Water while out and about

[BushTucker]

Hi all

Just wondered what you all do about water while you are out. Not everywhere has streams, my area is mainly country side with farms and I dont think I would like to touch anything close to a farm.

I have done the usual things like catch rain with my poncho, solar pits, distilling etc.

I usually either do a recci to find clean sources first or take it with me, bearing in mind that 1 pint of water is about a pound in weight, I would be very interested in your methods.

 

[Intertidal]

Depends where I am and what I'm doing, though mostly this is hillwalking, scrambling, climbing.
Mostly I carry it with me, usually in a 2L platypus in my sac (may or may not fill the bladder depending on what conditions, length of route etc., are like).
However, if I'm on a long day out, or its hot, 2L is probably not enough, in which case I take a 500ml wide mouth Nalgene bottle and a katadyn mini filter to top up as and when water is available (obviouly this links to route planning). The katadyn weighs <400g and I'm never carrying more than 500mL water, so considerably lighter than a full bladder. I always use this system on backpacking trips, but additionally carry a roll-up 2L platypus bottle that I can use in camp.
Winter poses other problems in the hills in that there may be little unfrozen water, plus the need (preference) for hot drinks. Mostly then we'll carry flasks, but for longer trips in more remote locations we'll take stove, fuel etc and brew as needed.
As I say, each trip can be different and we plan accordingly.

Nick

 

[Ishmael]

On backpacking trips I take two 1.5L poly-bottles. On my last trip, I stopped at a pub each day for lunch and a pint and asked the landlord to refill a bottle. At other times I have bought bottled water along the route. However, I am increasingly drawn towards attempting to avoid all human contact while away, so I intend to invest in a water filtration system.

 

[gregorach]

I rarely carry more than 1L of water at a time, but I always carry a PreMac pocket water filter and some means of boiling water. 'Round here, availability isn't much of a problem, provided you can make it safe to drink.

 

[spamel]

Next time you are out, check a trough out. You can bail a lot of water out and hold the stop cock which has the outlet above the water line. You can then fill your water bottle from there. I used to do this all the time when I was a kid out camping with my Dad. All river and streams in UK should now be treated with suspicion unless they are in the back end of beyond such as Dartmoor or the Highlands of Scotland. So much pollution from rain water run off of the streets, farm land, industry and so on gets into the rivers that it really isn't worth trying to drink the water from there IMO. There are also reports that there may be a large amount of hormones in the river due to the female population of UK that is on the pill, these hormones being passed in their urine and isn't neutralised before water is fed in to the rivers and streams.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I never bother round my way, there's a lot of natural springs to fill up from.
I just take a scrunched up plastic bottle to save space/weight.

 

[DavidJT]

In the country you describe I would carry some, and top up at the local farms. Don't think you'll have a problem if you're polite.

 

[Dodger]

For carrying: 3 litre Camelback, plus two or three 1 litre bottles
For purification: A SteriPen Classic

The SteriPen takes 4xAA batteries. I use a Silva solar panel strapped to the top of my rucksack for recharging.

 

[SimonM]

If you are near canals, you can buy a British Waterways key for about a fiver. This gives access to drinking water taps & toilet blocks...well worth it IMHO.

Simon

 

[BushTucker]

That sounds great but i would need a british ocean ways key. No canals here as far as i know, used to swim in them in Birmingham when i was a kid, dirty ****hole it was too...

 

[troy ap De skog]

im lucky in that respect, localy all the british waterways taps are unlocked all the time..
but when im out in the hills i use water from the little tap in animal troughts .. with caution in some areas.. other wise its the mountain streem...
well there allways the Iodine and Carbon or PotasiumCromate tabs in the 1st kit if it all looks that untrustworthy

 

[shropshireman]

I bought a purification straw of e-bay,fits into my crusader cooker pouch ,if i find running water ill drink straight from the source .It doesnt really taint the water,but taste better than puri-tabs.,but i always carry a minimum of 1tr in my water bottle and always strive to find water no matter how small amount and mark it on my pocket maps so ill know where to find it next time....

 

[Chinkapin]

Once on a hike in the Colorado Rockies, I drank water from two sources. The first one was from a handpump in a state run campground that was supposed to be safe. The second time, i collected some running water from a small stream (Rocky Mt. pure right?) But I didn't trust it and dropped a couple of halazone tablets into the container and waited the required time.

A day or two later I was sick, weak, and suffering serious gastrointestinal disturbances. A doctor confirmed that I had Guardia. I never knew where I got it from, and it completely ruined my trip.

Moral of the story: never trust water that people are not using on a regular basis with no ill effects. There have been posts on BushcraftUK about boiling water and its effectiveness. Apparently it will kill virtually eveything with only a couple of minutes of boil. I now boil all questionable water.

Apparently the various filters work quite well, but why not be on the safe side and boil the filtered water. You are probably going to make tea or coffee with it anyway.

I was one of those people who said things like "hell that water is o.k. and is not going to hurt you." and "I have drank out of ditches, and it never hurt me." Well, a good bout of Guardia and you don't say things like that anymore.

 

[philaw]

I've always got by carrying water with me and refilling from taps when hiking on long distance pathsin yorkshire. I'll tend to buy a pint/ coffee somewhere and ask them to fill my bottles. I've sometimes asked people for a fill up at their house if there's no cafe/pub nearby. No one begrudges you water.

 

[DavidJT]

I've always got by carrying water with me and refilling from taps when hiking on long distance pathsin yorkshire. I'll tend to buy a pint/ coffee somewhere and ask them to fill my bottles. I've sometimes asked people for a fill up at their house if there's no cafe/pub nearby. No one begrudges you water.

What he said.

 

[BushTucker]

This Katadyn Pocket filtersounds good and at less then a 100 quid, sounds good value too. 30,000 gallons of water safe to drink, is that the life of the unit or just per filter cartridge?

What sort of water have you used with it, i mean as an emergency would it do dirty puddle water?

 

[andywinkk]

This is the one i use, the onlything you cant filter is salt water and that is it, its a fantastic bit of kit,

http://www.lifesaversystems.com/techinfo.html

 

[Ishmael]

Is it safe to drink water taken straight from a spring, or is it best to filter/boil it first?

 

[Whittler Kev]

Is it safe to drink water taken straight from a spring, or is it best to filter/boil it first?

"if in doubt, boil it out"

 

[mace242]

Hi all

Just wondered what you all do about water while you are out. Not everywhere has streams, my area is mainly country side with farms and I dont think I would like to touch anything close to a farm.

I have done the usual things like catch rain with my poncho, solar pits, distilling etc.

I usually either do a recci to find clean sources first or take it with me, bearing in mind that 1 pint of water is about a pound in weight, I would be very interested in your methods.

If you're mainly near farms how about cattle troughs. You can always find the inlet and make it run for a bit and take the water from there. If in doubt boil or treat it first - should be totally fine (i've used them before without treating and had no ill effects at all - in fact I've taken the water right from the trough through a filter and it's been fine)

ooohhhh - spooky noise - 666 posts!!!!