Most people know that there are microscopic organisms in backcountry water that can make you sick. But how prevalent are these organisms?

Many people have tolerances to certain types of organisms in water and thus think that they don’t need to treat any of their water! However, there are many protozoa, bacteria and viruses that can cause severe illness.

Here are a few of the most common and threatening organisms, advised by Ray Brooks.

Protozoa
Protozoa are the most common disease causing organisms in backcountry water. They are also the largest and easiest to remove with microfiltration. However, they are the hardest to kill with chemicals.

Cryptosporidium. Cryptosporidium is a type of protozoa that is found in 97 percent of the rivers and lakes found the in the United States. In 1991, two studies found cryptosporidium present in 65 – 87 percent of U.S. surface water samples.

Giardia. Giardia is just as common as cryptosporidium in backcountry water. It’s estimated that 2- 5 percent of people have giardia at a given time in the U.S. In fact, from 1979 – 1988, an estimated 4,600 people were hospitalized per year as a result of giardia. The CDC reports during 1991 – 2000 show that giardia was a cause of 16.2 percent of reported infectious outbreaks spread through drinking water.

If you become infected with giardia or cryptosporidium symptoms can be very intense. They include watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping, weight loss, fever and vomiting.

The hard part about identifying protozoan infections is that they typically have a long incubation period. It typically takes 5 – 28 days before symptoms appear. Until 2005, people had to let these infections run its course. However, now a drug called Alinia can help.

You can also treat water with Katadyn or MSR microfilters to remove protozoa. Chlorine dioxide is also helpful in killing cryptosporidium.

Bacteria
Bacteria that is found in backcountry water that affects humans, is the same type of bacteria that is found in improperly processed meat. The method of transmission is the same – through traces of feces contamination.

Campylobacter jejuni. This is one one of the most common bacteria in backcountry water. C. jejuni can survive in high-altitudes. It can also survive in surface water for months at a time. C. jejuni can be carried by poultry, horses, cows, waterfowl, rodents, deer, elk and bears.

C. jejuni affects an estimated 1 million people every year. Symptoms include diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever. Symptoms usually arrive within 2 – 5 days of ingestion. Illness usually lasts a week.

E. coli. E. coli actually consists of four classes. These four classes cause gastroenteritis in humans. Symptoms include watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, low-grade fever, nausea and malaise. E. coli is usually found in the intestines.

Salmonella typhi. People affected by salmonella typhi know it by its common name – Typhoid Fever. There are about 400 cases reported in the U.S. each year and the majority of these cases originated from international travel. Typhoid fever can be life-threatening and it’s recommended that you get an immunization shot or booster before traveling internationally.

Cholera. Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The infection causes severe vomiting, leg cramping, water diarrhea and a rapid loss of body fluids. Without treatment, cholera can cause death within hours.

Bacteria can be removed from water through Katadyn, MSR filters and purification tablets.

Viruses
Viruses in water have only one source – human feces from infected carriers. The majority of outbreaks occur due to cross contamination. Outbreaks have also occurred from well or river water contaminated with raw sewage.

Enteric adenovirus & astroviruses. Enteric adenovirus is the most common virus found in water. It can cause respiratory problems but can also cause illnesses such as gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, cystitis and rash illness. Enteric adenovirus causes 5 – 20 percent of the gastroenteritis in young children.

Norovirus and the calcivirus group. Noroviruses symptoms include headaches, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Symptoms usually appear within 48 hours. Norovirus can survive in up to 10 ppm chlorine – well above the levels used in public water systems. You can, however, treat norovirus with chlorine dioxide at 1 ppm in 30 minutes.

Rotavirus. One of the hard things about rotavirus is that it has an incubation period of 2 days. Symptoms include vomiting and watery diarrhea for 3 – 8 days. They are usually accompanied by fever and abdominal pain. Children are particularly affected by rotavirus and account for the hospitalization of 55,000 children in the U.S. each year.

Hepatitis A. Hepatitis A can be very prevalent in water outside the U.S.. However, it can be present in backcountry water in our borders. Hepatitis A affects liver functions and can cause long-term problems. It’s recommended that you get an immunizations shot for international travel.

Enteroviruses. This family of viruses includes 62 separate viruses that can infect humans. Most of the viruses cause cold- or flu-like symptoms. However, some of them can cause Polio, aseptic meningitis and more.

To combat viruses in water, you should first use a microfilter, then treat the water for 15 minutes with chlorine dioxide.

Other concerns
Blue-green algae. Also known as Cyanobacteria, this algae can affect water’s color and smell. You should try and avoid cyanobacteria water, however, if you’re forced to use that water, try and filter water where the algae doesn’t seem to be as thick. Be sure to run the water through activated charcoal. Microfilters will remove the majority of the toxins.

Contaminated water. You’ve probably seen pools that have a skull-and-cross-bones sign in front of them. These pools are usually contaminated with metal deposits or chemicals. While activated charcoal will remove many organic chemicals, it probably won’t remove metals, salts, or carbonates.

Judy in Chicago had just purchased a new hose for her grandchildren to use as they played in the backyard during the summer.

