Thread: Drinking out of rivers

Originally Posted by Willie

Personally I carry a life straw. filters water and sterilises it so no worries. Pretty much drink stagnant water and A ok. A great $30.00 spent. Filters something like 1000 liters before it needs replacing.

Agreed, I carry a filter straw on my belt kit so I can drink anywhere any time from anything. I use an MSR ceramic filtered hand pump to top up the camelbak of waterbottles.

Stick a sample under a really powerful microscope... if it is good enough for all those little animals to live in it must be fine for us to drink it as well...

But hey, some one suggested to get your wife to drink it first....

Many years ago when I was going out with the lady who would become my wife, we were travelling through the Buller gorge... we stopped... she who is still my wife now, was thirsty but not very outdoors/bush savy... She grabbed a mug and took a scoop from a cool clear bush brook... and being the courteous type offered it to me first... I declined said I was fine... so she enjoyed it... There was a little left so I finished it off, and spat it straight out again... yuck I said, there is something dead in the creek.... Poor girl went green, blue, then pale.. then saw a twinkle in my eye..... silly girl still married me.

As long as it's clear and running then I'll drink it, I don't think about what's up stream, ignorance is bliss.

Originally Posted by LBD

Stick a sample under a really powerful microscope... if it is good enough for all those little animals to live in it must be fine for us to drink it as well...

But hey, some one suggested to get your wife to drink it first....

Many years ago when I was going out with the lady who would become my wife, we were travelling through the Buller gorge... we stopped... she who is still my wife now, was thirsty but not very outdoors/bush savy... She grabbed a mug and took a scoop from a cool clear bush brook... and being the courteous type offered it to me first... I declined said I was fine... so she enjoyed it... There was a little left so I finished it off, and spat it straight out again... yuck I said, there is something dead in the creek.... Poor girl went green, blue, then pale.. then saw a twinkle in my eye..... silly girl still married me.

I like your style.

Had to boil a bit of stagnant puddle water now and then in a pinch but other than that I don't think too much about it. If it's clear and flowing well, I tuck into it

My theory on water if you were brought up drinking water straight from the creeks or off a farm bore or spring you are not going to be so sensitive to creek water as long as it is clean and moving.
I never have a problem with it.
I would be more concerned with preparing food off some of the hut benches or plates .
That I are paranoid about and always clean and only use stuff that I have cleaned up first.

Originally Posted by Rushy

It is the additives that make it tasty Maca. I look forward to sharing a few with you come September.

thought that beer they took out of the whangamarino swamp

giardia is the worlds smallest micro-surgeon. it instantly connects your throat to your bum !! try walking out of a hunt with the runs, it aint pretty.
buy a life straw and some purification tablets, its a good investment. for us in christchurch its a necessity if we have another big shake

Picked up giardia in Central America, that was an ugly experience. Being dehydrated in the tropics makes you think you are going to die.

In NZ, if there are no livestock upstream, I drink it and have never had a problem. Swamp water I throw a chlorine tablet in.

Sterilize water taking a small bottle (I use an eyedropper bottle from the chemist) of iodine, apply 10 DROPS ONLY per litre of H2o....shake and use after a couple of minutes....this will also kill protozoa organisms (NO NOT ORGASMS...read the word again) which cause "giardia"....trust me ya dont want that....

I carry an empty drink bottle with a microfilter in it. Just fill it when I want a drink, then empty it and carry on. Giardia won't wait until you get home to make you suffer.

I once had a very refreshing drink out of a small stream in the Kiamais after spending over an hour slogging up some very steep rough supple jack covered ridge. Was so glad to come across this stream!
Once I'd finished stood and took half a dozen steps up stream only to find one very dead possum half stuck under a small log in mid stream reason I'd not smelt him was he was totally under water
To take my mind off it a shot a hind two minutes later and went back the way I had come. sucker! Took me two hours back down I was not sick, but from then on I always walked up stream a little way before back tracking to the original crossing point before a take a drink.

Just had a look at the life straw. Can you get them in a bottle that you can deflate so it makes no sound.
That's my only hasel this water canteens. Was you stalk all you some times hear is the sloshing. Drives me round the bend.
Its ok when the bottle is full but once half full it becomes annoying.
Are there any with a pump?

Originally Posted by Sideshow

Just had a look at the life straw. Can you get them in a bottle that you can deflate so it makes no sound.
That's my only hasel this water canteens. Was you stalk all you some times hear is the sloshing. Drives me round the bend.
Its ok when the bottle is full but once half full it becomes annoying.
Are there any with a pump?

Use a camelbak bladder, and when you fill it with water, tip it upside down and squeeze it to purge all the excess air out if it. No more sloshing. And consider a Sawyer Mini filter. $US18 on Amazon, and twice that locally. Can be used like a lifestraw, screwed onto a coke bottle / pump bottle, or installed in-line with the long hose on a camelbak bladder.

Fill you bottle / hydration bladder wth 'dirty' water from stream, and have it filtered by the Sawyer filter as you drink.

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/

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I use the Aquamira ones
Aquamira Water Treatment Drops - Bivouac Online Store
as the water is treated faster which helps when you are thirsty

I've got some of these too
Potable Aqua with PA+Plus Drinking Water Germicidal Tablets - Bivouac Online Store
and they don't have an expiry date (from memory) but are slower to act

A lot of guys swear by their life straws and whatnot, I've not used them myself

Not endorsing bivouac as a store, just the first image in search