Poll: What is Your Current Preferred Method of Water Filtration/Purification?

[Glenn MacGrady]

I urge the membership to ignore my lighthearted but failed attempt to mock academic journals by emulating them with a word that exemplifies the horror of its own meaning—more concisely than Orwell did in Politics and the English Language—and simply to return to voting on and discussing the OP topic. For this unnecessary hijack, I will ban myself for 24 hours . . . later.

 

[clemency]

I once tried to slip "provided plentiful porcine provender" into an academic paper. Didn't work. Alas.

Pump filter. Katadyn hiker. Also have a Sawyer squeeze, but I don't trust it despite the fact that it is preferred by hundreds of thru hikers.

 

[Alan Gage]

I'm surprised this late in the voting I'm the only one that uses a filter bottle. I'm always solo so the easiest thing in the world is to just refill the bottle as needed. It's a 32 ounce bottle and is right with me all day. No need to filter water in camp to get me through the paddling day and no need to stop and filter when I run out. For whatever reason I seem to be prone to getting dehydrated so it's important for me to have easy access to water. Otherwise I'd not really feel that thirsty and put off filtering if I ran out during the day. With the filter bottle I can sip all day.

For cooking/cleaning I just dip from the lake/river.

Alan

 

[PacketFiend]

I'm surprised this late in the voting I'm the only one that uses a filter bottle. I'm always solo so the easiest thing in the world is to just refill the bottle as needed. It's a 32 ounce bottle and is right with me all day. No need to filter water in camp to get me through the paddling day and no need to stop and filter when I run out. For whatever reason I seem to be prone to getting dehydrated so it's important for me to have easy access to water. Otherwise I'd not really feel that thirsty and put off filtering if I ran out during the day. With the filter bottle I can sip all day.

For cooking/cleaning I just dip from the lake/river.

Alan

I've actually never heard of these "filter bottles". Can you provide a link?

 

[Alan Gage]

I've actually never heard of these "filter bottles". Can you provide a link?

The one below is what I use. I got it because it uses the same filter Sawyer uses for their gravity system. I originally planned on using the bottle during the day and using the filter for a gravity setup in camp. I brought along extra hoses and bags to make it work but the bottle turned out to work so well for me that I never used it in a gravity setup.

I generally get a couple weeks out of it before I backflush but it would probably be a good idea to do it sooner. I tend to procrastinate and by the end of 2 weeks you've gotta suck pretty darn hard.

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP140-Personal-34-Ounce/dp/B005SO8VAE/ref=asc_df_B005SO8VAE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167154789240&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=357314455075770730&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018277&hvtargid=pla-313019901262&psc=1

Alan

 

[PacketFiend]

Interesting. I could make good use out of something like this.

I assume that using any kind of flavouring, such as the concentrated juice squeezies, or anything like a dissolving electrolyte tablet would be out of the question, though?

 

[Alan Gage]

Interesting. I could make good use out of something like this.

I assume that using any kind of flavouring, such as the concentrated juice squeezies, or anything like a dissolving electrolyte tablet would be out of the question, though?

I really don't know but I suspect so.

Alan

 

[scratchypants]

I had a bad experience with a BeFree - premature clogging. I screwed on my backup and it clogged in short order, too. Now I have a Katadyn Pocket. It's heavy, but built like a tank, field strippable, and easy to clean. Recently we arrived on our "rest lake" - 2 nights without breaking camp. As soon as we put in it became apparent the lake was in some kind of cycle - spinach-smoothy coloured water. I'm convinced that any other filter would have been a misery. The Pocket required 3 cleanings during our stay, but the water was clean and tasted good.

 

[snapper]

I clicked the "pump filter" option but honestly, I use my filter, gravity, chemicals (both Aqua Mira & Polar Pure) as well as boil. A lot of it has to do with where I am and the amount of time I have. Heck, I've even consumed water directly from the source when I've trusted it, I wonder how many other folks choose based on location and water quality? I can't be the only one; or am I?!?

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Sdrew22]

I've been using a LifeStraw for years.

I also have a Berkey I use if we a staying in one spot for an extended period of time.

 

[Adam W]

Katadyn pocket for me and my family. Extremely well built, easy to clean during a trip.
My dad ended up with beaver fever when I was younger, pulling a moose out if a swamp. Took him a year to start putting weight back on once they figured out why he was so sick. No thank you.

 

[goonstroke]

Kathleen and I have filtered on only one of our trips, the South Saskatchewan River that flowed through cattle country in Alberta. Otherwise, we have always drunk directly from rivers or lakes. Most of our trips have been in northern Canada. We have never worried. Perhaps we are foolish, but I like to quote Bill Mason, responding to this question: “I would never paddle on anything I couldn’t drink.”