However, she immediately returned the hose when she got home and read on the label, “Wash hands after use” due to the possibility of leached lead!

Findings
Many commercially bought water hoses contain dangerously high levels of lead which leech into the water flowing through them. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, water sitting in a garden hose that has been left in the sun can contain a level of lead that reaches 100 times over what is considered a safe amount.

Many garden hoses are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) – a toxic plastic – and lead is often used as a stabilizer in PVC. The dangerous levels of lead in garden hoses could potentially cause lead poisoning, cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm. (Read the Natural News article.)

A few years ago, ABC did a report where they purchased 10 garden hoses from nation-wide distributors. They filled the hoses with water, sealed both ends, and allowed them to sit in the sun for a day. The water was then tested for lead.

Four of the 10 hoses were found to leak extremely high levels of lead into the water.

Filling your water storage with a hose
Many people use a simple garden hose to fill their water containers or tanks. This means that if you’re using an unsafe type of hose, you could be storing lead in your water tank!

Obviously, you don’t want to fill your emergency water supplies with lead! By purchasing a lead-free hose or a filter, you can ensure that this won’t happen.

What hoses are safe?
We’d answer that question by saying it’s OK to drink from a hose only if it’s labeled safe or if you flush it first. Otherwise, the water standing inside may contain worrisome amounts of lead and other chemicals that leach from the hose itself. Many hoses are made of polyvinyl chloride, which uses lead as a stabilizer…

When you buy a hose, choose one labeled safe for drinking. With any hose, flush it by letting
the water run for a minute or so before you drink. (Read the Consumer Report article.)

What’s there to worry about when it comes to potentially contaminated water?

There are basically 7 areas of concern when it comes to purifying water.  They are:

• Protozoa – Cryptosporidium & Giardia
• Bacteria
• Viruses
• Parasites
• Particulate
• Chemicals
• Taste/Odor

When it comes to purifying water because of these risks you basically have three options.

Boiling – By boiling water you bring the temperature of the water to a high enough degree that it kills living bacteria and viruses.  This makes your water bacteriologically safe to drink.  One of the challenges with boiling water for water purification is the need for a heating source.

Chemical – If boiling is not an option, the next option is to use a chemical which will actually kill the bacteria.  A popular option is iodine, and you can get this in tablet form.  The challenge with iodine is that it has an after taste.  However there are options like Potable Aqua + PA Plus which removes the iodine after taste. If you’re on the move Iodine tablets are a great choice because a packet of iodine tablets are extremely light weight and easily transportable.

MSR has recently introduced a purifier which uses the same technology that is used in municipal water treatment plants.  The MSR Miox Purifier was developed in conjunction with the military.  Basically it creates a powerful dose of mixed oxidants (MIOX) which inactivates all viruses, bacteria, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium.  A little salt and some camera batteries and you’re good to go.

If you’re staying put and you have large amounts of stored water such as a water storage barrel; I would recommend bleach (which contains chlorine).  With a very little amount of bleach you can purify a large amount of water (1 teaspoon of bleach for every 10 gallons of water).

Filtration – Water filtration is a process where a mesh filter with miniscule holes allows the water to flow through but limits contaminates.  When selecting a water filter, to insure that it will pick up most major contaminates you want to be sure that the filter pore size is 0.2 or smaller.  This pore size will take care of everything but viruses.  There are packages likes the MSR Sweet Water Microfilter Purifier System which includes both a filtering and a purifying system and addresses all 7 contaminates.

So you’ve finally got your 30 gallon barrels and you’ve filled them with water.  What steps do you need to take so that when disaster hits you know that you can tap into your emergency supply of water and have confidence that the water is safe to drink?

The first thing you need to do is treat the water to insure that it’s safe to consume.  So what is the best method for treating your emergency water for long term storage?

I frequently see websites that “recommend” the use of a small amount of household bleach to treat your water.  And in a pinch it will do the job.

However, household bleach is an industrial-grade product that is not tested, approved, or recommended by the manufacturer for safe consumption in drinking water. When you look at ingredient lists and MSDS’s for cleaning chemicals, like household bleach, it’s worth remembering that they are not made for human consumption.  The numbers given are typically within tolerances and ingredients less than 1% do not have to be listed in most cases, but this doesn’t remove the fact that there is potential for unknown chemicals within the product. There could be other substances that are byproducts of the production process that are poisonous and could be potentially harmful found in household bleach.  If you’re in a true emergency situation, using household bleach would be better than using nothing, but it’s definitely not your best option.

Due to the potential risks that come from using common household bleach to treat your emergency water supply we recommend the use of Water Preserver™.   The number one reason for using this product over household bleach is that it has been specifically manufactured for human consumption.  In fact, water preserver is the only product registered and licensed by federal and state EPA and approved for this purpose.

Water Preserver is manufactured with high-purity ingredients using a proprietary process to produce a highly effective form of stabilized and pH-balanced Sodium hypochlorite. The product is safety-sealed and date-coded to insure purity and potency, and it’s guaranteed 100% effective.  It’s guaranteed to kill bacteria, viruses, mold, and fungus and will remain bacteriologically safe for drinking for 5 years.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also be interested in:

How to Clean, Prepare and Fill a Water Barrel

The Top 5 Priorities of Emergency Preparedness – Priority #4 – Clean Water

Tired of Rotating Your Water all the Time?  Me Too.

