[Philmont]: Considerations for Water Purification

For the benefit of those new to treating and purifying their water in the
back-country, I would like to open up a line of discussion about dealing
with man made chemicals and other waste that might exist in your untreated
water source. We have had substantial discussion on the use of MicroPur or
Polar Pure to kill natural water borne pathogens. What hasn't been
discussed is water purification for man made chemicals that comes from
farming, mining, industry and animal waste that are commonly found in water
supplies.
      Much of our country’s water supplies are currently contaminated with
man made chemicals. Several areas of Philmont were mined and Philmont is a
working ranch. Do we know if somebody didn't accidentally spill some
chemicals up stream or a recent rain cause some chemicals to be introduced
to what was normally a fairly clean water source? What about animal waste
that is either dumped directly into or is washed into our untreated water
sources?
      Some of us may see man made chemicals as low risk at Philmont and are
satisfied with using the MicroPur, Polar Pure or boiling water as methods
to kill water borne pathogens. The three above methods do not eliminate
man made chemicals like herbicides and pesticides or animal waste.
      There will be people who will read this email and say "I have not
heard of anyone getting sick from drinking Philmont water from natural
sources". The quality of Philmont's water is not the issue. The issue for
us to consider is how do we ensure everything within our control has been
done to create the safest possible drinking water in an unknown
environment? The answer should be processing your drinking and cooking
water through a purifier and then hitting your drinking water with either
MicroPur or Polar Pure to address any processing mistakes that humans do
make. If water run through a purifier is boiled, there is no need to hit
it with MicroPur or Polar Pure. Mistakes in water treatment could be known
in a couple of days or six or more weeks later.
      There are many opinions on water treatment and people weigh risks
differently. Man made chemicals have been blamed for many medical problems
and birth defects. Since it cannot be guaranteed that a bucket of water
drawn from a creek, spring, pond or other natural sources is free of man
made chemicals or animal waste, my Crew will use a combination of a water
purifier and MicroPur or Polar Pure or boiling to treat our natural water
sources as effectively as we can when on any trail. There are too many
problems with today’s drinking water across the country to not at least
consider adding a water purifier to our water treatment process.
      I would like to share a point made from Joe, another Scouter in my
Troop. Joe has been to Philmont three times and has done his share of
backpacking over the years in the Great Lakes area. He passed this
anecdote along to my group in 2001 when we were preparing for my first
Philmont adventure: "A number of years ago I took out a group at Napowan
for the first class 5 mile hike. We started very early and stopped for
breakfast at an old cemetery. The boys were wondering why so many of the
graves were those of children. How quick we forget the lessons of the past
and fail to appreciate what modern technology and medicine have given us."
Closing this email with Joe's point is my way of highlighting the
seriousness of how we treat the water while on the trail facing the unknown
and what we teach our Scouts.


YIS,

Strother Hollingsworth
Philmont 01, Going 05 BWCA 02, 03
Troop 297
Hoffman Estates, IL

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Received on Thu May 12 17:01:18 2005