Water purification - forest / wetlands

[Alex Roddie]

Hi all, I was wondering what my best water purification options are for a forested wetland environment. Basically I'm planning on living for about a week in my local Suffolk forest. Much of it is Forestry Commission conifer plantations, but there's an extensive marshy area in the middle near the old river with birch thickets and mixed hardwood forest. The water system is in the form of flooded wooded areas, several large ponds, and some artificial ditches.

My goal is to try out some mesolithic bushcraft techniques, so I won't have access to a great deal of modern equipment.

I was wondering how likely it is that chemical contaminants might be present. The site is used by fishermen, is a few hundred yards from a popular path, and there are houses two miles roughly in the upriver direction (but beyond the catchment area for the river itself). The area itself is about as wild as East Anglia gets and nowhere near any factories or businesses, except a campsite (several miles away).

It would be great if I can use these ponds and marshes as a water source but not if they're going to poison me! I expect the water will have to be heavily filtered and boiled to make drinkable but I have no way of knowing if any chemicals are present.

Any help appreciated!

 

[He' s left the building]

From what you describe of the local area (lack of industry, etc) , it sounds promising.

Most water quality standards are based on a lifetimes consumption, so for one week there is a lot of leeway with chemical content, just be sure to boil or otherwise to kill off any harmful pathogens.

Look for biological water quality indicators, there must be something the fish are feeding on and if the water supports small crustaceans, etc that is an indicator of good water quality.

I would normally recommend a good filter, but if you are hoping to use more traditional methods then basic filtration followed by boiling should be adequate.

Make sure to post on here after the event, just to let us all know that you're OK!!!

 

[spamel]

A lot of purification can also be done by digging down to the water table a few metres away from the edge of the waterway. Natural filtration is then carried out by the earth itself with the last fine filtering done with a filtering kit of some sort and then chemical treatment or boiling. As long as you don't have farmland next door who may have used chemicals on the land in the past, you should be OK.

 

[Gailainne]

If your seriously worried about the water, why take chances, this one http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/Inline%20.html

or this one http://www.bwtechnologies.com/index.html

will remove as well as the usual biologicals, chemicals and also heavy metals, not 100% but a lot better than not at all, also please remember boiling will concentrate, not decrease any chemicals and heavy metals present.

Stephen

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

As said boil. Maybe Millbank it then boil and add steritabs.

Plenty of pond skaters indicate reasonable water.

Still water can hold chemicals more than running water so boil for a good five mins.

Nick

 

[spamel]

A lot of purification can also be done by digging down to the water table a few metres away from the edge of the waterway. Natural filtration is then carried out by the earth itself with the last fine filtering done with a filtering kit of some sort and then chemical treatment or boiling. As long as you don't have farmland next door who may have used chemicals on the land in the past, you should be OK. I've drank from streams in towns in the past with no treatment whatsoever!

 

[Ogri the trog]

Milbank filtering and boiling should serve you well,
but be prepared for it to taste of the forest/earthy/muddy etc.
If you are really bothered, buy a purification system.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Alex Roddie]

From what you describe of the local area (lack of industry, etc) , it sounds promising.

Most water quality standards are based on a lifetimes consumption, so for one week there is a lot of leeway with chemical content, just be sure to boil or otherwise to kill off any harmful pathogens.

Look for biological water quality indicators, there must be something the fish are feeding on and if the water supports small crustaceans, etc that is an indicator of good water quality.

I would normally recommend a good filter, but if you are hoping to use more traditional methods then basic filtration followed by boiling should be adequate.

Make sure to post on here after the event, just to let us all know that you're OK!!!

Thanks. I think I am hopeful about these ponds, then. I know children sometimes use them for pond-dipping as they have a population of water skaters, snails, dragonfly larvae and so on. They are also home to hundreds of frogs and I believe some newts as well. The water is reasonably clear but tends to be a bit muddy in places. Some of the little watercourses are quite fast-flowing and have minnows and other small fish, plus a variety of water plants. It seems like a pretty healthy area generally.

As you say I am only going to be there for a week so chemicals probably won't make that much difference (unless I notice a rusty pipe emptying nasties directly into the pond!!)

I'm always a bit skeptical of low-lying watercourses, particularly in coastal Suffolk where they are very rare and usually polluted or incredibly silted up. Looks like I have hit gold with this one though.

 

[Alex Roddie]

Milbank filtering and boiling should serve you well,
but be prepared for it to taste of the forest/earthy/muddy etc.
If you are really bothered, buy a purification system.

I have heard of these Milbank filter bags, are they worth using? I was planning on building something out of socks and a handkerchief but it probably wouldn't be of much use!

It looks like I may have the opportunity to test out a new UV purification system (Steripen) for UKClimbing--for free!--so I may not have to boil it as it turns out.

 

[British Red]

(Just to correct a couple of errors here)

Boiling and adding steritabs is generally considered to be an either / or action rather than both - both boiling and chemical additives serve to kill microorganisms. Adding puritabs to boiled water really only serves to ruin the taste and add chemicals. A rolling boil in the UK is sufficient (although extreme altitude not found in the UK lowers boiling point). Adding steritabs after boiling serves no useful purpose. Do ensure that any particulates are removed before boiling (or they can insulate microorganisms from heat or chemical action) - hence the use of a coarse filter like a Milbank bag.

