[JMJKD]

Boiling you water does not always make it safe to drink. Boiling will kill bacteria and parasites like giardia and cryptosporidium but will not get rid of chemicals, pesticides, etc, and filtering water does not always make it safe to drink either. The good filters will get rid of Chemicals but not "all" spores.

IMHO if you come upon an unknown water source filter your water,(sometimes twice if it is still cloudy) then boil to a roll for a minute at average altitudes and it should be safe to drink. Water can make or break your camp trip. Any thing to add guys?

[AlpineZone]

Originally Posted by JMJKD

Boiling you water does not always make it safe to drink. Boiling will kill bacteria and parasites like giardia and cryptosporidium but will not get rid of chemicals, pesticides, etc, and filtering water does not always make it safe to drink either. The good filters will get rid of Chemicals but not "all" spores.

IMHO if you come upon an unknown water source filter your water,(sometimes twice if it is still cloudy) then boil to a roll for a minute at average altitudes and it should be safe to drink. Water can make or break your camp trip. Any thing to add guys?

Yeah, I got something to add. Take JMJKD's advice to heart and remember it. When the water looks safe that means nothing. I got giardia twice from drinking mountain water at 4,000 give or take feet elevation in the middle of february and once in june. Super vomiting, super diarreah, fevers, blood pressure fluctuations for days occurs and so does dehydration because you cannot hold anything down.

It doesn't matter if your busting through fresh ice or the weather is warm or cold or what elevation your at. Contaminated water is contamindated water and no elevation or outside temp or just busting off the ice of the stream is going to make it better.

Good post JMJKD.

[novazer0]

JMJKD is there any water filter that you might recommend to cleaning out the chemicals?

[JMJKD]

There are a few good ones. right now I use the Aquamira 50 gallon military pro- frontier.

Some of the other guys will offer a few good ones that they use perhaps.

[Dick]

Distilling water is a good way to ensure it is safe, but requires some equipment. I remember reading that the pioneers would often distil their water that came from alkaline sources to get the salts out.

Really all you need is something to capture your steam, condense, and direct it into a clean vessel.

Any simple “bush still” designs out there?

Here’s a beautifully simple design to get your creative juices flowing...

[Mac]

Aquamira filters are great... i have a few items from them and just ordered a few cartons of their products to sell...

[Ron Fontaine]

In reality, there is no need to boil your water more than zero minutes, even in altitudes as high as Mount Everest. All organisms have been destroyed or rendered inert long before the boiling point of the water has even been reached.

The only reason I advocate heating water to the boiling point, where the water is visibly roiling, is that usually you will not have a thermometer handy - seeing it boil is proof beyond doubt the water is now safe to drink.

Survival Topics broke this to the world a couple of years ago, causing a great controversy since long held cherished believes are difficult to change even with proof. Many people still erroneously believe water needs to be boiled 5, 10 even 20-minutes to destroy pathogens. They also believe in error that at higher altitudes water needs to be boiled longer.

In some third world countries, thousands of acres of forest land have been cut in order to heat water to the boiling point for ten minutes or more because of misinformation.

Because of the Survival Topics article, this correct knowledge has been widely disseminated and even the World Health Organization is changing its literature on how long water needs to be boiled.

From the article: "water temperatures above 160° F (70° C) kill all pathogens within 30 minutes and above 185° F (85° C) within a few minutes. So in the time it takes for the water to reach the boiling point (212° F or 100° C) from 160° F (70° C), all pathogens will be killed, even at high altitude."

Read more on the Survival Topic on How Long Do You Need to Boil Water?

You are correct about chemical contamination of water not being removed by boiling. Removing chemicals from water is problematic, even with modern hand held filters. And distilling is not foolproof either since some chemicals have been shown to distill right along with the water.

[JMJKD]

Right on Ron the time it takes to go from 160 to 212 “boiling” will kill the nasty’s. The altitude thing is because “They” say water will reach a boil faster at high altitudes so the time between 160 and 212 is shorter not giving enough time to kill them. But I’m not the expert just passing on the info I use. When I see it boil after I filter it, I go for it. I don’t really trust any water I did not bring in…..
Joe

[Dick]

Water will turn to gas at a lower temperature at higher elevations because there is a lower atmospheric pressure. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) at sea level, generally 101.3 kPa.

At 1525m (5000ft.) water boils at 95 degree Celsius (203 degrees Fahrenheit), but it’s still hot enough to kill the critters. I don’t think you can get water to 100C at that elevation unless you carry a pressure canner with you.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Ron Fontaine

In reality, there is no need to boil your water more than zero minutes, even in altitudes as high as Mount Everest. All organisms have been destroyed or rendered inert long before the boiling point of the water has even been reached.

Ron I knew this about boiling water, but what I didn't know was that it was first heard here. cool! do you get proper credit for it?