Water · Water course
Clear water can still carry germs that put you down for days with vomiting and diarrhea, which costs you more water than you drank. Clean it in two stages: clear it, then kill what is in it.
Water can look clear and still carry germs you cannot see. The manuals list sickness from dirty water such as dysenterydysentery A gut infection from dirty water or food: bad, often bloody diarrhea with fever and cramps. It drains water from you fast., choleracholera A sickness from dirty water that causes huge amounts of watery diarrhea. It can dry a person out dangerously within hours. and typhoidtyphoid A serious fever sickness spread by water or food that has human waste in it., plus tiny worms and leeches. The MWTC handbook warns that a germ called Giardiagiardia A tiny germ that lives in streams and lakes, even clear mountain ones, and causes days of cramps and diarrhea. is common even in clear mountain streams.
Getting sick from water makes you lose more water through vomiting and diarrhea, which is the opposite of what you need. That is why the manuals treat clean water as a top priority.
Cleaning water has two separate jobs. Clearing it takes out the dirt you can see. Purifyingpurification tablets Making water safe to drink by killing the germs in it: boiling it, or adding tablets, iodine or plain bleach and waiting. it kills the germs you cannot. You usually need both.
Settling takes about 12 hours, a boil takes a few minutes, chemicals need 30 minutes (longer in cold water), and removing a bad taste with charcoal takes 45 minutes.
Clear it first. Muddy or foul water: let it stand for 12 hours, then pour off the clear top. Or pour it through layers of sand and charcoal in a cloth, a sock or a hollow bamboo. Clearing does not kill germs. Letting water stand lets the dirt sink so you can pour off the clear part. A filter of sand and charcoal in a cloth or a sock catches more. Both make water look and taste better, but germs can still pass through, so always go on to the next steps.
Boil it. Bring it to a rolling boil for 1 minute at sea level, and add 1 minute for every 300 meters (1,000 feet) above sea level. If you cannot judge the height, boil 10 minutes. A rolling boil is when big bubbles keep breaking the surface even while you stir. Water boils at a lower heat high in the mountains, which is why the manual adds time as you go up. The 10 minute rule covers you when you do not know how high you are.
Iodine: 5 drops of 2 percent tincture in a full canteen of clear water, 10 drops if the water is cloudy or cold. Wait 30 minutes before drinking. Tincture of iodine is the brown liquid sold for cuts. Cold or cloudy water slows it down, so it needs more drops. Wait the full 30 minutes, and longer in near-freezing water.
Bleach: 2 drops of plain household bleach per liter of clear water, 4 drops if cloudy. Mix, wait 30 minutes. It should smell faintly of chlorine; if not, repeat. Use plain, unscented household bleach. The faint swimming-pool smell after 30 minutes tells you there was enough. If you cannot smell it, add the same dose again and wait again.
Tablets: follow the package. They are the easiest thing to carry, so put some in every kit. Different tablets have different directions and wait times, so read the package before you need it. The MWTC handbook warns that cold water slows chemicals down and that some germs resist them.
Fix the taste. Pour treated water back and forth between two containers to put air in it, or drop in a piece of charcoal from the fire and let it stand 45 minutes. Treated water can taste flat or like chemicals. Pouring it back and forth adds air and makes it taste better. A lump of charcoal from your fire helps with bad smells.
Keep clean water clean: wash your hands, keep your latrinelatrine A spot set aside as a toilet. Keep it downhill and well away from water and camp. at least 60 meters (200 feet) from any water, and never dip a dirty cup in the clean container. Most dirty water gets dirty from people and animals. A latrine is the spot you use as a toilet; keep it at least 200 feet (60 meters) from water and away from camp. Wash hands before handling food or water, and keep the clean bottle clean.
Rain caught in clean containers and water from inside living plants are usually safe as they are. Everything else, including snowmelt, gets treated. The manuals treat clean rain and water from inside living plants as the exceptions. Snow and ice still get treated unless you are sure they are clean.
At home, make a practice filter: cut the bottom off a plastic bottle, turn it upside down, put a coffee filter or cloth in the neck, and add layers of sand, small gravel and a little charcoal. Pour muddy water through and watch it come out clearer. Then pour it out; this shows clearing, not purifying.
With a grown-up, bring a pot of tap water to a rolling boil on the stove and time one minute, so you know what a real rolling boil looks like. Read the label on your purification tablets now, before a trip, and write the wait time on the bottle.
How long should you boil water at a normal elevation?
1 minute at a rolling boil
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Before you rely on thisA learning tool, not a replacement for training. In an emergency, call 911.