Water filtration on the AAWT??

[scoha]

Ive been walking for years and only ever had one brush with dodgy water - at the Schlink Pass (Hilton) hut many years ago. It seems to me the best water in the world is one of the benefits of Australian (Vic/NSW) bushwalking. Is this still the case? Are water filters now a necessary evil - or are we just getting a bit jumpy about what was always in the past not an issue?

[madmacca]

Some popular campsites receive a lot of use, and not everyone who camps at them follow good hygiene practices. At any popular campsite (especially those with vehicle access, it is smart to take the water from slightly upstream from the campsite.

Most of AAWT is sufficiently remote and high enough to have extremely good water, and nearly all sources can be drunk without treatment. Unfortunately, White's River (close to Schlink) was notorious for being contaminated due to a poorly sited toilet. This has been repositioned by NPWS - not sure if this has fixed the problem. Mac Springs at Mt Howitt is another one that I would treat. (Also the Mita River as it drains through farmland. After an experience in the 80's where I looked in the top of a tank attached to a hut and saw a dead possum floating there, I also treat any tank water. With these exceptions noted, I have never had any problems drinking any of the water along the AAWT untreated.

[north-north-west]

Never drank from the Mitta Mitta, although I would tend to be careful with it. Morass Creek is another one you want to be careful of. But I've never had trouble with anything up there except Mac Springs - although that's less likelty to bean issue without the cattle.

[scoha]

And what filtration or sterilisation system would you use of you were a weight weeny?

[madmacca]

And what filtration or sterilisation system would you use of you were a weight weeny?

Iodine. Or perhaps boiling, where there are about only 3-4 dodgy sources along the 660 km of the AAWT.

[madmacca]

Never drank from the Mitta Mitta, although I would tend to be careful with it. Morass Creek is another one you want to be careful of. But I've never had trouble with anything up there except Mac Springs - although that's less likelty to bean issue without the cattle.

Morass Creek. Just the name is enough to cue you in to treat it.

[north-north-west]

Never drank from the Mitta Mitta, although I would tend to be careful with it. Morass Creek is another one you want to be careful of. But I've never had trouble with anything up there except Mac Springs - although that's less likelty to be an issue without the cattle.

Morass Creek. Just the name is enough to cue you in to treat it.

Yeah. It looks fine where the track crosses, but there's a lot of cattle/sheep country upstream.

Mac Springs has only bothered me once, during a dry autumn with very low water levels just after the last time they had cattle in there. Been fine since then.