Anybody not religiously purifying their water?

[couesbitten]

The shallower the water, the clearer/cleaner it looks, so as a 16 year old, moving sprinkler lines in an alfalfa field, I drank GALLONS of Yakima river irrigation water that was draining out of the pipes, never once got sick. 30+ years later, I'm hit and miss on filtering water while in the back country, but I've no fear drinking the water. I agree with what others above have said about hygiene, I think it's probably a bigger component than anything floating around in my water.

 

[jmez]

I always filter mine. Had a client about 15 years ago die from complications of giardia.

 

[oldgoat]

I will admit, it fairly regularly crosses my mind that all the times I went swimming in the lakes, stock ponds, stock tanks, and rivers in West Texas and Kansas growing up, I never once got sick, never purposely drank the water, but I know quite a bit of it had to be consumed!

 

[Nomad]

I think the lag time from ingestion to real consequences is 7-14 days for Giardia... so if you have to drink unfiltered, you're probably gonna be sick on the trip back home or at home.

Having said that, I've always used a sawyer filter and recently switched to a mini after mine froze up solid 2 seasons ago when the weather turned cold along with 4 inches of snow during archery season in sw Colorado. Cheap insurance, I figure.

 

[oldgoat]

I will admit, it fairly regularly crosses my mind that all the times I went swimming in the lakes, stock ponds, stock tanks, and rivers in West Texas and Kansas growing up, I never once got sick, never purposely drank the water, but I know quite a bit of it had to be consumed!

I go hunting several times a season from 1 day to a weekish, that getting sick a week later ain't gonna cut it either, emergencies are another thing!

 

[rayporter]

after talking to 2 guys that have had 'the fever' I have no desire to find out the hard way.

 

[topher89]

Always filter and treat.

Its like not wearing a seat belt on the highway, everything is cool until its not. And once its not cool, it is really not cool.

Why risk getting sick when it takes so little time and effort to treat the water?

 

[WV Mountaineer]

I have never filtered it here in the mountains of WV. I am particular about where I get it but, I don't do it here. Now, out west I will as I am not nearly as familiar with the sources of water out there.

 

[couesbitten]

An interesting read regarding this subject.

http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(00)90102-4/pdf

 

[Phaseolus]

I got giardiasis when I was 18 in 1978. It took the Doc a couple of weeks to figure it out. The treatment then was a chemical that would kill the cysts but not the adults so you had to outlive the adults. The chemicals they have now are much better and quicker. I lost 20 pounds I couldn’t afford to loose and was afraid to fart without sitting on the throne for a couple of months. I most likely got it on a backpacking trip in RMNP. I filter my water now.

 

[ptarmigan]

I never filtered water while growing up in Maine. Here in Alaska there's been times when I haven't, but I usually do. I always filter water for my family though. I've always wondered if I didn't get giardia by luck or if some people have a natural immunity to it. A friend of mine got it from water that was splashed up into his face on a canoe trip we were on. I'm sure I got it in me too as we were having a bit of a paddle war. Who knows I guess.

 

[.204smokechaser]

It only took me one time to realize I needed to filter. Giardia isn't fun.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

I have never filtered it here in the mountains of WV. I am particular about where I get it but, I don't do it here. Now, out west I will as I am not nearly as familiar with the sources of water out there.

same here,

and as I am sure you (and me) know, there are tons of people here that drink from springs right out of the hillsides too all the time

 

[leprechaun]

I've spent a lot of time in the woods and drank a lot of water, both filtered and unfiltered, from natural sources. The last time I didn't filter I got so sick I couldn't summon the strength to put my sleeping bag away in my pack. I always filter my water since that.

You still hear of old timers drinking from streams filled with cow shit. Your body can adapt to some amazing things, but who wants to experience that when you are out for a once a year hunting opportunity?

 

[michaelc10]

Always filter for me , not worth the risk in my opinion

 

[Beendare]

I don't purify all of my water....over 3 decades never been sick

I have different criteria...works for me. Heck there is a spring coming out of the mtn in Yosemite right at the beginning of the main trial to Half Dome/Vernal/ Nevada falls that we have been drinking from for over 40 years.....3,000' of granite is a pretty good purifier.

 

[3forks]

No one in my circles is adequately or properly credentialed to religiously purify water, but I went to catholic high school which featured an exclusively clerrgical administration and teachers. All monks from the monastery that founded the school and a couple bussed in nuns- and they could get it done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha. I went to Catholic grade school until The 6th grade and quit going to church as soon as my Mom stopped making me go... Probably would have kept going if I knew that learning the purify water was something they would teach us later.

 

[Ross]

I played this game last year on my last shed hunt on a very hot day. Had always purified and let’s just say it cost me two vaca days and a trip to get meds after two days of hell. It started within 24 hrs and only wish giardia on my worst enemy save yourself the fun and purify

 

[Violent Hippie]

I've had giardia twice . No bueno. I'll pass on the cramping black diarrhea . Its so easy to at least treat water with pills . Many other convenient options also available. Not worth the risk and whats the rush ?

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I ran outta water on a grueling Oregon hunt once and refilled my hydration bladder with creek water? Heh heh…don’t do this. My stomach shut down for two days and my plumbing turned into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It took me awhile to figure out what was wrong with me but eventually concluded that zoas from the creek were multiplying inside me. Knowing a little bit about commercial food manufacturing and how to kill microscopic organisms, I turned to pH and began consuming hot picante sauce and Tabasco in an effort to raise the pH levels in my stomach and fry the dirty little swimmers. Don’t ask me to explain the science, I can’t but the next day I was brand new. Now I always remember to pack the Katadyne Hiker Pro water filter.