View Full Version : How much water?
How much water do you carry with you on ventures into the outdoors?
Generally, I have 1 or 2 NATO water bottles (2 pints or just over 1 litre each). Anything more than a day hike and I plan with water in mind and have watering holes planned along the way and use a Katadyn Mini to clean and purify the water I/we need.
How much water do you carry?
How do you carry it?
How does water figure in your trip planning?
Fallow Way
25-07-2004, 18:31
I also carry 1 or 2 nato`s for anything up to a day and night trip.
I may also add my drom bag if i have a light pack anyway. If I am travelling for more than that would see me through, then water goes to the top of the list. If i`m in a wood i know, obviously just plan to camp nearby to water. Atherwise I plan to find a water source waaay before I think i`ll need it and unless i`m getting from a-b, then i`ll stick nearby while i explore, or keep nearby to a water course on my route. Obviously camp allows for a production line over a fire :-) otherwise if i want to keep moving i take my pre-mac
TheViking
25-07-2004, 18:59
Hi...
1-2 litres. Depends on trip length, terrain (is there any water supply on the route)... :wink: :biggthump
i usually don't stay to long in the woods, so just a liter in a dutch army waterbottle or my 2 liter camelbak bladder. i did carried more on a multiday hike.
Carcajou Garou
25-07-2004, 22:39
A 2 ltr hard bottle and a 1 qrt canteen while hunting, on long canoe trips 2- 2 ltr hard bottles in canoe and a 6 ltr dromedary (empty) at camp to be filled with MSR waterfilter, when out and about a 1 qrt canteen. Always have water purifying tablets along.
just a thought
I only carry 1-2l of water with me, but I have the capacity for 3-4l so if i camp up for a few days I can have a store to save me those extra trips to the stream.
:-)
Ed
ChrisKavanaugh
26-07-2004, 01:28
I always "tank up" regardless of any trip duration. This translates into drinking until I have to urinate. To many people walk around in perpetual deyhydration just in the city, substituting coffee, carbonized softdrinks and alcohol which all actually contribute to the problem. I always have a pilot's survival flask in a large pocket , two 1 qt canteens on my lightweight combat harness or 2 in my rucksack. Waters heavy, but I've been short once and once only. When I watch ZULU with Michael Caine I have to keep a bit handy. Every time the buglar's mouth is dry and hes ordered to "spit boy" I automatically do the same. :tongue-ti
I must admit I tend to drink quite a bit (water that is) and get headaches quite quickly if I'm getting dehydrated so I normally carry a 2L Flexiflask as a minimum.
RovingArcher
26-07-2004, 05:02
It depends on where I will be and how long I will be gone, but generally I carry a US quart canteen and a 1 liter diet pepsi bottle along with a couple of 1 gallon ziploc freezer bags for additional water storage. I have chemical treatment and a PUR Hiker filter with me and a map marking usable watering holes. Lots of heavy metal springs around these parts, so care has to be exercised when takng water from the land.
MartiniDave
26-07-2004, 09:27
I like 2 litres per person, with a spare bottle in the car.
Dave
I generally tank up on water till I'm full, proir to going out for a day in the woods, and then I take a 2 litre fizzy drinks bottle washed and fill with tap water. This generally does me but I also carry potassium permanganate (spelling) for emergency purifacation, or boil water.
Cheers
JFW
I carry a minimum of 2lt of water in an MSR dormary though i'm much more comfortable if i have 3lts
If i'm on a longer outing i also carry a 7lt dormadry empty to fill up for camp
Depends on where I'm travelling. In Norway I rarely carry more than 1 liter (sometimes 2) in an old danish army waterbottle as it usually is easy to get nice clear and fresh water almost anywhere in the mountains or woods. It's usually not even necessary to use any filters, purifying tablets or boiling to clean the water.
When in Africa I carry anything between 1 liter of clean water and a water filter (+ tablets as backup) and up to 6 liters depending on the area, availability of water etc.
That is if I'm travelling on foot. Travelling by car into extreme arid areas demands a lot more water
I only carry 1-2l of water with me, but I have the capacity for 3-4l so if i camp up for a few days I can have a store to save me those extra trips to the stream.
:-)
Ed
That kinda methodology is ringing true here too! Anything for the easy life! :o):
3l Platypus with minimum 1.5-2l in it. For a long trip I take 3 liters, that always does me the day. I'll start carrying some sort of purifier now, after what happened on thursday. (I'll do a post about it when I have time, probably now).
Not exactly on topic, sorry: I've heard that after 50m of rolling over rocks and stuff water from a stream is safe to drink. That would be for a non-polluted mountain stream, with possibly some animals living higher up. Is it true?
Not exactly on topic, sorry: I've heard that after 50m of rolling over rocks and stuff water from a stream is safe to drink. That would be for a non-polluted mountain stream, with possibly some animals living higher up. Is it true?
