How do you treat / purify water?

[Spokerider]

How do you filter / treat / purify water when backpacking on day trips and overnighters?
I'm tossing around the idea of a water filter vs bleach vs iodine, steri pen, etc. With bleach and iodine, you have to wait 30 mins before the water can be considered "safe" to drink. Filter it.......and it's ready now, a definite *plus* in my books. They do however weigh.......meaning more weight in the pack, lol.
I can usually find some relatively clean flowing water to get, so the cheif concern is giardia, and not viruses.

Filter? Which one?

[Ddog]

you can go to Wal-mart or canadian tire or lots of different sporting stores that sell hiking among gear, and buy the WATER PURIFICATION TABLETS , they are good for eliminating Giardia, bacteria, viruses, and removing sediment to purify drinking water
as for a filter we have a small one like the one for the fridge, its a portable little water bottle at Wal mart with the filter in the top. not sure the name though.

[luckofthedraw]

Msr mini works is what I use. 78$ at Mountain Equipment Co-op

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp (http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp)

[BackPackHunter]

I just picked up a couple new filters for this year, only have ran about 30L through it but so far so good...(Sawyer)
I bought the LifeStraw too... Not to crazy about it...
This is the filter I will be using,
http://www.rei.com/product/837824/sawyer-squeeze-water-filter

BPH

PS... I don't like adding things to the water because the bad stuff is still in the water, it just dead, but still bad.
filtering removes this stuff...

[swampthing]

Buy a filter and be done with it. They allow you to suck water out of tiny holes in the ground and do a great job. Dont way much either.

[longstonec]

Ask Vancouver Coastal Health... a filter and UV sterilizer wont take care of it all unless its clear water. UV will not work if the water is turbid, and some bugs are pretty teeny. chlorine wins.

[Spokerider]

I just picked up a couple new filters for this year, only have ran about 30L through it but so far so good...(Sawyer)
I bought the LifeStraw too... Not to crazy about it...
This is the filter I will be using,
http://www.rei.com/product/837824/sawyer-squeeze-water-filter

BPH

PS... I don't like adding things to the water because the bad stuff is still in the water, it just dead, but still bad.
filtering removes this stuff...


Liking that Sawyer filter.......light weight.

[hunter1993ap]

I just picked up a couple new filters for this year, only have ran about 30L through it but so far so good...(Sawyer)
I bought the LifeStraw too... Not to crazy about it...
This is the filter I will be using,
http://www.rei.com/product/837824/sawyer-squeeze-water-filter

BPH

PS... I don't like adding things to the water because the bad stuff is still in the water, it just dead, but still bad.
filtering removes this stuff...

what do you dislike about the lifestraw. i bought one and if it filters the bacteria out i will be happy. a little hard to suck water through it but i would way rather spend a little time at the water source than pack in water. it has been used at least three times this year without an issue. hopefully there are no issues.

[proguide66]

This thread just got me thinkin...all my years in the bush in B.C I have never filtered any water , never got sick from B.C.water and never worried about it ....also never drank from a beaver pond.

[The Dude]

I can't see that Lifestraw being much good. Don't you have to suck the water out of the stream, puddle, whatever? What if you're going up where there's no water? You spit in a cup 50 times so you don't have to come down 3x a day? Many of the places i hunt, there IS no water once you hike up.

I'm looking into the larger water purification bottles, more my style. Tired of boiling everything :D

[kennyj]

I use Pristine Drops. 2 small bottles, 5 drops of each into the cap, wait 5 min, dump into water ( 1 lt ) wait 15 min and good to go.
kenny

[whitetailsheds]

This thread just got me thinkin...all my years in the bush in B.C I have never filtered any water , never got sick from B.C.water and never worried about it ....also never drank from a beaver pond.

Was just thinking the same thing. But having said that, did catch the 'ol fever drinking from an elk track where there once was a spring high up. Dry year, and that spring wasn't there! Damn!
It didn't hit me till I was home a few days later, with diarrhea that wouldn't go away. Appetite was good, but peeing out yer arse was wrong!!!
Hell of a weight loss program though!!!
Still don't pack filters/ pumps/ iodine, or boil. If it was questionable water up north, I'd just boil it!

[hellojello74]

This thread just got me thinkin...all my years in the bush in B.C I have never filtered any water , never got sick from B.C.water and never worried about it ....also never drank from a beaver pond.

