Over the years I've learned to filter the water I freeze to keep steak cool for the first few days. I filter it because the chlorine smell is horrendous if I don't. Plus it's a way to test the filter.

My kid says that the water from Q tastes great! I suspect it's the lack of chlorine. In any case, I've always had to adulterate it with with something to make it palatable to me.

There is no better tasting water in the world than the stuff that came out of a garden hose where I grew up. We even had a dedicated faucet in the kitchen that bypassed the softener. That was good too. 

Not scoffing at anyone. Each should manage risk as they see fit. I used to carry iodine tablets and would use them if in a situation where water seemed questionable. I don’t recall it being an issue on any of the trips I have been on.  We all manage risks differently. Those who want to filter should do so. It gives slower guys like me a chance to take a break.

When I'm out on a big deep lake, I drink right from it and never had any issues.

Since I'm always solo, and duct tape won't fix what bad water can bring, I use a filter because I get water from the shore wherever I camp.

  My immune system is pretty strong but I don't discount getting sick, so I have that gravity filter.

Like almost everything you encounter on a wilderness trip, you have to do what makes the most sense to you.

I've had my share of injuries BUT having the trots for days would be worse than all of them. 

Probably not putting your trip at risk as the incubation period for giardia is usually over a week.

I generally dip and drink pulling water from well off shore. In recent years I've picked up a gravity filter for travel with folks that insisted on treatment and now that I have it I'll use it. Though again I pull from mid lake.

Old Salt wrote on May 2^nd, 2022 at 7:18am:


I agree with this to an extent (especially about the wilderness keeping you on alert).  However, if I was on a permit that included several other folks AND, IF at least one of the others was afraid that by ME getting sick I would be jeopardizing the trip for everyone on the permit (by my travel limitations or by me getting sick enough that I had to be carried out of the park, etc.), I'm sure I would take a filter.  In fact, I almost always DO bring a filter along.  When I am on my own, though, I only really ever use a filter when I think there's a real chance of a problem (swamps, small shallow lakes, lots of creek/stream travel, or water otherwise compromised).

The way I see it, somehow primitive man (up until the last century) got by on water not nearly as clean as what you typically find in Quetico and further north. By exercising a degree of caution, I've been fortunate enough to get by, too.  Yes, I understand there has been some pollution even up there and yes, the microscopic bugs in my gut (my personal biome) may be a bit different than those of primitive man (making me more vulnerable).  Nevertheless, I'm in my fourth decade of not experiencing water contamination issues I am aware of.  I acknowledge that some of my paddling partners will take exception to that statement, point to certain behavioral aberrations of mine, and strenuously argue otherwise, however.  C'est la vie....

I will certainly never scoff at anyone who exercises their prerogative for more cautious water processing practices than mine.  Also, I'll always abide by permit party preferences re: risk management (of any sort) rather than make others worry or put anyone else's vacation at risk.  That's called "teamwork."

Of course, from time to time, this may explain why I sometimes grab a park permit for a "party of 1", and elect to join up with other parties only later during my trip.  My personal time; my personal choice, and I'm not really sharing my risk with others.

Drink up!

Later,

Jimbo   

My experience is identical to Jimbo’s? Yikes! I suspect that we are not alone in our practice. I never considered that this was putting our trips at risk. I see it as a function of understanding the nature of the bug and where it is safe or unsafe to collect water. Heck, there’s risk in most everything we do on canoe trips. If you’re risk adverse, the wilderness will keep you on high alert.

My practice & experience is identical to Old Salt's.

(Egads!  Surely that's reason enough to cause me to rethink things! )

Seriously, though, ArneS makes a valid point about putting your trip at risk.  I would never advocate for someone to follow my practice.  Possibly I'm just lazy but, for whatever reason, it has been risk I've been willing to take (filling my water bladder in larger, deeper bodies of water, in lightly travelled areas, a few hundred feet from the shoreline).

Another explanation: perhaps our (alleged) minds (OS's & mine) have been subtly & irreversibly altered/transformed by all that Canadian Shield water we've consumed over the years.  And everyone knows, as "Quetico Zombies", we must drink more....

Jimbo 

FWIW, I never filtered. Just get your water away from shore. Giardia bugs settle to the bottom of the lake. Never got the bug. Also, don’t draw from current areas as they keep the bug stirred up. No fuss.

You bring up a valid point.  I am no expert, but I simply do what I can to prevent spending my precious camping time being sick.  Some roll the dice and don't filter at all as that has worked for them. 

For me it is just a matter of convenience.  I start my trip with a clean filter, so when my filter clogs I have clean water readily available.  My DIY filter is setup around camp and not down by the water, so it's more convenient to just grab a cup, pour some clean water and fill the syringe right there and perform the backflush.

The comments interest me about backflushing.  I have been of the opinion that the danger of ingesting "nasties" is not a question of do you prevent all of them but can you keep their numbers below a certain threshold.  I think of what I might get in my system by swimming in water that is "reasonable" but not up to drinking quality.  I suspect most of us do not think twice about taking a swim, certainly we are exposing ourselves to nasties when we do that.

With that in mind, what is the issue with backflushing using water that is "swimmable" (for those especially concern, a minimal forward flush with "debugged" water could be added)?  Just asking the question, for those more expert in these matters than I.