WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
Results 21 to 37 of 37
  1. #21
    Registered User
    Join Date
    08-04-2015
    Location
    Bobs, Your Uncle
    Posts
    684

    Default

    Chemical treatment requires about 4 hours to make water safe to drink - the filter takes seconds. The filter shouldn't be allowed to freeze, but that's what pockets and sleeping bags are for. I've used our Sawyer filter without incident on several sub-freezing backpacking trips down to 10 degrees F.

    Boiled water I believe is safe to drink immediately after boiling.

    Skip the Sawyer mini and get a Sawyer 3-way or Sawyer Squeeze which will keep you happier. The 3-way is nice because it has built-in fittings for quick-disconnect hoses. I put quick-disconnect adapters in the middle of our bladder lines and refill the bladders without having to take them out of the packs. Bladders aren't great in the winter though - the hoses froze up in our last trip and one of the plastic quick disconnects ended up cracking from the expanding ice inside. I hear you can blow air back up the hose after you take a drink to prevent this sort of thing, but I'll just use a titanium water bottle next time I'm out in the winter.

  2. #22
    GA-ME 2011
    Join Date
    03-17-2007
    Location
    Baltimore, MD
    Age
    66
    Posts
    3,069
    Images
    9

    Default

    Per instructions:
    Shake or stir and let stand for 15 more minutes. If water is very cold or turbid, let stand for 30 minutes. http://www.aquamira.com/products/aqu...eatment-drops/
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  3. #23
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-28-2015
    Location
    Spring, Texas
    Age
    69
    Posts
    960

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Don H View Post
    Per instructions:
    Shake or stir and let stand for 15 more minutes. If water is very cold or turbid, let stand for 30 minutes. http://www.aquamira.com/products/aqu...eatment-drops/
    per thier website:
    "Aquamira Water Treatment unlocks the power of Chlorine Dioxide to kill bacteria and enhance the taste of treated water." 30 minutes will kill bacteria, viruses and giardia but not cryptosporidia. Aquamira doesn't claim to kill crypto, it will in several hours of contact time but Aqua Mira leaves off crypto so they can reduce the contact time to 30 minutes.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  4. #24
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-01-2014
    Location
    Anchorage, AK
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,500

    Default

    If I were hauling large amounts of water for desert hiking like I might on the southern California PCT, AM would be a great solution because it is minimum effort and the water is having to be hauled anyway. But, in most of my hiking, I like drinking at the water source and carrying very little between sources. Arriving at the water source, and then having to treat and carry the freshly acquired water another 30 minutes before I drink it is just too much for me when there are other alternatives. So, although I have used AM in the past, I have quit doing so in exchange for either a steripen or sawyer filter.
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  5. #25
    GA-ME 2011
    Join Date
    03-17-2007
    Location
    Baltimore, MD
    Age
    66
    Posts
    3,069
    Images
    9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TexasBob View Post
    per thier website:
    "Aquamira Water Treatment unlocks the power of Chlorine Dioxide to kill bacteria and enhance the taste of treated water." 30 minutes will kill bacteria, viruses and giardia but not cryptosporidia. Aquamira doesn't claim to kill crypto, it will in several hours of contact time but Aqua Mira leaves off crypto so they can reduce the contact time to 30 minutes.
    You are absolutely correct Bob, AM doesn't work on Crypto well.

    Filters have their own issues, a cracked ceramic element (as can happen if the unit freezes) will let pathogens through, improper maintenance and cross contamination from tubing or attachments. And depending on the filter element pore size some bacteria can pass through.

    Of course the Steripen has its own issues. I own two pens and have had them malfunction to where they wouldn't do a complete cycle. Drop it and break the light tube and its trash. Then of course there's the issue of batteries.

    Point is no single method is fool proof except maybe boiling. If I could find the perfect system I'd buy it.
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  6. #26

    Join Date
    05-05-2011
    Location
    state of confusion
    Posts
    9,866
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    If you dont understand ClO2, stick with your filter.If you are intertested in facts, theres no shortage of treatment studies published by EPA and military.


    Realize that blanket instructions are failsafe for the average idiot.

    You dont need as much if you have time.
    You dont need as long if you use reccomended concentration
    Crypto isnt a normal problem, or the am users would get sick....which they dont
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 02-12-2016 at 13:26.

