Hello, first post from a 1-year lurker.

I am a 40-ish-year-old scout and camper with a six-year-old son. The past two years we have done a good bit of backyard camping, day-hiking, convenience-camping, and weekend camping at some local state parks and campgrounds in western Ohio. We've played around on a few short sections of the Buckeye trail. We would like to eventually hike the entire length.

As my son gets older, I find myself on the fence as far as backpacking vs. convenience-camping. My doubt is water supply. There have been times when we have had to cut out a day early because we've simply run out of packed-in potable water.

Ohio is either heavily industrialized or heavily agriculturalized, depending upon where you're at. There are no true wilderness areas and no native "clean" surface water supply (no glaciers and definitely no mountain streams). There have been some reports in the news the past few months about poor water quality in some Ohio lakes and feeder rivers (the few that are actually tested). The "clean" well at our home is 200+ feet deep.

I've thought about getting a backpacking water filter, but I cannot find any information about filtering out herbicides or pesticides. It could be that this is just not possible and I am just ignorant. There are some filters that claim to filter out the "taste".

Folks, that's just not good enough for me. I'm not a bottled water nut. I either drink treated city water at my workplace or water from my well at home. But the thought of filtering up creek water in the watershed where a well-intentioned farmer is dumping hundreds of pounds of herbicides simply makes my testes shrink up into my abdominal cavity.

If anyone is willing to tip me towards one side or the other, that would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to have a filter and decrease the amount of water I have to pack. But I especially don't want to endanger my son's long-term health.

And of course if this is not possible to filter out, please say so and we will continue "heavy" hiking. But it sucks having to carry 3 gallons of water!!

Regards,
Andy