Unfiltered Water

[AlpineSummit]

Just wondering if and when you folks will drink unfiltered water?

In a pinch, or if I am very lazy, I will drink from the very, very beginnings of brooks where the water is just bubbling outta the ground. Like at the top of Panther Brook, or MacNaughton Brook. Folks 'in the know' will tell you this is unwise anywhere on the planet tho.

How about you guys?

Oh yea, I always carry a filter. Always.


Go RED SOX!
Yankees SUCK swamp water.

[Neil]

I drink unfiltered water all the time, about a pint per hike. Always from a high elev. source. Never from Marcy Dam, ha ha, especially these days.
That whole Giardia thing is just a myth. The filter cos. wanna make $ and the DEC dosn't wanna get their ass sued. I'm going to collect samples from about 20 different sites in the HPR next summer, have them analyzed , then publish the results. Stay tuned.

[pete_hickey]

Ahhh, the good old days. I remeber when water over 2K feet was good, and on the Van Ho trail, all water past Marcy Dam was good.

These days, it's more the source than the elevation. If there are not paths/trails following the brook, and no nearby campgrounds, sure. Not too long ago, I would drink from calkins brook, in the sewards. Since that has become a popular route, I no longer do.

Even far from the source, if the brook comes from someplace where (I think) it is rare for humans to travel, it's fine with me.

I gave up carrying a filter years ago, but I do carry iodine.

[Nessmuk]

Originally Posted by Neil

I drink unfiltered water all the time, about a pint per hike. Always from a high elev. source. Never from Marcy Dam, ha ha, especially these days.
That whole Giardia thing is just a myth. The filter cos. wanna make $ and the DEC dosn't wanna get their ass sued. I'm going to collect samples from about 20 different sites in the HPR next summer, have them analyzed , then publish the results. Stay tuned.

Neil, I will stand by for that one and can't wait for the results. I always treat my water with Polarpure (iodine solution) and have never gotten sick. I grew up hiking in the woods with my dad drinking from small babbling streams, many times where a trail crossed it was common to see a dipper or cup hanging on a tree that anyone would use, but rarely would anyone else ever be in there anyway. I have also seen dead animals in those same kinds of streams upstream from where I might have taken a fresh drink and so in my older age I don't do that anymore unless it is iodine flavored. Many of those old trails are gone now, but if I bushwhack back there I'll sometimes find those very same streamside cups, surely unused for years. I leave them there for the memories.

I know people who have had giardia, and from their description it is certainly is not an experience they would want to live through again. Every one of them believe they contracted it south of the Adirondacks. Five months before my dad died he was convinced he had "beaver fever" (giardia). It turned out to be pancreatic cancer. :(

[Neil]

I should point out that I did go and buy a filter a couple of years ago cuz I was tired of managing my water with Iodine. Another sucker!
So now, because I have it I use it. I still supplement that with drinking out of the stream.

I e-mailed the DEC about water testing in the HPR and the reply simply stated that no testing was done. So how do they know that Giardia abounds there?

You might think that during and after a rain that water will be OK to drink but the rain runoff is carrying all the crap that has been collecting since the last big flush.

Nessmuk, that would be so gross to find a dead animal upstream of where you had been drinking!

[lumberzac]

I always filter, treat, or boil my water, but if I were in a situation where I was seriously dehydrated I wouldn’t think twice about drinking untreated water. In that situation I think the risk is worth taking.

[sacco]

what zac said.

i would take the slight risk of getting giradia over the much more serious risks of severe dehydration.

[Rik]

I treat all my drinking water with grain alcohol whether I'm in the woods or at home.

[Willie]

No filters ... no problems ... yet ....

[Nessmuk]

Originally Posted by Neil

I should point out that I did go and buy a filter a couple of years ago cuz I was tired of managing my water with Iodine. Another sucker!
So now, because I have it I use it.

Neil, do you take any pre-filter precautions on long trips? As a guide, I can't tell you how many times I've had people along who swear by their filter. They likely have used them successfully in previous short trips in different waters. In many of the small pond remote places I take them, the water is "clean", but contains a lot of tannin. They also may not be so careful about where they place the intake tube. I do warn them but can't watch them all the time. Invariably, within a couple of days they begin pumping really hard for a long time, then the system craps out. I just hand them my extra bottle of Polarpure at that point.