How well do water filters work, really?

I'm taking a short trip (two nights) to T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula Park on the Florida panhandle in a few months (when the weather gets warmer). The peninsula is maybe a mile at it's widest point, and surrounded by salt water with a marsh on the interior. I have no idea how stagnant the marsh is, but it does support large mammals; there are dear running around the wilderness preserve.

Will the Katadyn Hiker that I use be safe to use on what could be a very stagnant, boggy marsh? Or will I have to pack in several pounds of water?

The filter will work, what would worry me is the filter clogging. I would bring Aqua Mira too as a backup.

You cannot filter salt out of water with any backpacking filter. You'll need to take fresh water if the marsh is connected to the ocean.

The only thing water filters of the portable kind will address are microscopic organisms - if there are chemicals or minerals that make the water undrinkable, it will still be undrinkable when filtered.

You would need a reverse osmosis setup to get chemicals out, and those are only portable and practical if you have a pack critter or three to carry the stuff and the expertise to put it together....

From what you would describe, I would expect the water to be too salty to drink. The presence of animals isn't enough for me. Water can be salty to the taste and be drinkable without getting sick, just not palatable.

Yup, salt in the water was my first thought, too. If said marsh is above the tidal zone (can you find out ahead of time) it might not be brackish, and treatable.

Suggest quizzing the locals on what they do. I'd hate to have to pack in many pounds of water unnecessarily.

FWIW Katadyn make portable RO pump filters for boaters, and they might be available for rent—maybe from canoe or kayak outfitters? They're not so absurdly large that a group couldn't share one.

Cheers,

If you bring a bunch of fuel and the equipment, you can throw together a still by boiling any liquid and have the vapor transfer into a seperate bottle through a tube. It's fuel intensive and slow, but it is just about as clean as it gets, plus you can use any source of water including the ocean. Doable, but not always practical.

IF (big if) the marsh isn't brackish, then I'd use a bandanna to filter out big stuff, then put it through the water filter, then add chlorine dioxide. Or you can do the ClO2 first, but then let the water stand 15-20 minutes before filtering. The filter gets protozoa and most bacteria, but not viruses, which is why I'd double-treat for such an iffy source.

I'd be really worried both about brackish water and concentrations of agricultural or other chemicals. Nemeczek has a good idea about distilling! The extra fuel you'd need is probably lighter than a three day's water supply. I'd experiment at home first, though. As he says, it's very time-consuming.

Yeah, if it's salt water or even a brackish marsh it looks like I'll be toting a lot of water. :P Luckily it'll be summer time/spring time in Florida, so I won't need a sleeping bag or cold-weather clothing. But I'll already be bogged down with a fishing pole, fishing gig, tackle, and a beach shelter.

I figured the deer living on the peninsula means it must be fresh water. I didn't know mammals could live on salt or brackish water. But I've never used the filter on really scuzzy, tadpole infested, algae-growing marsh water, which is what I imagine when I think of the swamps of Florida. I had no intention of trying to filter salt water (the pumps are crazy expensive and not very efficient). If the water is anything like what I imagine, filtering and boiling might be the order of the day, which isn't out of the realm of possibility.



It most certainly is. This place is an oddity for coastal Florida, both geographically and that it's not covered in timeshare condos and hotels.

I guess the only real way to find out is to email the ranger station.

There's a mineral hot spring resort I sometimes visit where the water is definitely salty, and has plenty of other minerals influencing the taste. It's the only water source there so all other water has to be brought in. It's drinkable, but coffee just takes on this really distinctive quality ... the local critters don't seem to have an issue with it. The frogs seem to thrive and there are tons of mammals of all sizes...

I've also packed in to hot springs down in Sespe that have plenty of minerals - some of them drinkable, some poisonous. Got to know which are which.

made oatmeal once with water from the main sespe hot springs and about puked. I was very sad as this was half way through a 5 day trip and food was limited. Willet has better water.

The faucet at Willetts was a bit mineral laden but very handy when the "river" was dry.

I use to go there during the winter in the 80's. It was legal to camp , but I think the beach wasn't designated yet. We went anyway, as it was absolutely amazing for us northerners to be on that white sand beach and dunes. Lots of raccoons, along with the deer. If that's still the case, I'd think about protecting my food. As this was before bear cans, we used coolers strapped to our pack. We didn't find useable water, brought our own liquids. I think you'll find they recommend you do just that.
Trout fishing was good to excellent. Up north we call them weakfish. I'm so happy to hear it isn't destroyed. I've been told that the stretch around Mexico Beach is wall to wall condos, so I figured the park would have succumbed to some kind of glitzy development. Have a wonderful time. Could you please put a report, and maybe some pics on this forum?

Oh, I'll definelty be posting some pics, but it won't be for a while.

Also, I found these steel-mesh bags for the raccoons. Might fit the bill, but kinda pricey. http://www.simpleoutdoorstore.com/outsakul_paypal.html
I've never had any trouble simply suspending my food from a limb, but that might not be an option, since trees are sparse in beach sand dunes.

Thanks for the link, the picture of that squirrel made my day.
Cute!

jimmyb
you may want to look at these as well, more money but bear resistant too.

http://www.ursack.com/ursack-catalog.htm

Just don't bring them to California....