High Sierra Topix

Does it leave a chlorine taste in the water?

The best you'll get is what WD described as "flat". I think that is the best taste you'll get from any chemical treatment in the field. If you are seriously considering CL02, then test it by treating a quart of refrigerator cold, distilled or reverse osmosis treated water for 30 min, then smelling and tasting. Using pure or near pure water will give you the highest free chlorine residual for a given period/temp and give you an idea of the what the worst taste is likely to be.

quentinc wrote:Does it leave a chlorine taste in the water?

yes...IMHO yucky

I wonder if Vitamin C would improve the taste, like it does with iodine. Even if it doesn't chemically neutralize the chlorine, it imparts a slightly sweet taste and it's acidic. So I'll test it out if I go the chlorine diox route.

Why not use the Steripen. It kills everything, takes 90 sec to purify 32 oz of water.
A set of 4 Lithium Batteries gives you 140 cycles, so you can get a few trips out of
it, and weighs next to nothing, especially compare to a water filter (pump), which
takes a lot longer, and can clog up. Chemical treatment takes to long, and doesn't
taste to great, though Vit C or Lemonade Mix does help.

Am I missing something. No one filters their water?

Lots of people don't. I don't pretend to be an expert on water sources, nor do I feel like discovering the hard way that I am in the 50% of the population who WILL show symptoms of Giardia once infected. So I always do. I take some Micropur tablets as a backup to the filter. If I run out and the filter's broken, I would then just drink the water from wherever, because I'd rather be home getting treatment for something nine days later than wandering the wilderness so dehydrated I can't make rational decisions. (Been there, don't recommend it to anyone.)

You also have to consider whether you were infected by the water. There's at least one Sierra study suggesting infection occurs by poor camp hygiene -- aka fecal contamination. This is certainly the route of transmission in day care centers.

George

George,

Isn't that what hand sanitizer is for?

Mike

Mike,

Surprise, surprise. Those who got used to using only hand sanitizers, instead of soap
and water, are in for a shocking surprise.
This following article points out categories of viruses and bacteria that are not susceptible
to alcohol-based hand gel, including Giardia. Only good old soap and water will remove
the spores.
http://safetysavvy.blogspot.com/2008/03 ... -kill.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;