[at-l] Water treatment

[Frank Looper]

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 5:58 PM, WILLIAM D VINCENT
<vincentw at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> I had heard, don't ask me where-I don't remember, that since I had spent time in Nam and had dysentery, that I had already been exposed and adapted to giardi, etc.  I treat but don't filter some water I drink, but because of the past exposure I don't really worry about it.  Has anyone else heard the past exposure story?  I have given serious consideration to just treating the water with household bleach, how efffective is that suppose to be?
> _______________________________________________
>
I've had the past exposure. Bleach, no matter what some folks say, is
one of the two recommended treatments outside of boiling. And I hate
the taste of iodine.

Mostly I just drink it like it is. But if there's stuff growing in the
water, or if it's been raining hard, or if the water is low and slow,
I'll bleach it a bit.

I've been hiking 13 years, and don't think I've ever gotten sick from
the water on trail. I got giardiasis when I was 33, not hiking, not
drinking untreated water, etc. The doctor had no idea how I got it,
and neither did I.

BTW, good old Sodium Hypochlorite, the active ingredient in laundry
bleach, is what a large number of municipal water treatment facilities
use to treat their water. It kills viruses. That's why they use it.

My funniest bleach story involves paying MSR 10 bucks for a four-ounce
bottle of Viral Stop. Turns out it is just laundry bleach, and not
even the ultra-strength stuff.

Hot Dog: you ought to show Jonathan that and see what he says. Maybe
y'all could refill Viral Stop bottles for $5.00. Folks would think
they were really saving money. :-)

Enough with the email. It's hiker 3 AM. I just drank too much coffee
trying to get in those last miles today.

If y'all missed me, I'm back. If you didn't, I'm back anyway.

FrankenLooper the Day Tripping NightWalker