Well Im getting ready to BP in an area where the park says that some filters dont filter all the bad out of the water due to it being old mining area. My question is, if I boil my water will I be safe??? I also have a katadyn hiker pro filter. I really dont want the weight of water on my back. What should I do?? Please Help.
Registered: 02/20/03
Posts: 701
Loc: Fountain Valley, CA, USA
Find out from the Rangers what the filters won't remove. If it's heavy metals (often found in mining areas) then boiling won't work either. Ask them for recommendations on the proper way to treat the water.
Yes, find out what's in the water that's dangerous. I've no experience with mines, but we have some old WWII military installations in the woods near my hometown, and they used to seep oil & who knows what else into the environment until the town forced the military to remove it half a century later. I still wouldn't drink water from those areas unless I was dying of thirst.
Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3293
Loc: Portland, OR
I also second what DownsD said. Mines can be very bad news for water. It sounds very much like a heavy metals issue or else some undesirable substance such as arsenic. In that case, boiling would not help one iota.
Just slightly off-topic but, has anyone seen the PUR water commercial? They are trying to get money so they can serve 3rd world countries clean water. They pour something in this merky mess and all the sludge falls to the bottom. Any ideas what that is? Would it be something of value for us bp-ers?
Filtering removes particulates. Boiling and chemical disinfection kill microbes.
None of these methods will remove dissolved solids.
These dissolved solids (including metals, radionuclides and other ions) are the contaminants of concern that are typically associated with mining impacts to surface water and groundwater.
They pour something in this merky mess and all the sludge falls to the bottom. Any ideas what that is?
I haven't seen it, but it sounds like a flocculant, perhaps combined with some other form of treatment.
River runners have often used alum (potassium aluminum sulfate, available as a pickling spice) to settle turbid river water, and then treat the clearer water by some other means.
(As I get ready to click the submit button, I can only keep my fingers crossed that the word "flocculant" will slip past the foul language filter <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ).
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