Trigger Mike Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 There is a creek in my woods that must be from an underground spring. It is near where we want to camp. It has a decent flow to it. If I put rocks in the creek would the rocks help clean it up for drinking? I was thinking of adding a few egg rocks like you get at Lowes etc. It is mostly shallow but has a wide shin deep area and I would add them when it narrows again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Never drink untreated water from any source. I suggest that you boil the water for at least 10 minutes before consuming it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noz Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 A ceramic water filter is good. I grew up drinking out of the river in front of my home. No longer. Too many nasty little bugs around now because of the increase in human population. and yes, even your pretty little spring can be contaminated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 agreed. Will the rocks at least filter some of the mud out so the filter does not have to work as hard? I was thinking of getting the Platypus® GravityWorks™ 2-Liter Bottle Kit from cabelas for 100 but thought the rocks would make it easier and the filter last longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Water needs a long run over gravel to clearify. What you are doing is to allowing the heavy particles to settle while the water continues to run it's course. The longer the gravel run, the clear the water gets, but, and there is always that ugly but, the clear water will aleays be at the end of the run. And it still is not potable. Needs to be treated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Water needs a long run over gravel to clearify. What you are doing is to allowing the heavy particles to settle while the water continues to run it's course. The longer the gravel run, the clear the water gets, but, and there is always that ugly but, the clear water will aleays be at the end of the run. And it still is not potable. Needs to be treated. got it. thanks to all. I ordered the water purifier and will add some egg rock but still purify it. If I boil it I take it that it will be clean enough to drink but a purifier gets more out. Am I right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Boiling kills the bugs - cholera, typhus, like that. But if there are any heavy metals in it - lead, copper, arsenic, they are still there. A good ceramic filter gets rid of everything. If you wish to make your filter last longer, and not have to work so hard, prefilter your water. Dip up a gallon or so, and let it set. The solids sink. Then carefully pour off the top 2/3 (so you don't pick your solids up again) through a paper towel or coffee filter into a second container. Pour THAT water into your water filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bristol Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 A good portable purifier should make the water drinkable. They do sell them for for hikers, campers, military personel, etc. Just research whatever one you are interested in to be sure it will do what you want it to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noz Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Did some serious backpacking (for me) and carried a ceramic filter. Went so far as to strain mud through a t-shirt a couple of time and then ran it through the filter. Tasted heavenly. Hiked another 300 yards and crossed a clear free flowing stream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 IF the water source is a spring on your property....take a sample to the county for testing. IF the water source does not oringinate on your property...I'd never drink unboiled...you never know when or what someone maybe releaving into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Back in July of 1983 I went on a business trip to Japan and Taiwan and every night there was a party where large amounts of alcohol were consumed. This went on for about 12 days and then a long flight back to the U.S. Well I got into Billings, Montana and the practice wife and the outlaws picked me up at the airport and we drove to Sheridan, Wyoming. Early the next morning the brothers in laws and I headed to the Powder River Canyon home of the Hole In The Wall Gang for a five day fly fishing pack trip. I was so dehydrated because of the alcohol intake over the last twelve days and the long airplane flight that the little water that I packed in was used up very quickly. You've seen the movie with the guy crawling across the desert floor in search of water, that was me beside the middle fork of the Powder River and I drank and drank and drank. Well about the third day I was one sick puppy so we packed up and packed out. We got back to Sheridan and I packed the wife and four kids up and headed back to Az. sick all of the way. Went to the ER as soon as I got home and the Iranian Dr named Dr. Irani (believe it or not) diagnosed the stomach flu and sent me home. Well a couple of days later I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. All sorts of tests were taken and low and behold I had contracted girarderia, a nasty little parasite that you get from drinking out of streams and such. They had never heard of it in Az. At that time I guess, because they had such a hard time finding out what it was that was trying to kill me. I lost about 35 lbs over a three week period. I've got two streams running through my property and I use them for irrigation for landscaping. I've had both tested and they are high in agricultural chemicals, we're surrounded by citrus and avocado groves, and ecoli and other nasty things that you don't want in your body. So now days I don't drink it unless it's bottled, brewed or distilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Nelson Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 So now days I don't drink it unless it's bottled, brewed or distilled. I worked with a guy who had been a broadcast engineer in Ecuador, and he used to have to go to sites in the Amazon basin for 2 weeks at a time several times a year. He'd always take 3 suitcases: one for clothes, one for tools, and one full of canned tuna and crackers. He said there's a strawberry pop you can get everywhere in the Amazon that's safe to drink, but otherwise he wouldn't even wash with the local water until it was boiled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I hate to break it to ya folks, but there is no longer ANY safe surface water in the U.S. It all is contaminated minutes, if not seconds from the time it reaches the surface. Treatment is absolutely required. The human body has lost it's ability to fight off all the nasty little creatures, viruses, microbes, etc. millennia ago. The coffee filter/ceramic filter idea is a god one. I personally take it one step further by adding a purification tablet and letting sit for a spell. I boil all dish and body wash water while away from known sources. It only takes one epidode, as Yul Lose can attest, to make that point very clear. Hopefully we have not forgotten the not so distant past when folks died regular of cholera, typhoid, dissintary, etc by the thousands. It could happen again today. Mark Aurich WWTP Facility Manager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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