Re: [Philmont]: Water purifiers

Wilderness Medical Society study found that most contamination in pumping water came from the pumpers.

James H. Moss

JHMoss@earthlink.net
303-807-2275

PO Box 16743
Golden CO 80402
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Donald S. Roberts
  To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
  Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 5:15 PM
  Subject: 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 Tue Nov 18 02:52:15 2003