just a couple comments..this is not a media report but a first person account. also folks who don't know about this area have the idea that the water,like the water in their home lakes is not fit to drink.wrong,really wrong,except for some nasty moose bog maybe.
a message here would be to look into some information about the area you will be going into before you go.a quick search of bwca.com or the many other sites about canoe country would have told them that the water is fit to drink,the portages are long and hard and lots of other not only life saving but comfort info.i have never done any hiking out West but i would sure find out out about what to expect before i hit the trail.note that this was a simple problem and not a bear attack,lighting strike,lost or washed overboard.and just as a last thought,some of the tourist brochures make this sound like a place for Boy Scouts and happy fisherman holding up stringers of fish,which it can be,but that land of sky blue waters can turn nasty fast like any of our wilderness parks.i hope it all works out for those canoe trippers.