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Re: [at-l] Water treatment

Tim Hewitt wrote:

> The single biggest problem, both in civilization and in the woods with food
> preparation is sanitation. If you don't wash between the toilet and the table,
> you will eat what you poop. 

Furthermore, if you don't use a paper towel to turn off the
faucet and open the door in a public restroom, you may eat 
what other people poop.

>                             These pathogens will give you diarrhea. The food
> borne diseases such as salmonella and ecoli are all killed in the cooking
> process if you cook your food rather than just heat it, 

Exactly. Killing the nasties in poop, and removing the poop, are
two different things. Thorough cooking simply ensures clean poop,
but many people who carry filters do so to achieve the latter. My
point is that there's enough crap (and rodent hair, and insect
eggs, and rotten flesh) in everyday food to not merit getting *too*
bothered about the possibility of minute amounts of these things
being in the water. If the stream is clear and not chemically
contaminated, just kill the pathogens and skim off any big chunks.

>                                                         and most of us
> transport them back to the cooked food on the cooking surfaces that touched
> the raw food in the first place.

This practice simply amazes the Fulminatrix and me.

> When I'm drying food for a trip, I wash the counter, cutting boards, and the
> dryer trays with a mild bleach solution. My hands get washed with a germicidal
> soap and dried on a clean cloth. The food is handled as little as possible,
> both before and after drying.

> Perhaps I'm overly careful, but I don't want to take any more chances than I
> already take. I would like to know that my food supply is untainted. I know
> that my hands are clean when I enter my kitchen - either in the woods or at home.

We're just as thorough, even though we live in a vegetarian
household.

> I've seen people suggest you leave the soap at home when thru-hiking to save
> weight. No thank you. If you're one of those people who chooses to trust in
> something other than washing your hands for sanitation in the woods, please
> don't offer to fill my water container either...

Would you recommend a good concentrated anti-bacterial soap
for backpacking?

--
mfuller@somtel.com; Northern Franklin County, Maine
The Constitution is the white man's ghost shirt.  }>:-/> --->




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