  7. #27
    GA-ME 2011
    Join Date
    03-17-2007
    Location
    Baltimore, MD
    Age
    66
    Posts
    3,069
    Images
    9

    Default

    For Aquamira you can use half the dose for double the time, or twice the dose for half the time. I often treated water overnight with half the dose.
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  8. #28
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-28-2015
    Location
    Spring, Texas
    Age
    69
    Posts
    960

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    ....Crypto isnt a normal problem, or the am users would get sick....which they dont
    I am sure you you are correct. One thing I have often wondered is how many people who report they have gotten giardia actually were diagnosed by a doctor with giardia and treated for it or just assumed it was giardia because they got a bad case of diarrhea. Not trying to start an argument or saying people are wrong, just curious.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  9. #29

    Join Date
    05-05-2011
    Location
    state of confusion
    Posts
    9,866
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TexasBob View Post
    I am sure you you are correct. One thing I have often wondered is how many people who report they have gotten giardia actually were diagnosed by a doctor with giardia and treated for it or just assumed it was giardia because they got a bad case of diarrhea. Not trying to start an argument or saying people are wrong, just curious.
    My guess is a significant portion.
    A good part of the US population (5-10%) may carry giardia lamblia and are asymptomatic.

    Even if its caught from others, direct fecal-oral is as probable vector as waterborne. Wash hands, dont handle items others do.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 02-12-2016 at 19:25.

  10. #30

    Default

    I am an AM user here...mainly b/c I hike with small groups and AM does a great job with efficiency...I can treat several liters of water...or even gallons...very quickly. I had a sawyer mini and didn't like the hassle factor even with treating water for 1-2 people. Out west, as soon as I get high enough in elevation I can usually find water sources that require no treatment anyway (water coming out of the ground, nothing above the water source, etc).

    Now...I have been getting aggravated at the little dropper bottles that I use to decant only the amount of AM that I need for the trip...sometimes I'm getting them where they are leaking, so I need to find new dropper bottles. I might even switch to tablets and see how I like those ....even though I know they cost more (but again, I don't do massive amounts of treatment anyway).

  11. #31
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-10-2010
    Location
    Cypress, tx
    Age
    69
    Posts
    402

    Default

    I took a visine-size bottle of bleach last year, thinking I'd use it along with the filter if the water looked questionable. Then I ran out of water at one point and had to filter at Tesnatee Gap. The water source was a drain culvert running under the forest road, and was not even noted as a water source in the guidebook. But I needed water and several other people were filling up, so I applied two drops per liter and waited half an hour before drinking any. It tasted a little funny, but more like the algae in the culvert than the bleach.

    By the time I reached camp, my stomach was turning and I was belching a lot and it sort of burnt coming back up. I was pretty miserable and didn't feel like eating much that night, but I forced myself, thinking it might dilute it. By morning I was fine, but I tossed the bleach at the next opportunity.

    It was plain, unscented Clorox, but I still think they must be putting something else in it these days. Two drops in a liter shouldn't have made me sick like that. I had to get water from a drain culvert one other time (I don't remember where, except that I remember it was in the book as a water source). It tasted a little like algae again, but didn't make me sick. So I'm sure it was the Clorox.

  12. #32
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-08-2015
    Location
    Ontario Canada
    Age
    49
    Posts
    2

    Default

    To treat 1 liter/quart you should use 4 to 6 drops not 2.

    http://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Em...erPurification

  13. #33
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-28-2015
    Location
    Spring, Texas
    Age
    69
    Posts
    960
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  14. #34
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-08-2015
    Location
    Ontario Canada
    Age
    49
    Posts
    2

    Default

    I see that. Huh weird how some say 2 drops per and some say 4. I have always used 4 drops and never had an issue. Granted I live in Northern Ontario and most water sources are probably safe without any treatment.

  15. #35
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-31-2015
    Location
    Millersville, Pennsylvania
    Posts
    10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    My guess is a significant portion.
    A good part of the US population (5-10%) may carry giardia lamblia and are asymptomatic.

    Even if its caught from others, direct fecal-oral is as probable vector as waterborne. Wash hands, dont handle items others do.
    My brother-in-law is a big time fisherman. He got Giardia from clipping off the excess fishing line from his fish hooks with his teeth. It's not a pleasant experience I hear.

  16. #36
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-09-2016
    Location
    Fresno, California
    Posts
    16

    Default

    I never understood using aquamira over a Sawyer filter for 3-season. The Sawyer is so cheap, light, fast, versatile, convenient and available everywhere. No waiting for purification, and it filters out debris. I feel the same about life straw and steripen... why?

    The only exceptions i can think of are virus protection and freezing, both of which are typically moot for 3-season use here in the US. Gram counting also seems a bad excuse because, as mentioned above, youre carrying undrinkable water for an hour.

    Not trying to be argumentative, what am i missing? Is it the Skurka stamp of approval that people flock too? ;-)

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

  17. #37
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-03-2012
    Location
    Dallas, Texas
    Posts
    34

    Default

    Many users of the sawyer mini are going back to the sawyer squeeze. I say use both ; ).

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
++ New Posts ++

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •