Water, Water Everywhere... My Backcountry Water Treatment Dissertation

 

"Water, water everywhere / Nor any drop to drink" - an oft quoted excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, expresses the desperation of a ship's crew adrift at sea, surrounded by salt water but out of clean drinking water, and without a breeze to blow them to land.  The poem is much deeper and darker than that, but the quote comes to my mind when I think about drinking water during backpacking.

This will probably be my most controversial post to date - simply because people are generally passionate in believing that whatever method they've chosen is the best and everyone else who does something differently is loco.  I will describe to you how I gather and treat water in the backcountry currently, as well as methods I've used and discarded in the past.  It's really easy to argue about water treatment methods, which ones work, which are the best, etc.  Everyone has their own preference, this post is about mine.

Don't Listen to Me

Seriously.  I will not be liable for someone getting sick or worse out there because they read some BS on the internet.  Everything you read online is a lie, won't work, and will probably kill you.  If you want to know the right thing to do go take a wilderness survival course or a NOLS course or something from some accredited, licensed, and insured institution.  Don't take random advice from random strangers on random websites.

A Quick Primer

There are four primary kinds of yuckies that most backcountry travelers (in the western world, at least) are concerned with:

1. Bacteria
2. Viruses
3. Cryptosporidium (aka "Uncle Crypto")
4. Giardia (aka "The Big G")

In general, there are 5 main ways people in the backcountry deal with drinking water:

1. Boiling - this is the safest and most effective.  It's also the most impractical for most situations, and can require a lot of energy (fuel) to pull off.  Sometimes this is the only option, but for me it's a rare occasion when I decide to boil.
2. Filtration - There are plenty of commercial filters available that basically force your drinking water through microscopic little holes ("pores"), catching the nasties but letting the good water go through.  These are generally not good at catching many types of bacteria, and ineffective against viruses which are so small they just cruise through the pores alongside the water.
3. Chemical treatment - You can buy many different chemical treatments for water - primarily iodine-based solutions and chlorine-based solutions.  The iodine ones taste nasty, the chlorine ones make your water taste like city water.  These are great at killing the bacteria and viruses, but less effective at the big nasty bugs (Uncle Crypto and The Big G). 
4. UV Light - Steripen is probably the best known offering in this category.  Essentially, UV light is emitted through the water, which messes up the DNA in the cells of the nasties and precludes them from reproducing.  That means that they eventually die off and do no harm.  While it works for all kinds of yuckies, it also requires relatively clear water and batteries, and doesn't remove any "chunks," so you'll need to pre-filter the water with something.
5. Do nothing - Some people do nothing and just go for it, hoping for the best.  These are the same people who don't wear seatbelts and don't believe in condoms but do believe in aliens and Bigfoot.

Big Filters...

Like most backpackers I know, I started off as a kid, playing in the woods.  Back in those days we just drank water from the creek while we were out looking for Bigfoot tracks (see # 4, above).  No harm, no foul.  When I got older and "wiser" I did my duty and bought a water filter to take with me on backpacking trips (along with about 1000 pounds of other random gear).  That filter was the Hiker model made by PUR at the time.  You might have a PUR water filter on your kitchen sink or a PUR water pitcher in your fridge today, but at one point in history they also had an outdoor products division which was later bought (in 2001) by the Katadyn Group in Switzerland.

My Old-School PUR Hiker Water Filter

I still have my PUR Hiker water filter, which is dimensionally equivalent to the Katadyn Hiker filter that you can buy today.  I know this because I have, in recent times, bought replacement filters designed for Katadyn Hiker models and installed them without issue into my old filter.  That thing still works great, pumps water fast and easy, includes the accessories to attach to a large-mouth water bottle (like a Nalgene) or a small mouth water bottle (like a standard convenience store water bottle). 

To me, this is the water filter equivalent of the MSR Whisperlite stove.  It's the one you'd tell a friend to buy if they asked what they should buy.  It's basically fool-proof, lasts forever, is moderately priced, and just works.  There are better options, and there are lighter options.  But if I was only allowed to have one thing for backcountry water treatment today, I'd probably pick this one. 

For a few reasons, I don't really use this water filter any more.  In the winter, it freezes easily.  In the summer, I just consider it too large and too heavy for my personal needs.  The exception is large group trips.  On large group trips, I'll typically offer this up as a piece of group gear to be shared among all (assuming, that is, that I remembered to buy a new filter cartridge after I destroyed the previous one pumping frozen water in the winter).  Because it's basically fool-proof, it's a good option for group settings.

Small Filters...

So I went seeking.  I was looking for something much lighter.  I ended up buying a Sawyer water filter that could be used as an inline filter with a hydration pack or as a gravity filter between two bags.  I thought that, in group situations, the gravity filter option would be great.  In reality it kind of sucked.  First, the water source that was convenient on my first night out with it was so shallow that it was nearly impossible to collect dirty water by submerging the raw-water bag into the tiny trickle that we found (we needed that pump).  Next, it was really slow - no way we could gravity filter enough for all of our dinners, breakfasts, and an extra bottle to have on hand during the night, plus a refill before setting out in the morning.  Luckily my buddy had a backup pump. 

As an inline filter, the Sawyer worked fine, but I still found it hard to submerge and fill a bladder in skinny summertime creeks.  A hard-sided bottle would be easier, but then I would be carrying a bottle and a bladder, which starts to look like a lot of overhead to save a few ounces in a filter. 

The nice thing about this little Sawyer is that it's really small and relatively light.  I haven't tried it in freezing temperatures, so I can't say whether it would work or not.  I suspect that it would freeze just like a larger filter, but since it's so small it would be much easier to keep inside a jacket or something - that would at least give it a chance.  However, in the winter I also don't use a hydration bladder since the water in the hose freezes (even if you blow it back out every time, eventually it gets plugged).



