Re: [Philmont]: Polar Pure Water ?

Water purification was one of the items that I made sure received plenty of attention during our shakedown hikes.  We discovered that not all members took water purification (and consumption) as seriously as they should.   The problem was further compounded with the fact that all the crew water containers looked alike.  We also found that the small polar pure bottles were too small handle the purification needs our crews.  Here is how we handled water at Philmont and on our final training hikes.

1) I found that as a minimum, we needed one bottle of polar pure for every two scouts.  Philmont supplied our crews with three bottles of Polar Pure, and we brought three of our own.

2) The water bladders that the troop has used since the 70s have had too many failures to be dependable.  At best they last maybe 5-10 days of camping - between small pinpoint leaks, the spigots filling up with dirt, and even the spigots opening in the packs and leaking.  We took along six Orange juice jugs (96 oz that were cleaned to a point we couldn detect any smells.  Our assumption was to treat these as smellables) to supplement our three 1.5 gallon bladders.

3) Each bottle of Polar Pure was labeled with a number  1-6, as well as all water containers.

4) At each campsite where purification was necessary, the bottles would be lined up and the appropriate number of capfuls added.  If there wasn't enough polar pure to purify jugs 5&6, then there were set aside until the polar pure was recharged.

5) OJ Jug #1 was used to mix our Gatorade/flavored drink mixes. (bear bagged each night)

6) In the morning we would fill up (top off) individual water bottles with the purified water

Very early on in the trek, I discovered 3 scouts were not consuming enough water.  One scout had a Platypus container in his pack (difficult to monitor) and the other two had basic nalgene bottles.  I found that 2 scouts were just over a quart each and one was at 16 oz over an 8 hour period.  This is when I took more responsibility with the purification and distribution of the water.  Sorry, I know it's supposed to be a youth led experience, but too much was at stake with this not to monitor it closely.