[at-l] chlorine as water treatment

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Tumbleweed wrote on bpl that 
1) not filtering/treating AT water was gambling, and that
2) he used bleach on his AT hike (and did not get sick),
3) persons whom he observed as sick from giardiasis used various
means to deal with water (suggesting either no method was
effective as used, or the *source* of illness was not the
water).

In response:
1) People have been hiking the AT and associated trails for 80
years (giving the Green Mtn Club their due).
2) "Filters" have only been widely available since the mid-80s.
3) People get "sick" on trail in numbers no different now then
"way back when", regardless of the widespread use of filters and
chemical treatment.
4) The objective research I have come across on the net
*consistently* indicates that bleach is not effective for
neutralizing pathogens in backcountry water -- the amounts and
contact periods would need to be vastly increased.

I would suggest:
1) Not filtering your AT water is not gambling, it's common
sense -- the same common sense that saw thousands of AT
throughhikers through their through hike before Madison Avenue
convinced us that we could not survive a untreated drought from
the backcountry. Go light; go simple; go quick.

2) You drank a lot of bleach.

<Flame Suit On>
Sloetoe
AT'79

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

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