My Aquamira Frontier Pro

At some point along the way I also bought a little filter from Aquamira called the Frontier Pro.  This one is also set up as a filter that's inline with your water bladder - it has a hose connection on one side and a bite valve on the other.  It worked reasonably well enough, but I didn't like having the filter swinging around while I was hiking.  Even if I tied it down to my backpack strap I didn't like drinking from it - it was just too big for me.  Plus, it had the same issues with gathering dirty water, freezing, you name it.

No Filters...

Next I went to Potable Aqua tablets.  I figured these were even lighter and easy to carry around.  It was also this step along the way where I switched from mechanical filtration to chemical treatment.  That means that I went from being more susceptible to bacteria and viruses to being at risk for The Big G and Uncle Crypto.  These little tablets are pretty easy to use - you just scoop up a liter of water and drop one in.  Then you wait 30 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the water temperature, how dirty it is, and how dead you want the little bugs to be. 


Potable Aqua Tablets
(Yes, the packages look like condoms for mice)

Because I generally hike where the water is relatively clean and flowing, I tended to lean towards the 30 minute time rather than the 4 hour time (except at night, where I'd fill up several liters before going to bed - one for breakfast and another one or two to start my day).  It's not terribly inconvenient, you just have to plan to stop for water before you need it.  In other words, I'd plan to stop when I had a little water left in one container and fill an empty bladder or bottle and treat that.  In this way I'd kind of leap-frog throughout the day, filling and treating one container while I drank from the other.

These and other similar tablets work by reacting with the water to generate chlorine dioxide, a chemical compound known to kill nasties in the water.  It's similar (or, depending on where you live, identical) to the water disinfectant used in many municipal water treatment plants.  It's important to note, however, that municipal water is often also filtered before being disinfected.

You can also get a liquid version from a variety of sources.  This generally requires the user to mix together two parts to make a solution which is then added to your untreated water.  The wait time is a little different, but honestly I don't know why someone would opt for this method over the tablets.  Who wants to be mixing chemicals out on the trail?

After a few years of using the little tablets for water treatment (a few of which I still keep in my first aid kit, by the way - they're just too light and convenient not to include), I was browsing the water treatment section at my local outfitter, and came across the Sweetwater system from MSR.  This system includes a filter and a bottle of solution, the idea being that you filter your water to take out big nasties, then add the solution to kill the little guys that slip through the filter.  Closer inspection revealed that the chemical composition of this "solution" was pretty much nothing more than household bleach.  Interesting...

After a little research, I learned that the CDC actually recommends household bleach (2 drops per L) to disinfect water in an emergency situation.  It's not 100% effective against Uncle Crypto, but kills pretty much everything else, after a period of time similar to the tablets I mentioned above.  So, I switched to bleach for my backcountry water treatment, and that's what I use to this day.   

A Note about Risk

The thing about using bleach, though, is that you have to understand what you're doing, and have an idea of where the water you're treating is coming from.  Because it doesn't really effect cysts like Uncle Crypto, I try to make sure that the water isn't totally shitty (literally and figuratively).  The best stuff is rapidly flowing and clear, bonus points if I'm close to the source or if I know that it's not running through farms or industrial parks before it gets to the spot from where I'm about to drink. 



My Current Water Treatment Kit -
Bleach and Coffee Filters

I try to use a coffee filter or something like that to get bigger chunks out.  Coffee filters won't catch anything on my list above, but it does keep the leaves, crayfish, and sharks out of your water bottle, along with most of the sediment that makes the water look dirty or smell funny.

While the standard CDC dose is 2 drops per liter, I will use between 2 and 4 drops, depending on how suspect my source is.  I also try to smell the water after it's been treated for about 30 minutes.  If it doesn't smell faintly of chlorine, then I assume that all of the free chlorine has been converted to something else (i.e. it's doing it's job) and I'll add another drop.  I want my water to be just slightly chlorine smelling before I drink it. 

Another trick is to remember the lip of the bottle you're using.  You put your mouth there, and it was just in nasty water.  So I use some clean water to rinse it off before I put my lips on it. 

Here's something else to remember: household bleach has a shelf life.  I try to use fresh bleach - the stuff is really cheap, so buy yourself a new bottle and relegate the old bottle to making your whites whiter.  Also be sure to buy just plain old bleach, not color-safe bleach or scented bleach or anything like that.

This is not for long-term or everyday use, and too much chlorine in your water can definitely ruin your day in the short term, and make you very sick in the long term (there are plenty of studies both for and against disinfection by chlorination.  So why do I use this particular method?  (1) it's cheap, (2) it's lightweight, and (3) it's easy.  I also understand that I can't just dump bleach into any old water and make it good to drink.  Knowledge and experience are your friends.

That One Time my Buddy Got Sick

No water treatment article would be complete without a story about that one time my buddy got sick.  We were hiking on the Appalachian Trail through the Mid-Atlantic states for a long weekend.  We used the same water filter and drank from the same water sources.  He got a pretty bad fever and case of the trots (thankfully on the last day of the trip).  I was just fine.  Like most young males, he healed naturally and never went to the doctor, so we don't really know what was wrong.  Our initial suspicion was bad water - Giardia or something, but given the circumstances I should have also gotten ill.  While we'll never really know, my current theory is fecal contamination - I think he forgot to wash his hands before he ate (or maybe I forgot to wash my hands and then he shared my trail mix). 

So there you have it, folks.  A 2,500 word essay on water that ends with a reminder to wash your hands after you poop.  And before you eat.  Oh, and don't share trail mix or anything else people stick their hands in.

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