BACKCOUNTRY WATER TREATMENT: 5 METHODS

MAKE YOUR DRINKING WATER SAFE

If your next adventure includes multiple days in the backcountry, water treatment is one of several things you should be considering beforehand. When it’s necessary to collect drinking water from springs, streams or ponds, a very real threat of water-borne illness presents itself. There’s a variety of methods to make water safe from creatures inhabiting your water source, ensuring your time is spent Combating the Deficit – not diarrhea. A big thank you to our friends at Bill & Paul’s Sporthaus in Grand Rapids, MI for helping us out with the following products here. They carry all these brands in-house.

AQUAMIRA

If you listened to our episode Conflict, PTSD and Healing From The Trail, (Subscribe on iTunes) then you heard Tim Keenan mention his preferred method of water treatment from his time on the Appalachian Trail – a chemical solution called Aquamira. A chlorine dioxide treatment that comes in 2 parts. Follow the directions, mix equal drops of each solution into the lid of your bottle, wait 5 minutes, (the solution will turn yellow). Dump it into your water, shake it up, and wait while it kills off the micro-organisms. Kills viruses, bacteria, and Giardia.