Also please note that, with the exception of a few VOCs, boiling is extremely unlikely to remove chemicals - indeed it will only serve to increase their concentration - this is certainly true of both the the most nasty run offs from mining and agriculture.

I did a more extensive write up here that may help somewhat


http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28811

Red

 

[He' s left the building]

Very informative post British Red (as ever!)

... they have a population of water skaters, snails, dragonfly larvae and so on. They are also home to hundreds of frogs and I believe some newts as well. The water is reasonably clear but tends to be a bit muddy in places. Some of the little watercourses are quite fast-flowing and have minnows and other small fish, plus a variety of water plants.

It does look like you've struck gold! Take your source-water from the fast-flowing parts (rather than the stagnant parts)

I personally would be perfectly happy with Millbank bag filtration followed by a boil from this source, I have certainly lived for a week from much worse!

As Ogri said, it may have a very 'natural' taste, but after boiling, you can pour the water to/from the billy into a bottle several times to re-aerate the water and slightly improve the taste (by adding back some of the oxygen that the boiling took out)

 

[He' s left the building]

I have heard of these Milbank filter bags, are they worth using?

I have just replaced my old one with a new one from Jasper on Ebay, they are very much worth having.

I normally use a Katadyn Hiker (I intend to replace this with a Katadyn Vario for the faster flow-rate) but in terms of simplicity (no working parts to break), cost and longevity, I don't think anything beats a Millbank bag.

The only drawback is that it will not improve the chemical quality of the water (ie: it will not remove chemical constituents from the water, whether naturally occuring chemicals or contaminants), which doesn't appear to matter in this case.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I have heard of these Milbank filter bags, are they worth using? I was planning on building something out of socks and a handkerchief but it probably wouldn't be of much use!

It looks like I may have the opportunity to test out a new UV purification system (Steripen) for UKClimbing--for free!--so I may not have to boil it as it turns out.

You might achieve a similar filtration rate if you're carefull, but the Milbank was designed to do that job very well - in use, the fibres swell and give better filtration than your average hanky or sock. But if you have the opportunity to use "Gucci kit" for free then why not take it.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[British Red]

Bear in mind that UV light will ony work in completely clear water Alex - any form of cloudiness renders such a form of treatment for micro organisms wholly ineffective. Candidly its a lot easier to see that water is boiling than that UV treatment has worked. Which is not to say that it has not, but rather that the visual reference point is simpler with a rolling boil,

But as OTT says - never say no to a free toy!

Red

 

[Alex Roddie]

Bear in mind that UV light will ony work in completely clear water Alex - any form of cloudiness renders such a form of treatment for micro organisms wholly ineffective. Candidly its a lot easier to see that water is boiling than that UV treatment has worked. Which is not to say that it has not, but rather that the visual reference point is simpler with a rolling boil,

Thanks, I didn't know that. I've never used UV before--always been one for boiling my drinking water, using using Chlorine tablets when in the mountains. I suspect boiling may be the better option in this instance as there is bound to be some particle matter left in the water even after filtering ... the streams are fairly clear, but not too deep and have a silty bed, so some of it is bound to get disturbed during collection.

But as OTT says - never say no to a free toy!

Indeed, I think it retails for about £70 so I'm rather chuffed.

Thanks for your help.

 

[WhichDoctor]

Thanks. I think I am hopeful about these ponds, then. I know children sometimes use them for pond-dipping as they have a population of water skaters, snails, dragonfly larvae and so on. They are also home to hundreds of frogs and I believe some newts as well. The water is reasonably clear but tends to be a bit muddy in places. Some of the little watercourses are quite fast-flowing and have minnows and other small fish, plus a variety of water plants. It seems like a pretty healthy area generally.

I'm no expert on water filtration but from what you say about the water life in the area you should have no trouble with chemical pollutants. Water snails and other crustaceans are extremely susceptible to pollution especially heavy metals, insects like water skaters and dragonfly larvae will be killed by any pesticides washing off near by farm land. Having minnows shows there is a big enough population of little wiggly things to feed them with shows just how healthy the water is . The clear water also suggests there isn't even much nitrate pollution ,nitrate isn't toxic but encourages algy growth in ponds making them green stagnant pits rather than ponds, clear water shows there is no problem which is quite rare these days.

All in all sounds like you've found yourself a little gem.

 

[andyn]

Well, you've covered water filtration....and I'd agree that a milbank bag is a good idea as there is no need to take risks but you are still avoiding modern filters and purifiers and still using something natural which keeps, roughly, to your idea of...

"My goal is to try out some mesolithic bushcraft techniques"

So what about boiling....Are you going to take a billy tin? Or use methods prior to the discovery of metal? Skins suspended over a fire? hot rocks?

 

[Alex Roddie]

So what about boiling....Are you going to take a billy tin? Or use methods prior to the discovery of metal? Skins suspended over a fire? hot rocks?

I don't have any skins at the moment but I'm hoping to try and make some earthenware vessels ... might be a disastrous experiment but we'll see!

I'm definitely going to take a billy along in case the pottery idea fails.

 

[galew]

I say a show on TV where they took samples of lake water that was 1000 miles from human habat in the north of Canada, they found pestiside and herbicide residue that they traced back to aerial spraying in Georgia over 3000 miles away, so don't expect any water anywhere to be pure anymore.