RE: [Philmont]: Water purifiers

From: Rsafl61660@aol.com
My question today is: are water filters really necessary? With the
purification tabs being issued, is the extra weight, bulk worth the hassle.
I've heard that usually the water is ok if you can get past the smell and
taste of the iodine.( Not like you have much of a choice) I see they aren't
cheap, and their are so many to choose from, with some filtering out
viruses, some don't Etc............What's the word on this subject?

 In the latest issue (or maybe the last but one) of Backpacker magazine,
they had an article about the contamination of back country water. The
conclusion of that article appeared to be that you were more likely to get
contaminated water from your tap at home than in the backcountry, and that
neither filters nor purification tablets are actually necessary. This
article questioned the studies that initially found such were needed in that
the reported incidents matched the population at large and it was a failure
to account for occurrences outside of backpacking that led to the concept
that backcountry water needed to be treated. The article also cites studies
wherein the levels of giardia and crypto - whatever in back country water
tended to actually be less than in tap water in most places, unless you were
down stream from cattle.

I'm waiting for more test results before I stop purifying, but it sure gives
one pause about what we accept as true. I'm not ready to toss the filter
just yet.

Regards
Don Roberts

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Received on Mon Nov 17 21:52:56 2003