Which water filter?

“and you found the 20-year-old under your car seat, right? lol

The stream that came right out of the glacier and was running through the alluvial fan was a silty, greyish-brown soup. I took the water from one of the clear little streams that came down the side of the valley. If I would have to use the glacier stream I would try to fill a spare container and wait until at least some of the silt has settled down. Not sure how long that would take though...”

“viruses
“Just remember that viruses are too small for any filter to trap, personally I use the pur (now katadyn) hiker myself, and polar pure after in suspect water.There is way too much human activity everywhere, and unfortunately, there are those who seem to forget or not realize that you should not use water sources as a toilet.”
swamp yankee
6:26:27 PM
6/10/07

I would like to know what viruses backpackers have aquired in the wilderness and what the annual rate is in th US?”

“I would like to know what viruses backpackers have aquired in the wilderness and what the annual rate is in th US?”

exactly! Let's say, compared to the risk and danger of unprotected sex.”

“exactly! Let's say, compared to the risk and danger of unprotected sex.”
Euro Hike
4:54:27 PM
6/12/07

Or just give me a couple of cases of wilderness waterborn viral infections in the US and we can work from there.”

“I don't think you can get that stuff by the case..I think you have to get it by the Gross Lot.”

“alluvium

Sweet, a word I had to look up.....”

“Ok, fair enough about the water bottles. Also, here on the east coast (and probably the midwest too) there tends to be a lot of silt, mud, and tanin in the water -- all of which contribute to clogging the filter.

For now, I use a Katadyn Hiker filter, which has an adjustable float on its intake hose, helping to keep it out of the mud. Water with a lot of tanin in it (has a dark brown coffee/tea color to it) tends to clog up the pores a bit sometimes (the filter was almost useless in places like the New Jersey Pine Barrens or Dolly Sods in West Virginia because of this), but fortunately, they clean out pretty well when you pump some clean water through the filter (like in the sink at home).

Though I usually carry aqua mira with me as a backup in case my filter fails (see the impact of tanin above), I rarely use chemical treatments because they just plain take forever. The only exception is in the winter, or when a significant frost is expected over the course of the trip. During a frost, you have to keep the filter incubated (coat pocket or sleeping bag) so that any water in it won't freeze and consequently crack the element, and that's just too much of a pain.”

“I never said you should expect to catch a virus by using only filters, I just don't trust human activity and am not interested in getting hepatitis or any other disease, only because I was too lazy to carry some iodine.”

“katadyn pro hiker.”

“bearmagnet - Very little concern over viruses in the water in the US at this time. Not necessarily so in other parts of the world.”

“I understand swamp yankee & Phil. I just hear peoples concerns regarding potential exposure to waterborne viral pathogens in the US and am truly interested in knowing if there are any actual cases.

So far, CDC replied with a non-answer. Should have expected that.

I have a reference to suspected/known wilderness/recreational water hep A outbreak from Division of Communicable Disease Control, California Department of Health Services, Berkeley

That's a slightly better non-answer than what the CDC gave me. But not really.

LOL!”

“I have to admit I think of a hiking filter as more of a particulate rather than biological filter,we've been over this before on other threads, and really, there is no simple ,foolproof way to tell if your filter is good, or is letting through larger particles, either due to cracks or blow by.Thats why I still don't completely trust the things, although I do use one.”

“The UV light has the advantage of visual validation that a least the light works. Now which particular one to buy?”