[at-l] Safe water debate

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Weary wrote:
>The December issue of Backpacker has a fascinating article on trail water
>quality. As usual the experts differ. But Backpacker surveyed backcountry 
>watersources, studied the scientific literature and concluded that though 
>23 percent of the water sources have giardia or cryptosporidia, the 
>concentrations are solow that the chances of getting an infectious dose is 
>about one in 5,000.

Not quite - that was 1 in 5000 PER LITER of untreated water - not 1 in 5000 
overall.  So for a thruhiker who's on the Trail for 180 days and drinking 4 
liters per day, the odds are more like 720/5000 or 14.4% (about 1 in 7).  
And that's an overall average - for the whole country.  The rate of 
contamination for the Appalachians is 50% (more than twice the average) 
which makes the odds for an AT thruhiker more like 31.3% or almost 1 in 3.  
Ooops ---


>The chances of getting sick is even lower, since many show no symptoms.

True.


>Robert Derlet, MD, is quoted as saying, that if you "averaged every drop of
>water in the Sierra, you would have to drink 250 gallons to get enough 
>giardia
>to make you sick."

Yeah - but he's researching the Sierras - not the AT.  Nowhere in the 
Sierras, northern California, Oregon or Washington did we bother using the 
filter - except when we took water from lakes.  Which is really what the 
bottom liine of the article was about - that you need to make a personal 
decisiion based on solid realistic knowledge about the country, water 
sources, your own body, what it is that you're doing (like a thruhike vs a 
weekend trip) --- and the odds against you.  There are no odds "for" you.  
The choice is you get sick - or you get lucky and don't get sick.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you're carrying the filter (or other 
treatment system), you have a choice about whether to treat your water.  If 
you're not carrying it, then when you need to use lake water or some other 
questionable source, you don't have that choice.


>Another medical doctor concluded, "Getting sick from backcountry water is 
>like
>being attacked by a shark -- a very rare event that has been blown out of
>proportion by the public and the press."

Definitely blown out or proportion ---

BUT - some of us aren't willing to take the chance on blowing out a thruhike 
based on how lucky we are at beating the odds.  So we carry filters or other 
treatment systems when we thruhike.  Personally, I know a number of people 
who have gotten very, very sick -- and in more than a few cases, had to 
abort their thruhikes.

We're not nearly as consistent about "carrying" when we do weekend or 
week-long hikes. By the time Gieardia or crypto hits on a short tirp, you'd 
be home and can take care of it.  If it hits during a thruhike, you gots 
problems, Bunky.


>AT water sources did have more giardia than other locations tested, and AT
>hikers are more likely to have stomach upsets than other outdoor users. But 
>the
>use of water treatment had little to do with the incidence of sickness.

Hmmm - that's not quite what I read.  Overall, what I saw was that NOT 
treating water is a crap-shoot.    If you're gonna thruhike, are you willing 
to bet your thruhike that you can beat the odds?  You pays your money and 
you takes your chances.  Some get lucky, some don't.  How lucky do you feel?


>"Of those who consistently disinfected, 45 percent still reported bouts of 
>diarrhea."

And that was less than the percentage for those who didn't do so.

Diarrhea, by the way, can be induced by town water - and town food.  Too 
much fiber, too much grease, too much sugar ingested by bodies that aren't 
used to it.


>The article quotes also, a University of Minnesota study that showed, 
>"Cleaning
>eating utensils and washing hands regularly with soap and water proved to 
>be
>more effective at reducing the risk ... than treating water."

Hmmm - try a few things they didn't mention - like learning how to use the 
filter so the output hose doesn't get contaminated or not sharing Gorp or 
not sharing pots and not brushing teeth in potentially contaminated water 
and not getting water in your mouth when washing your face in potentially 
contaminated water and keeping your fingers out of your mouth unless you've 
disinfected them.  All of which I've seen hikers do at one time or another 
on the Trail.


>However, this is a long and detailed report. Don't take my word for it. 
>Read it yourself.

Yep - good idea.  It was a pretty good article.

Walk softly,
Jim

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