I doubt it ... you could have a dead sheep in the river 51 meters upstream, or worse still, someone using it as a toilet ... :smiley-fa
TheViking
26-07-2004, 16:34
Hi...
As far as i'm concerned, it's not directly safe to drink water from streams where animals live/drink of it higher up. (it's the same as if you get bitten by a dog for example, it's a very good idea to get the Tetanus injection) Animals mouth is not very clean.
I find that the best way to take water from a stream is where stuff will have the least tendency to be stuck. Collect the water in a container by 'shooting' the container fast in the water and take it, so that the opening of the container, is in the direction the stream flows. In this way, you don't get that much stuff in your water.
In my opinion anyway.... :wink: :biggthump
The stream I was thinking of only potentially had "bouquetins" higher up, actually 400m higher (atlitude, not distance) and were on the other side of the mountain. Plus the contamination wouldn't go directly in the water, because it had it's source much lower down than they were. But I didn't drink it because I still had some left.
Would that have been safe?
P.S: For filling up it had lots of mini waterfalls so that wouldn't have been a problem.
I tend to be on a bike or backpacking so in summer take atleast 3litres and fill up where I can, may have to take more for the big trip this summer
I have a variety of platypus containers ranging from 0.5 to 3 litres and don't use hard bottles at all anymore. I take 1 litre in a bumbag when mountain biking and fill up along the way. Typically 1-2 L plus top ups on a day out. I'm looking for a 6 litre MSR dromedary for overnight / family use as they have a good reputation and I have a miniworks filter that will screw directly onto it for easy filling.
Cheers
Keith_Beef
26-07-2004, 21:53
The stream I was thinking of only potentially had "bouquetins" higher up, actually 400m higher (atlitude, not distance) and were on the other side of the mountain. Plus the contamination wouldn't go directly in the water, because it had it's source much lower down than they were. But I didn't drink it because I still had some left.
Would that have been safe?
P.S: For filling up it had lots of mini waterfalls so that wouldn't have been a problem.
Doug, do you live somewhere in Savoie?
In England, our scout leaer always warned about taking water from moorland streams, because of the danger that sheep carcases were layng in them? And having seen them in the moors around North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, I'm a believer. Not a trace. Of doubt in my mind. Ooh!
As for animals mouths being dirty, I believe that primates have dirtier mouths than dogs and cats....
But then, just being dirty doesn't stop something ele from dirtying you.
Keith.
TheViking
26-07-2004, 22:03
Hi...
Yes, primates do have dirtier mouths than dogs & cats, (it's the same, if you get bitten by a primate, it's a good idea to take the Tetanus injection) but you should look at it in the way that we do not stick our mouth in the water and drink like a deer. We usually take it from the stream and then store it in a canteen/platypus etc. :wink: By doing it this way, we do not contaminate it.
I believe all of us in here, takes care of nature and not throwing garbage and other dirty things in the streams that we pass by. :wink: :-)
Doug, do you live somewhere in Savoie?
Just over the border, in the pleine du Rhône. Well, if the Portes du Soleil is in Savoie that is...I don't know french geography very well.
There could have been a carcass higher up, as we found a horn in one of the streams :shock: I'll be carrying some sort of purrifier from now on anyway.
Keith_Beef
27-07-2004, 15:24
I don't know french geography very well.
You're just like the natives, then ;)
I read in a magazine this morning that 2/3 of all water in France is polluted, due to run-off from agricultural land carrying pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers into the rivers and streams. I don't think there's a way of neutralizing these substances when you're out in the field. All your purifying tablets and nanofilters are doing is killing or taking out the microbes and parasites.
Getting back to the original topic, I've been wondering a bit about water. I don't drink a lot of the stuff (having seen what fish do in it), even when out walking. But I eat a lot of food wth a high water content, like apples and tomatoes.
Maybe I could get away with just carrying enough water for cooking, and about a half litre per day for drinking. With carefully chosen food, that doesn't waste water during cooking (i.e., things that don't need to boil for a long time), maybe even that half litre per day could do both cooking and rehydration.
Keith.
Interesting point Keith, but I'm a little sceptical - purely because of the quantity of apples and tomatoes you'd need to eat
Say you needed 2 litres of water (but I'm happier drinking 4 litres per day). Given that tomatoes are 93% water, and you drink your 1/2 litre of water, you'd need to eat over 1.5 Kg of tomatoes :yikes:
I like tomatoes too, but not that much...
gurushaun
27-07-2004, 17:25
Usually 1 58Patt bottle and a 2L bottle of bottled water ( I buy in bulk I get through about 4L a day) so there is always some by the door as I go out. Now what we need is a drinking hose kit to fit standard 2L PET plastic bottles, they are everywhere :roll: .
Cheers
Shaun
Now what we need is a drinking hose kit to fit standard 2L PET plastic bottles, they are everywhere :roll: .
Cheers
Shaun
The screw thread on the platypus hose fits some ... but nowhere near all ...
It works the other way round everytime : PET tops fit on platypus bladders.