We're doing a canoe trip on the Rio Grande....one of the guys setting it up said it's unsafe to drink water, filtered or otherwise, from the Rio Grande.

I don't have a lot of experience, but I would think the filters/purifiers they sale would work with water from the Rio Grande. Does anyone have any advice?

I am no expert on filtering water and such.

But I believe the concern is that the water may contain chemicals that won't get filtered. Remember, the Rio Grande collects runoff from the Mexico side which doesn't regulate what gets through like the U.S. does.

So, yes, filtering will take care of particulates and 'germs', just probably not the other stuff.

tx1c said:

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I am no expert on filtering water and such.

But I believe the concern is that the water may contain chemicals that won't get filtered. Remember, the Rio Grande collects runoff from the Mexico side which doesn't regulate what gets through like the U.S. does.

So, yes, filtering will take care of particulates and 'germs', just probably not the other stuff.

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I have no expertise in this area but untrained observation tells me that stretch of the Rio Grande on the Mexico side is a national park and is practically deserted but to the north is highly productive AG land in New Mexico. So it seems to reason that if you are drinking chemicals from the Rio Grande, in the Big Bend area, you are blaming the wrong Mexico.

Edit: I looked at a map and it is likely I am talking out of my arse here.

If the guide is not drinking the water, filtered or not, I'd probably trust the guides opinion.

rootube said:

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tx1c said:

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I am no expert on filtering water and such.

But I believe the concern is that the water may contain chemicals that won't get filtered. Remember, the Rio Grande collects runoff from the Mexico side which doesn't regulate what gets through like the U.S. does.

So, yes, filtering will take care of particulates and 'germs', just probably not the other stuff.

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I have no expertise in this area but untrained observation tells me that stretch of the Rio Grande on the Mexico side is a national park and is practically deserted but to the north is highly productive AG land in New Mexico. So it seems to reason that if you are drinking chemicals from the Rio Grande, in the Big Bend area, you are blaming the wrong Mexico.

Edit: I looked at a map and it is likely I am talking out of my arse here.

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Majority of the river is from the Rio Conchos flowing from Mexico above Big Bend. The Rio Grande is not very "Grand" past El Paso unfortunately.

The guide is right, but I have filtered and drank water from the river in the park without any ill effects.

Well, if any one is down there, send me a sample and I will analyze it. I can tell you if it can be filtered!

What could be in the water that a good purifier wouldn't catch?

NoahAg said:

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What could be in the water that a good purifier wouldn't catch?

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Probably nothing. It is more likely that it will just foul up the filter. I am curious as well. I am a water treater and have a water analytics lab. If someone wants to get a sample I can run an ICP and microbio count.

Ill bring a sample home with me....at least that way if something goes wrong I'll be able to show the doctors the culprit.

NoahAg said:

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What could be in the water that a good purifier wouldn't catch?

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Presidio is the nearest major town upstream and the Mexican town across the river there is pretty big so no telling what they put in the river in addition to raw sewage.
I loaded my teenagers backpack with plenty of drinking water for all of us while at big bend.

SquirrellyDan said:

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Ill bring a sample home with me....at least that way if something goes wrong I'll be able to show the doctors the culprit.

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IF you make it home.

SquirrellyDan said:

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We're doing a canoe trip on the Rio Grande....one of the guys setting it up said it's unsafe to drink water, filtered or otherwise, from the Rio Grande.

I don't have a lot of experience, but I would think the filters/purifiers they sale would work with water from the Rio Grande. Does anyone have any advice?

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We used this excuse to drink beer all weekend too.

I'm kidding, but we did bring ample water filtered from the Rocky Mountains. I've done lots of float trips, including 4 days down the Rio Grande.

There's not much a good filter can't remove. That said, I would freeze a bunch of 2L water bottles and use that as your ice for your cooler. Kills two birds with one stone, as you don't want a bunch of melted ice water sloshing around in your cooler. Freeze as much as you can including food. Even have your beer iced down before it goes in your boat cooler.

I'd also bring a few water reservoir bags for ease of cooking, cleaning, at camp etc. Several 2-4L bags are best because anything heavier throws off the weight of the boat.

TLDR - bring frozen water bottles, but you're fine with a good water filter

I did a raft trip and we brought all of our water. The river is very silty and would have clogged any filter. The back up option was the pull water in buckets over night to let the silt fall out and then pull off the clearer water and boil that for drinking.
We didn't need to do that so never had to try it out. The river is very silty/chocolate milk looking.

Quasi-related, I don't known when you're going, but I just saw a post on FB from Big Bend today indicating the river is really low:

If you are considering a float trip on the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, please keep in mind that the water level is currently very low. This photo, taken today from the Santa Elena Canyon trail, shows how portions of your river trip will be more of a "canoe-assisted hike".

As of this morning, the flow measured at Castolon was 22 cubic feet per second (cfs)! To put this in perspective, the average flow at Castolon on March 29 over the past 13 years was 105 cfs.
Continuing to geek out on flow records on March 29 - the lowest flow was 14 feet in 2013, and the highest flow was 373 cfs in 2019.

For more information about current conditions and river levels elsewhere in the park, check out this page on our website: https://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/weather.htm.

Interested in a future river trip? Find all the information and latest updates here: https://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/river-trips.htm.

: NPS/CA Hoyt
#bigbend #bigbendnationalpark #riogrande #santaelenacanyon

I highly highly recommend you (do not) drink water out of the rio grande unless it does not border or is up river of Mexico where you are going. It is filled with human feces and sewer runoff from Mexico. I did a whole science experiment on it with university professors back in the day and it's bad, like really bad. Unless you have a 10 million dollar filtration device I wouldn't touch that crap (literally).

Read Joaquin Jackson's book before you go.

Definitely a good read before going down to the Big Bend.

dave99ag said:

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Definitely a good read before going down to the Big Bend.

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I actually found this book at my local library. Pretty good read....the unsolved murder story was a bit creepy.

I have a friend from HS that was murdered out there. Not in the park but in Terlingua ranch area