How careful with water?

[Beendare]

Oh man there should be a rule no poop pictures, that was disgusting.


saww,
I carry both the water purification tablets and a pump water filter. I will drink from a spring coming out of a mountain that I know has no chance of being contaminated but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
..

 

[orionsbrother]

I got Giardia from riding my Seadoo on a lake. I didn't drink any of the water but the spray from riding the Seadoo gets all over you. I can only assume that I got a few drops in my mouth. I will say that after having Giardia I am extra careful when filtering my water. No way in hell I want to get sick again. People who have never had it often think its no big deal. I still deal with some long term effects of the Giardia and or the antibotics used to treat it. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Google:

"LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES OF GIARDIASIS"​

Yeah... I experienced the joy of amoebic dysentery in Turkey. I’m not looking to revisit that sort of experience with giardiasis.

Phenomenal for cutting weight...

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I've drunk untreated water from high altitude springs a few times and washed hands/bathed face in more questionable water many times and never contracted any waterborne illnesses. I typically take a "belt and suspenders" approach to my drinking/cooking water and use a filter followed by chlorine dioxide.

 

[Opah]

I have had running stream water, my kids have and we never got sick. of course it was here and then now again.
Always where the water cascaded off of or over something small water fall type thing.
I do carry the life straw with me now, things are far different now then back 35/40 years ago.

 

[WyoKid]

I don't worry about washing my hands when using clear running water but I do make sure they are dry before eating. Same with dishes when using warm but not boiled creek water, I make sure they are dry. But when it comes to drinking water, I use either a Swayer squeeze filter or MSR purification tablets (when day temps are freezing). With cattle and sheep running on most national forest and BLM land, I don't risk it.

 

[AKDoc]

I spend a lot of time each year enjoying extended 1-2 week trips into remote Alaska for hunting and fishing, and I am SUPER careful about water!

I contracted giardia once many years ago from a back-packing trip in the Yukon Territory. I was trying to be careful, pump filter, etc., but I wasn't careful enough somehow...still not sure my error, but I own it.

I definitely don't want to watch a re-run of that bad movie again, so I became adaptively paranoid about water purification since then.

Gravity filters are my preference for extended trips (Katadyn Base-camp...bring an extra filter or two dependent upon the water quality in the area and the length of your trip), and I have an Adventurer Steripen and purification tablets (both as back-ups if the gravity filter fails). I'll use the Steripen if I'm filling water bottles from an originating running ground source or snow melt-offs running down the mountain. I've not used the tablets for years, but they are with me.

 

[4rcgoat]

I tell you what, it's a mistake you'll only make once.....

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good god man!!!! That must have burned the old star fish pretty good!!

 

[EastHumboldt]

But you just had to get a pic !! Actually ... it is worth more than a thousand words.

 

[EastHumboldt]

Good tip about extra filter elements for your pump or whatever system you use. I use a katadyn pump and after awhile the stuff you’re filtering out plugs up the filters and the pumping becomes unbearably slow. I carry those little iodine pills in my survival kit because survival is more fun when you don’t have the screaming shits...

 

[fmyth]

I tell you what, it's a mistake you'll only make once.....

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Reminds me of the time I had the MountainHouse Chili Mac.

 

[dieselchessy]

Giardia is a protozoan, not a bacteria, in case anyone is wondering. I’m kind of a science geek.

Yep, but after you give a few poop samples by crapping in a bowl and then spooning choice parts into several little vials and then taking it directly to the lab within an hour. And they still haven’t pinned it down. They may very well treat you for bacterial caused diarrhea or a host of other things.
Ask me how I know.

In my case they first called it “travelers diarrhea” and gave me antibiotics Sipro (?). Then after a second test gave me tinidazole.
That solved the problem and then it was a 2 year climb up out of the hole.
Again, fun stuff.
Oh and for the science folks, you might get to learn that there is a Bristol stool chart, and how to rate your poo.

 

[DudeBro]

Don't let your Sawyer, Lifestraw, or other hollow fiber filter freeze with water in it. It will damage the fibers and reduce/eliminate filtration.

 

[seww]

Didn't have a choice. Barely got my pants down & slightly bent over, then firehosed.

Understandable. Poor tree though. And why would you take a picture?

 

[seww]

I'd look into a gravity filter, just less hassle it seems like.. and tablets as backup.

 

[robtattoo]

Understandable. Poor tree though. And why would you take a picture?

For exactly this kind of thread!

 

[5MilesBack]

All it takes is once........and you'll never have a problem carrying 10lbs of water with you ever again. I got sick from creek water back in 2003........I'm not sure my system has ever recovered. That's how bad it is.

 

[seww]

For exactly this kind of thread!

Haha well, you're welcome!

 

[JCY]

So where I come from, Northern Sweden, the water is clean and safe to drink, pretty much anywhere. With the spring run-off the water is bad, but that's it.

And over here in the US, we have to deal with giardia. I know a water filter will take care of 99% of the virus and parasites in the water for drinking.
But how much water do you need to swallow to experience symptoms?

If you wash your face and get a few drops in your mouth?
You wash your hands in the stream, they dry and you eat a sandwich?

I'm just inexperienced with this issue. And it sucks, I love water and hate to carry it.

I filter all my drinking and cooking water and I use tablets in my backpack shower. My wife is a nurse and I have no choice, but have never been sick from water contamination. That said, I know people that don’t filter and have not gotten sick and I know of one person that has only washed his face in the stream and had to endure giardia. I recommend filtering, boiling or tablets.

 

[jacknifejc]

I guess everyone has different immune systems, but I have drank from streams and creeks my whole life without having any problems. On second thought, I have had Beaver Fever since I was 14 or 15 years old.

 

[Timberline001]

It's because we have no people, no industries and no cattle in the Northern parts. So, so far we've managed to avoid any contaminates. But it is changing, more and more people come outdoors and bring more fecal matter that is getting into the waters with time..

I'm in Idaho and going to try and hike and hunt this Spring/Summer/Fall so trying to educate myself to avoid getting sick.

I sent you a text. My experience was a couple drops and as far as I know I got it in the high country far from anything.


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