Water Purification

[Tricia]

Wasn`t sure where to put this so please move if it`s in the wrong section.
Just wanted to ask what others use to purify drinking water when camping?
My dad used to take us camping regularly throughout Scotland all during childhood and I`ve camped a lot during my adult years, (usually avoiding commercial campsites as I`m an anti social auld wumman) and in all that time, he would get our drinking water from the nearest burn/loch/spring and simply boil it, nothing else.
Though, well, y`know that old joke about the dead sheep upstream....? Yup, it happened to us...got the tents and gear all set up, decided to take a look around (Border country, in the hills around Innerleithen) and walked uphill following the stream only to find a few weeks-old dead sheep, head still in the burn. I grabbed hold of the back legs and shifted it higher onto the banking clear of the water and went back down to inform dad, who said "Never mind, it`ll no` drink much noo"....
and we just kept on boiling the water.
In all those years, we never caught anything from it, though that may simply have been blind luck and nothing else.
Nowadays we use purification tablets on top of boiling, forget the name of them but can`t pronounce it anyways as my Belgian fiance brings them back from Antwerp with him after one of his trips back there.
Does anyone else simply boil and drink, or do you all use tablets or filters of some kind?

 

[salad]

Hi There Tricia

If you bring your water to a rolling boil then you should not need to use tabs in it afterwoods.
Boiling will kill everthing and make your water safe.(you may still need to filter first to get rid of big particals depending on water quality).

If I am on the move and dont have time to boil and let cool my drinking water I use an msr miniworks ex filter which will get rid of bacteria,protozoa and most common pestisides.
This filter will not get rid of viruses so I check before I go somewhere if there are known water viruses if this is the case then I will drop a puri tab in the water after it has been though the pump other wise I dont use tabs.

Hope this helps

 

[helixpteron]

I use a Katadyn Pocket Filter, or (more frequently) when I want lighter weight, the Katadyn Mini Filter, I then boil it.

I also have the Pre-Mac Travel Well Pocket Filter in my life vest and PSK.

 

[armie]

I have a Platypus Cleanstream, which is very easy to use.

 

[wentworth]

When in a fixed camp, I just bring to the boil and drink. After waiting for it to cool of course

 

[Teepee]

I use a webtex surviva pure inline filter.

 

[QDanT]

Idyllic camping spot with a spring rising
from http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41365

you can just see horn and ribs in the above photo
more detail

I get my water from where it rises, but don't know what's further upstream
I always bring to a rolling boil but don't use purification tablets
cheers Danny

 

[AJB]

I've got a PreMac PWP that I've never used in anger but it's fun, and picked up a PreMac SWP (Travel Well) on Saturday at less than half price.

I'd be interested to know if there is one filter pump that does everything you need, so many off these things "Filters everything out of dirty water (except this one thing that will kill you)". Is there a device that gets rid of everything reliably and can be maintained so you don't have to bin it?

 

[John Fenna]

Below the farmhouse line - Lifebottle or Web-tex bottle
Above the farmhouse line - boil
at the (clean) spring - just get stuck in
Aint dead yet......

 

[lab72]

boil water for 3 mins and no worries .Oh if its dirty i use a millbank bag

 

[AJB]

Just bumped into this...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter.html

 

[rickyc]

I can recommend the Drinksafe Waterbag for weekend trips, its used by Aid Agencies including Red Cross all over the world

http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php

 

[wentworth]

I've got a PreMac PWP that I've never used in anger but it's fun, and picked up a PreMac SWP (Travel Well) on Saturday at less than half price.

I'd be interested to know if there is one filter pump that does everything you need, so many off these things "Filters everything out of dirty water (except this one thing that will kill you)". Is there a device that gets rid of everything reliably and can be maintained so you don't have to bin it?

Sawyers new filter claims to be able to remove viruses as well as the protozoa and bacteria, but I understand that the flow rate isn't too crash hot, due to the 0.03 micron rating

I'd rather take my water from a source I'm almost certain is clean.

 

[AJB]

Looks ok in the video.

 

[ged]

Just wanted to ask what others use to purify drinking water when camping?

Have you seen the thread "The Science of Water" in the "Bushcraft and Survival Skills" forum? I think there are a few others there worth reading too.

 

[sccadmin]

Boiling in fixed camp but for convenience on the move I tend to use chemicals, I did use iodine but now favor chlorine dioxide which leaves no taste or odour.

I fancy a steripen but its dangerous to rely on something battery operated so should probably invest in a filter instead.

 

[Martyn]

Wasn`t sure where to put this so please move if it`s in the wrong section.
Just wanted to ask what others use to purify drinking water when camping?

If you are boiling it, you dont need to do anything apart from making it look clean, getting rid of the twigs and grit. But whether you bother with that or not, it'll be sterile after boiling and safe to drink, dead sheep or not.

If you are not boiling and just filtering, there is only one filter system that makes truly "sterile" water without the need to add chemicals.
http://www.lifesaversystems.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnBz85Jez7A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDJhtAFZPpM&feature=related

All other portable filtration systems will remove bacteria, but they wont remove viruses so you have to treat the water with something in addition to the filter.

 

[SMARTY]

According to Dr Backer water is safe when temp is raised to 74.5 degrees C. My advice is to do your research (dont rely on us lot) and experiment at home to find a system / method that you are 100% confident in and will provide you with the amount of water you (and any others) need in a time frame that suits you.

You may use solar disinfection as a your preferred method (first one to look up)

Enjoy your trip.

 

[AJB]

All other portable filtration systems will remove bacteria, but they wont remove viruses so you have to treat the water with something in addition to the filter.

Hi Martyn, I don't know about other systems but the PreMac PWP and the PreMac SWP do take out viruses. Ok the SWP is a pump, but then to some extent so is the Lifebottle, but the PWP is gravity fed.


Having said that I do really like the look of the Lifebottle, even though having read the instructions it doesn’t seem quite as simple to use as the videos seem to say. The one thing I’m wary of is the risk of contaminating the clean water from the drinking vessel itself. The whole unit is immersed in dirty water to fill or if it is poured in there seems to be a lot of spillage, and although the actual drinking mouth piece is under a water proof cap, to uses it immediately I would have thought there is a risk of getting a few drops of dirty water from the outside bottle mixed in. Other than that it looks brilliant, does anyone use one?

 

[helixpteron]

Hi Martyn, I don't know about other systems but the PreMac PWP and the PreMac SWP do take out viruses.

This is why I have the PWP in my life vest and PSK.