Water Purification
While at Philmont, you will have several instances where you will be purifying water. There is no water source within the United States that is safe to drink out of without first treating the water. This includes Philmont too. If you don’t have a water purification system, don’t stress. Philmont will provide your crew with more than enough MicroPur.
While you are at Philmont, you will purify any water you drink, unless you are told that the water is safe to drink by a staff member. Most staffed camps have clean water to drink, but occasionally they have issues with their purification systems. Always ask the staffed camp if water is safe to drink.
Here are the common pumps out on the market.
| Method | How to Use: | Pro’s | Con’s |
| Boiling | Keep at a rolling boil for 2 minutes | The best way to treat water | Requires a lot of time and Fuel. Purified water is hot and most people want to drink cool water. |
| Filter – Ceramic | Pump water from stream through filter into container | Long lasting when properly mantained | Fragile and if they break you’re out of luck |
| Filter – Paper | Easy mantainence, swap filter when it’s tough to pump. | If filter is clogged on the trail, usually no way to backflush. | |
| Filter – Hybrid | Ceramic catches large particles before passing through the paper. Best & longest filter life. | Can be expensive | |
| MicroPur | Place 1 tablet per liter, wait 30 minutes. If water is below 39° and dirty wait 4 hours | Light weight & simple to use. No aftertaste like iodine. | Wait 30 minutes, must be in a sealed container for chlorine-dioxide gas to work. |
| SteriPens | Program pen for amount of water to purify, submerge bulb in water and stir water with pen until pen indicates it is safe to drink. | Purified water within 90 to 120 seconds. | Cannot sterilize contaminated threads. Batteries may run out, bulb may break. Can have technology malfunctions. |
You should always replace your filter before you arrive at Philmont.
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