Pristine Water Purification drops - seen these?

[MountainWalk]

my friend, i also have endured the taste of iodine water for more than a few days. two whole weeks last year

[ICEMAN]

Mountainwalk, iodine does not kill cryptosporidium. I would upgrade my water purification system if just using iodine. We should all be using microfiltration for water needs, other measures as a last resort.

http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DPD/parasites/cryptosporidiosis/factsht_cryptosporidiosis.htm

[MountainWalk]

im one of those stupid people who may get sick one  these days after years andyears of drink "untreated water". or i may not. i'll take the chance.

[Muleyslyr]

Why?

[MountainWalk]

i firmly believe that the more lysol, bleach, dawn and whatever chemicals that you expose yourself too, the less able you are to naturally survive.. i just be how i be and eat a little dirt with my stuff and drink some brown water.  i have never been sick for more than a day or two and my house doesnt smell like the cleaning aisle in the grocery store.. i raise and eat natural food and try to keep healthy.. we arent much more different than cave people.. and even more neat,, we arent too much different from critters either

[couesbitten]

I'm with MountainWalk, I haven't used my water filter in 8 or 9 years, and I've never been sick from anything that I eat or drink in the Mt's. When I was in high school and would be out changing sprinkler pipes that were filled with irrigation water from the Yakima river, I'd get a little thirsty and I'd drink all I wanted. The reason the Indians got sick from the white explorers/settlers as they moved west is because they were being exposed to "germs" that they're bodies had never dealt with before, so they had no resistance.

About 10 years ago, I read an article, I believe in Outside magazine, about this very subject. In it, they took water samples from all over California, from heavily visited areas of Yosemite park, to mountain streams and lakes in the Sierra Nevadas. I do not remember the exact numbers, but I do remember feeling justified by the results of their tests. Only the most obviously contaminated water had bacteria in it, in high enough numbers to make the average person sick. So, ever since then I have felt very comfortable drinking water from nearly any source in the mountains.

Scott

[bobcat]

I got really sick from drinking from a creek in the middle of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. It was that cryptosporodium that I got, or whatever it's called. Three out of four of us that were on that hunt got sick. My dad's friend was so bad we almost stopped at the hospital in Spokane on the way home. I put off going to the doctor for several weeks because I didn't realize how bad it was. I just had diarrhea but otherwise didn't feel bad. I ended up losing about 25 pounds, which was a lot for me back then because I was already so skinny.

So if you drink untreated water and have for years your really lucky, that's all I can say. 

[dreamingbig]

I have a msr mini works and also carry potable aqua.  If the water is really clear/fast moving then I will just use the potable aqua.  If it has more sediment (such as a lake) then I will go with the filter.  The potable aqua doesn't bother me as I am adding a drink mix to it anyway.