How to Wash Dishes in the Woods

Geezer is willing to bet that there is no environment that would make diarrhea fun, and he is 100 percent certain that one of the most distressing environments in which come down with the trots is the great outdoors. So he read with interest this Science News report on how to keep parasites out of your system when living on their turf.  In 2004, Science News reports, a study found that 56 percent of backpackers on the
Appalachian Trail develop diarrhea, and those who don’t always treat
their water to disinfect it face a 69-percent risk of illness. However, 45 percent of the Appalachian hikers who consistently
treated their drinking water also got diarrhea in that study. So other
hygiene lapses—including inadequate washing of hands, dishes, and
eating utensils—are apparently major threats to health in the
wilderness.
What to do? Science News directs us to the advice of Joanna Hargreaves, the microbiologist who conducted the study.  To clean eating implements adequately, the story reports, Hargreaves proposes a
rigorous approach to washing in which backpackers would first fill each
of three large bowls or buckets with about 5 liters (1 1/3 gallons) of
clean water. Next, add 5 milliliters (1 teaspoon) of detergent to the
first container and 10 ml (2 tsp) of 4-percent chlorine bleach (a
common commercial preparation) to the second. To wash dishes and utensils, remove most food residues in the
first bowl and, in the second, scrub the items until they are visibly
clean. A quick rinse in the third bowl removes the odor of the cleaning
chemicals. Read more from Science News.