Philmont Preparation Sessions: Episode 7 - Backcountry Water Purification

Philmont Ranger Trainer Hall Swain discusses the ins and outs of water purification here at Philmont, and takes a deep dive into explaining Micropur Tablets (our most common purification method here at Philmont!)

[@CreachterZ]

Thank you for this information.

[@paisleyfamily5972]

Micropur instructions say wait 4 hours. I’ve always followed the half hour rule but wondered where it comes from. Thanks

[@texasjacksonswf]

I came here with the same question. Bought tablets after our trek and noticed the package says 4hrs instead of 30 min.

[@TonyRueb]

Most pathogens will be killed after 30 minutes but the reason why they instruct for 4 hours is because of cryptosporidium, that takes 4 hours to kill. However, it's pretty rare in the US to see that in the water and likely they don't have any there so there's no reason to wait the 4 hours.
The same can be said for viruses too, they just don't exist in great enough numbers in the US water to be of any concern. So honestly filtering would be just fine. You can get a 10 L gravity feed water filter for a little over $100 from MSR that would be perfectly sufficient. Gear Skeptic on RUclips has a pretty good series of videos on water purification and goes into the science better.
I feel Philmont is horribly out of date on these things.