That reminds me of the Southern California remark, "I like to see what I breathe."

So far so good. Besides, this past summer, out on the Barren Grounds, was likely our last trip. I hope to post a trip report in a couple of months.

Bah, plan your next one and then write the report. The Trippers Emeritus designations can wait.

Re: water, I've used an MSR miniworks and a platypus quickdraw. The latter is lighter and flows well (shake to clear), but I apparently squeezed too hard for the provided bottle and blew it out after a few days (I was thirsty -- isn't that the point?). Fortunately the filter also fits regular water bottles. I always want something I can use in the canoe since I usually don't want to stop and the water near shore is often shallow/murky. I've never tripped so far up there that I was comfortable just drinking from the lake.

 

[PacketFiend]

I've never tripped so far up there that I was comfortable just drinking from the lake.

You don't need to go that far out to drink the water. You just need to be smart about it.

I prefer thirst and dehydration to the risk of giardia, in the following circumstances:

• Small standing pools/ponds/very small lakes of water
• Kettle lakes
• When I don't know what's upstream (especially in shoulder/hunting seasons there could be a dead animal)
• Following the above, anywhere shortly downstream of a river confluence
• Slow moving water
• Water close to shore
• Anywhere I can see a beaver/otter dam/lodge
• If the water level has changed drastically and recently

I'll take all the above and factor it into the risk calculation that determines how well filtered the water needs to be. With enough confidence, given a large enough open body of water or a fast enough moving stream with no risk of death upstream, I'll drink the water unfiltered. I'm quite sure I've ingested a few mosquito cysts in my day but I guess my stomach acid has done its job.

And not to brag (okay it's a bit of a brag), but I trip in many different places, I drink untreated water, and now in my mid 40s, I've never had beaver fever. In some places (especially those where the water is simply too murky to use filters effectively), I boil the everloving s**t out of my water. I must be doing something right.

 

[Jatfomike]

I use a platypus 4.0 liter gravity filter...works well and is easy to backflush. A few years ago, I was gifted a Sawyer squeeze filter and it came with a hypodermic needle style back flusher........conveniently enough, the hypodermic also fits the Platypus filter and makes backflushing even easier. I also carry the Sawyer inline filter as a back up to the Platypus filter. For trips that involve a lot of travel/portages, I will also carry a steri-pen for when I want to fill a water bottle quickly and don't want to take the time to rig up the gravity filter.

Mike

 

[MichaelMerry]

In my 30 years of wilderness travel. I’ve used filters, chemicals, filtration bottles , etc, etc. For the last 10, I’ve used nothing but my steripen. I carry iodine as backup, but haven’t used it since going to the steripen. I froze and clogged filters and spilled chemical treatments. I have never had a reliability issue with the steripen. It’s light and compact and has the added benefit of purification that many filters do not have. It is quick and easy and allows for on demand water procurement. I rarely carry much water at all where it is readily available.

I’m not an employee of steripen, merely a dedicated user.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

For the last 10, I’ve used nothing but my steripen.

Michael, for purposes of completeness of the poll, did you cast a vote for UV? Sometimes folks comment but forget to vote.

A question about Steripen and other UV-only techniques: While it may kill microorganisms, it cannot filter out organic or silted mineral matter—or other "dirt"—from water. Has this not been an issue in the waters you travel?

 

[MichaelMerry]

I did cast my vote.

I’m not concerned with “floaties”in my water. They’re not going to get me sick. I try not to look at the water that carefully after I purify it. A recent campsite was surrounded by particularly silty water. I did pour it through a bandanna prior to purifying in that case. There are also aftermarket pre filters available, but I have no expertise or experience with them.

 

[clemency]

On the steripen subject, my wife traveled to India for a couple of weeks a few years back, and a steripen was her purification method of choice. No stomach issues at all, which says a lot about their effectiveness.

 

[Robin]

I don’t carry a filter, I prefer to drink directly from the lakes I travel in. I avoid areas with active beaver sign, and I travel far off shore to fill my water bottle.
I also boil water for tea from water I get directly out front of my campsite, I think those little buggers floating in the water help build character. I drink a lot of tea on a trip, which I believe helps me stay hydrated.
Nothing like boiling up some tea and puffing on a cheap cigar mid day in my book.

 

[MichaelMerry]

Our municipal water system treats with uv light.

For wilderness travel, find the convenience tough to beat. I hate carrying water around.