Drink from a source if possible, but its still the best water in the world!!!

[eaglesj]

Msr mini works is what I use. 78$ at Mountain Equipment Co-op

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp (http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD%7E5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp)

x2. And if you don't have a mec near you, shipping is only $7.

[BackPackHunter]

Liking that Sawyer filter.......light weight.

Its 3oz & works really good...
A lot of people don't like the idea of it because it's hard to fill the bag out of small seeps
but I just fill my mug n keep pouring it into the bag... Problem solved

[BackPackHunter]

what do you dislike about the lifestraw. i bought one and if it filters the bacteria out i will be happy. a little hard to suck water through it but i would way rather spend a little time at the water source than pack in water. it has been used at least three times this year without an issue. hopefully there are no issues.

What I dislike about the LifeStraw is that it's only good for when your are around water, and I don't want to be spitting into my camelback to take water with me... I alway keep 3L of water with me because I never know what could happen, old creeks could be dry, see sheep in a range I'm not familliar with and dont know about the water source in the area... But safe then sorry

[BackPackHunter]

This thread just got me thinkin...all my years in the bush in B.C I have never filtered any water , never got sick from B.C.water and never worried about it ....also never drank from a beaver pond.

For years I've done the same, but talking with a buddy, him giving me shit for not filtering. I said the water is cold fast moving, I'm fine, he said what if there is something dead 100 feet up stream? If you get sick it could end your hunt. I put to much time and money into my hunts to take this risk...
i filter now even if I think it's good

[BackPackHunter]

I can't see that Lifestraw being much good. Don't you have to suck the water out of the stream, puddle, whatever? What if you're going up where there's no water? You spit in a cup 50 times so you don't have to come down 3x a day? Many of the places i hunt, there IS no water once you hike up.

I'm looking into the larger water purification bottles, more my style. Tired of boiling everything :D

I run the sawyer filter with the 2L bag, use that for the filtering, I keep my 3L Camelback full ...
If I'm going into a area with no water or I'm unsure I have a 4L MSR water bag, and can always keep the 2L sawyer bag full if need the extra...

[anglo-saxon]

If you've got 30 mins to chemically treat it, you've got 10 mins to boil it. Rapid boil for 10 mins (or more) is a pretty sure method. Failing that, a decent filter.

[mod7rem]

I've had giardia once in 10 yrs of mountain hunting, it was from the deaddog creek area. Never had it from drinking water up high, but I have used a filter ever since. If I had been on a two+ week hunt I would have been screwed so I dont risk it anymore. Now if I pack the filter I use it on all water, dont want to get sick with a dry filter in my pack. I chose a filter over drops because of the retention time needed with the treatments. When I was researching I read that chlorine actually takes quite a while to kill giardia, cant remember the exact number but I didnt want to have to wait so a filter made the most sense.

[BackPackHunter]

If you've got 30 mins to chemically treat it, you've got 10 mins to boil it. Rapid boil for 10 mins (or more) is a pretty sure method. Failing that, a decent filter.



I like my water cold, and lots of time I don't wanna wait for it to cool, plus thats a lot of extra fuel I have to carry.
The sawyer filter is under $100 with the shipping and everything, and lifetime warranty & only 3 oz

[anglo-saxon]

I like my water cold, and lots of time I don't wanna wait for it to cool, plus thats a lot of extra fuel I have to carry.
The sawyer filter is under $100 with the shipping and everything, and lifetime warranty & only 3 oz

Whatever floats yer boat!

[anglo-saxon]

I don't want to be spitting into my camelback to take water with me. Nope, I wouldn't either. The bacteria from your mouth would multiply very nicely in that environment and easily give you one hell of a dose of the $hits, which would dehydrate you very quickly.

[Hammerhead]

Msr mini works is what I use. 78$ at Mountain Equipment Co-op

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp (http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5001-239/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter.jsp)

X2 on that unit. Used it on sheep hunt last year and will use it again this year. Did the job for 2 of us no problems. I did have the drops with me but didnt use them. Good unit for a decent price
HH

[vortex hunter]

Life straw

[Mole]

I have used my MSR water filter with great success. First time I saw this unit was during a bowhunt around Toulameen Mtn. My hunting partner (who is an aquatic biologist and knows something about bugs in water) brought it along and I grabbed mine shortly after. Awesome units.