Step 1: Before filling a water container makes sure you clean it thoroughly before any other steps. You can safely clean a Food-Grade water container with dish soap and water. Another way to clean it is by adding 1 tsp. of liquid house bleach to 1-quart of water. Make sure all soap residues is out before filling the container with water.

Step 2: Fill container with regular tap water, for your lager containers like a 15-30 Gallons you might want to use your garden hose. WARNING: Your standard garden hose could contain a lead lining and is not recommended for water storage. If you are unable to know if your hose doesn’t contain lead, please check with your local home improvement store to locate a Lead-Free or Food-Grade Garden Hose.

Step 3: When using your standard tap water, it will render a 6-Month Shelf Life. To maximize the water supply it should be treated with water preserver (Add 8 drops of for every gallon of water). That will render the water a 5-Year Storage Life.

Step 4: Be sure to place the date on the water container so you know when you filled it, and when you’ll need to fill it, again. If you used chlorine treated water, rotate every 6 months. If you used water preserver or tablets rotate as often as the package indicates. Please feel free to use the Water Storage document bellow for your water storage needs.

Step 5: Store in a cool, dark place. It’s ideal to store water in a location where nothing in the home will be damaged if the container leaks. It’s also helpful to remember that you can improve the taste of the water by pouring it back and forth between containers before use.

Storing water is a huge part of every emergency plan. Like we have discussed in this blog before, you got to have water and preferably a lot of it. But storing a lot of water presents a major problem: rotation. As most of you know, water is very heavy. It weighs a little more than 8 lbs. per gallon. To put that into perspective, your 55 gallon water barrel when completely full weighs more than 450 lbs. Yikes! That is a back ache waiting to happen if you try to move it. And getting the water out of it to rotate can be just as difficult.

Keep in mind that untreated water that is stored in a cool area away from direct sunlight in opaque containers needs to rotated at least annually. Some municipalities do a good job of treating their drinking water and so it might extend that shelf life, but as a general rule, water stored in that way, should be rotated annually.

But rotating water (especially annually) is a pain. And because of that you and I both know that it doesn’t happen as often as it should. With that in mind, let me give you a few suggestions to help with water rotation. Hope they help.

1. When you store water use a Water Preserver –
www.TheReadyStore.com sells a Water Preserver that is designed to treat up to 55 gallons of water and extends the shelf of the water to 5 years! I’ll take 5 years over 1 year any day. So in all of your storage containers, use a Water Preserver to extend the shelf life and not have to rotate as often.

2. Store water in smaller containers–

A 5 gallon stackable water container will slightly more expensive up front, but you will rotate the water much more easily and as a result much more often.

3. Buy a siphon pump –

I have an inexpensive siphon pump that works awesome. It screws into the top of my 55 gallon water barrel and once it is primed that water just keeps on flowing. It makes emptying my barrel so much easier and as a result, I rotate more often.

4. Keep you water storage in a place where it is easy to rotate the water –

Have a drain close by or access to the outside where you can dump your water and easily replenish it with new water.

It is never safe to drink water from a source that has not yet been treated or you are unsure of. (For Example: water from a stream, lake, river, pond etc.) These sources of water especially could be contaminated with a variety of biological or chemical contaminates, including bacteria and parasites (such as Giardia) that may cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis.

There are many different methods that can be used to treat a contaminated water source; among the most common and effective ways are boiling, filtering, and using chemical treatments. In an emergency situation where you are forced to evacuate, your resources will be limited. You might not have fuel or supplies available to burn for fire, and if you aren’t prepared with a water filter, chemically treating your water is your best option. There are a few ways to chemically treat water if the supply you have is not deemed ‘drinkable’.

These are some of the most common ways to chemically treat your water:

Chlorinating Water with Bleach - In this method water should be treated with bleach. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon (8 drops) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) for every gallon of water. (4 liters) Use only house hold bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives.

Using Iodine - Iodine is a little better than chlorine at eliminating Giardia, however it’s more difficult to carry
and is not for everyone. Iodine must be stored in a place where no light can enter, and another downside is that anyone who is allergic to iodine, has thyroid problems, is on lithium, is a woman over 50, or is a pregnant or nursing woman, should be very careful and caution their doctor before using iodine. Generally iodine works best when the temperature of the water is warmer (at least 68 degrees F). If you are using a liquid preparation of 2% tincture of iodine, add 5 drops to a quart of clear water or double that if the water is cloudy. Shake well
and let stand for an hour.

Specialty Products on the Market - There are many products that are specifically meant to preserve or treat water for storage or immediate use on the market. These come in the forms of drops, tablets, pouches, and more. When using one of these methods, always follow the instructions directly on the packaging. Most of these products will purify the water within 20 minutes to a couple of hours.

It will always maximize the life span of the purified water if you store it in a cool place where it will never receive direct sunlight.