by M. Es Torrens

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 21, 2009

Hiking in the mountains, you revel in the fresh air and purity of nature. Thirsty, you make your way to the stream that runs along the trail. It is cold and crystal clear. Refreshed, you continue on you way, not knowing that in a few days you will be suffering the effects of giardia: diarrhea, cramps, and nausea.

Depending on where you plan to go camping, you may need to consider the problem of obtaining drinkable water through water treatment. If you are camping at a maintained campsite, you can normally determine in advance through the park service or camp host if potable (drinkable) water exists on site. If, however, there is no potable water available at the campsite or you are camping in back country, you should never, under any circumstances drink the water without taking precautions to purify or treat it.

Water can be safely treated in a number of ways. Before beginning to treat water, make sure that the water you have collected is the purest possible water you can get. The preference for water sources is a follows: 1) a spring, 2) glacier melt, 3) clear, moving water from a river or stream, 4) a lake, 5) a pond. After collecting the water, you should filter out mud or impurities through a clean cloth (even if you will be filtering your water, this step will eliminate excess sediment that could clog your filter). Also, smell the water and look for any oily sheen that could indicate chemicals. Chemical contamination to the water from mining, farming, or other sources cannot be purified out of the water and it should not be consumed.

Water treatment

1) Boiling. Boiling water is the oldest form of water purification. Boiling water for 5 minutes at a rolling boil is normally enough to kill all pathogens and bacteria present in the water. Boiling for 10 minutes will render the water sterile. While reliable and simple, boiling is not always preferred as it is time consuming and you need to have plenty of fuel to boil realistic quantities of drinking water. There is also the problem of letting the water cool if you want to drink it in something other than tea or coffee. Boiling also fails to remove sediment or visible impurities. These should be filtered out through a clean cloth before boiling.

2) Iodine. Iodine tablets or drops are another common way of treating water. Iodine treatment is cheap and effective - killing over 96% of all pathogens. When using iodine tablets or drops you should always follow the guidelines on the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>