Lost River Camps

How long do I boil river water to make it safe to drink?

My friends and I are planning a weekend camping and canoe trip in Maine in a few weeks on the Saco River. We're planning on bringing bottled water with us for drinking, but using the river water for cooking. The river "looks" pristine but I know it's not safe to drink without boiling. How long should we plan on boiling the water before we use it to cook with?

Public Comments

1. Actually, if the river looks prestine, it probably IS safe to drink. Unless you have a reason to believe that the water is not good, you don't really need to boil the water. However, if it looks suspect, or tastes suspect, you may need to do more than boiling. Ultimately it can be a matter of the mind, but good, clean river water, usually is good for drinking (and tastes sweet, not hard). Mostly above 2-3 yards off the river bed, if there is no silt, you are good. Above from personal experiences and judgement only.
2. About 5 minutes at a rolling boil is good, or you could just use a hand pump filter and not worry about it.
3. It is always recommended to boil any water you get from any stream, lake or pond. Boiling is the best way to purify water that is unsafe because of the presence of protozoan parasites or bacteria as it is in all of the above water sources. If the water is cloudy, it should be filtered before boiling. Filters designed for use when camping, coffee filters, towels (paper or cotton), cheesecloth, or a cotton plug in a funnel are effective ways to filter cloudy water. Place the water in a clean container and bring it to a full boil and continue boiling for at least 3 minutes (covering the container will help reduce evaporation). If you are more than 5,000 feet above sea level, you must increase the boiling time to at least 5 minutes (plus about a minute for every additional 1,000 feet). There are also others that say just bringing it to a boil is effective enough. You could also use Iodine tablets, chlorine liquid or tablets, or pump filters if you don't wish to boil. Make sure you know how to use both. If you use a pump filter, make sure it has enough capacity for what you are planning on needing. I've listed some sites below that provides great info for water purification:
4. Usually the rule of thumb is 12 to 20 minutes at boil. I always play to the safe side often half hour. You do not have to have a rolling boil just a simmer, its the temperature that kills not the froth. However if you have something like a pasta or rice which itself requires about 12 minutes you would be fairly safe to put it in at about 8 minutes into a boil. In a city you got access to emergency services inside 10 minutes. Out there its at least a day. The margin to make an error is worse. I would contemplate foods which are not prepared out there. Like breads and canned meats using plastic disposable ware. If you boil something this implies cooking a vegetable or pasta. I take it you're a vegan if that is the case. The ideal cooking device out in the woods is the frying pan and a dash of oil. This reduces the need to cook with water which as you stated, can be a problem. If you are not a Vegan opt for sausages the first day and bacon on the second. The advantage of the frying pan is that you can use it to cook fish on the journey if you are into fishing. Only the French appear to have acquired a taste for boiled fish. If you are a Vegan. Remember bring a bread or even a unyeasted prepared dough or the mixings for pancakes or Pitas which can be watered without two much sacrifice from your bottled water supply. Pop berries and chopped fruits into a pita or pancake and hooray pemmican. How bush. And if you want to travel light of course in a Vegan way remember that canned veggies can be heated in a frying pan using the water from a can. You will likely only have five meals per person. Lunch and supper, breakfast and lunch the second day. Also if you are running low on bottled water remember you can boil the water for a half hour then fill empty plastic water bottles when still hot. Leave them over night to cool and you will have cool ready to go water in the morning. In addition some outdoors stores sell water purification pills/tablets. Bring these. Rice is even better since that is fifteen minutes minimum. That should kill Beaver Fever which one can get from that type of watershed. But remember another little concern remember that the higher the altitude the longer the boiling since the boiling point is lower. The further up the river you are. The longer the boil by a minute or two. The bigger thing is keeping your hands clean since that is more likely to transfer a disease than water. Remember that when you are on the water your