch. I don’t know ANYONE, in Scouting or out, who holds to the 4
hours requested by the manufacturer.

    Given the particular chemical being used, sodium chloride, I think, is
there a chemist or water purification expert amongst us out there who knows
if less than 4 hours for these things is okay, and, if so, why? If the 4
hours is gospel, why?

    (FYI for the lurkers and first-time Advisors: Micro Pur by MSR is the
only water treatment method Philmont issues. They don’t use the iodine
Polar Pure bottles any more. You don’t have to use the Micro Pur so long as
you know to treat the water somehow. Some crews bring just filters, like
the Katadyn Hiker, and don’t chemical-ize at all. Many crews, however, do a
combination of the two methods.)

    Jerry Lewis
    2007 611-I-2
    Troop 303, McKinney TX

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  Dan Preston
  Preston Associates Architects

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cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Tue Jan 30 08:42:46 2007