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January 20th, 2003 Your questions and answers about everything stream related.
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Q. From Herb in S. Carolina...My friend Mike and I recently stalked native trout in the highlands of the Great Smoky Mountains. Backpacking for miles took its tool, and we barely had enough energy to filter new drinking water. A conveniently located 'out house' was near our campsite and Mike, in his infinite wisdom, tried to extinguish a cigarette into the confines of the latrine, when he was startled to find that a fire had started on loose dangling toilet paper inside the walls of the holding tank. Naturally he rushed to the campsite and grabbed all the freshly filtered water water and proceeded to put the fire out.
A.
Surely, you're putting me on! This sounds like something
out of a tall-tales contest. Obviously, there would be
no difference in the fire extinguishing capabilities of
filtered vs. non-filtered water. However, in keeping
with the spirit of this tale, one might postulate that,
in fact, unfiltered water would probably be better at
extinguishing fire because it would still contain
particulate matter, which would help smother the fire.
On an equal volume basis, that also means that it would
be a little heavier, again having a greater smothering
impact. Of course by being heavier, it means the carrier
would get exhausted quicker and not be able to carry as
much water in a given period of time. Need we go further?
~ C. E. (Bert) Cushing, aka Streamdoctor
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The 'Stream Doctor' is a retired professional stream ecologist and
author, now living in the West and spending way too much time
fly-fishing. You are invited to submit questions relating to
anything stream related directly to him for use in this Q & A Feature
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