hands on the paddle and the paddle are getting the same exposure to the germs in the water so clean your hands. And when washing the pots the water has to be boiled for some time too. People often mistake this part and that this is the real source of bacterial contamination. Cleaning a frying pan is easier you can wash in the water but always dry it over a fire. Remember frying pans are preferred by bush travellers not pots. You can even boil soup or in a frying pan if you have a mind. But you find it hard to fry with a pot. Also remember to spread the food out equally between canoes in case one is lost or incapacitated then with sensible rationing you can finish the trip or at least get back. Also get a box of those nutribars, get a box of chocolate bars, and get a bag of mixed nuts (trail mix?) for each day per person. When you are canoeing and if you're Vegan then quick energy can be a problem. Munching on nuts or chocolate bars or those nutribars can deliver an energy punch on the water.
5. You don't have to boil the water. You can place a cap full of bleach per gallon of water and use this for the rinse. The dishes need to only set for a minute. If you were going to drink the water, boiling for 3 minutes will kill the germs. If there is farm land upriver from where you are camping, you may have contaminated water. Farmers use insecticides, fertilizers, and weed killers. When it rains, some of these chemicals will find there way into the water. You best bet is a filtering system that removes this junk. A good sports store would probably have this. Good luck and have a great time.
6. The Saco is a lovely river, and is a lot cleaner than it once was. But it runs through industrial and agricultural lands so there could be some bad bugs in the water. As long as every time you cook with the water you let things come to a boil and simmer a couple of minutes, you'll be fine. Water should be filtered if not boiled. Filtering is easier. The campsites along the Saco are very well used in July and Aug. There won't be much firewood available unless you start destroying the woods and finding enough good dry wood can be a real chalenge sometimes. Carrying enough coleman fuel for boiling large quantities of drinking water as well as cooking can be a hassle and is wasterful as well. Please be aware that anything you carry in must be carried out, Empty containers for fuel and water live with you till the end of the trip. If you have a large group, dishwashing is more difficult. A method that works well for me does involve boiling water: Two 5gal pails and two steel buckets all nest together and make a neat 'dishwasher' for the group. Boil river water in the steel buckets and place aside. Dip clean river water into the pails. Put a sponge or scrubby in each. Arrange the four buckets in a row; First a plastic pail for rinsing off food, Then a steel bucket of hot soapy (biodegradeable) water for washing, then a steel bucket of clear hot water for rinsing off the soap and finally a plastic pail of cold water with a dollup of bleach for sanitising. Let everything air dry. Wash your hands often and the dishes carefully. Don't dump the soapy water into the river. Have fun.
7. I'll keep it short and sweet for you. Purchase a hand pump charcoal filter. It's the absolute best way to produce clean drinking water . . . and it will come in handy if you run out of bottled water. Plus you could take less bottled water and make your own water.
8. When you choose to heat your water to destroy any bacteria it may contain, bring the temperature of the water to 150° F. for five minutes, 176° for a minute, or 190° momentarily. Better yet is to use a pump-type filter purifier to remove any bacteria, parasites, or protozoa larger than 0.3 microns. Do some research on Giardia Lamblia, the chief cause of Beaver Fever.
9. Five minutes?!!! A half an hour?!!! You only need to boil it for ONE minute. If the water is cloudy, you will need to filter it, through a cloth or coffee filter to remove foreign matter prior to boiling. Or you could buy a backpacking filter, that will remove foreign matter and purify the water. From the Us Environmental Protection Agency: "If you don't have bottled water, you should boil water to make it safe. Boiling water will kill most types of disease-causing organisms that may be present. If the water is cloudy, filter it through clean cloths or allow it to settle, and draw off the clear water for boiling. Boil the water for one minute, let it cool, and store it in clean containers with covers."
10. YOU SHOULD BOIL ANY WATER YOU DRINK IN THE WILD FOR ABOUT 3-5 MINUTES. EVEN IF THE WATER LOOKS PRISTINE IT IS NOT ALWAYS SAFE TO DRINK. IT COULD STILL HAVE BACTERIA OR OTHER UNSAFE THINGS IN IT.