Water Purification
- Thread starter wanderinstar
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It's that dreaded "best" question again... 
Like everything, it depends on what you're looking for. What's more important - size, weight, starting price, price per litre, capacity, speed, foolproofing, etc, etc?
Personally, I have a Pre-Mac Pocket Water Purifier - it's small, light, reliable and easy to use. However, it'll need replaced after 100 litres or so, it needs both hands to use and doesn't have a huge throughput. It cost £20, which works out to about 20p per litre (plus a bit more if you use neutralising tabs as well).
I haven't used a Millbank, so I can't compare.
Like everything, it depends on what you're looking for. What's more important - size, weight, starting price, price per litre, capacity, speed, foolproofing, etc, etc?
Personally, I have a Pre-Mac Pocket Water Purifier - it's small, light, reliable and easy to use. However, it'll need replaced after 100 litres or so, it needs both hands to use and doesn't have a huge throughput. It cost £20, which works out to about 20p per litre (plus a bit more if you use neutralising tabs as well).
I haven't used a Millbank, so I can't compare.
Marts said:Boiling it is the best way
That and thinking about the source...
I run mine through a Millbank bag to get rid of the debris in the water and then boil it, never had a problem, which reminds me i need to get a new one
Thinking about the source as Marts said is very important, find out what's upstream before contemplating drinking the water, Farmland = Nitrates and others nasties, is there an industrial area upstream = all sorts of chemicals could be in the water, is there a town upstream = all sorts of possibilities could be lurking in the water source
HI WANDERINSTAR HAVE A LOOK AT WWW.THERANGERDIGEST.COM
HIS FILM CANISTER FILTER IS NO COST AND EASY FOR REFILLS. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE IT. IF YOU USE THE BLACK CANISTER WITH GREY LID THE LID PART FITS SNUGLY INTO THE BRITISH ISSUE WATER BOTTLE MOUTH.IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SITE BEFORE IT'S QUITE INTERESTING.
HIS FILM CANISTER FILTER IS NO COST AND EASY FOR REFILLS. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE IT. IF YOU USE THE BLACK CANISTER WITH GREY LID THE LID PART FITS SNUGLY INTO THE BRITISH ISSUE WATER BOTTLE MOUTH.IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SITE BEFORE IT'S QUITE INTERESTING.
Stickie said:
But when a question like this is asked you can only reply from your own experience. When I think about it I have iodine drops, puritabs, a pre-mac filter and a millbank bag. Yet 90% of the time when I'm out in nature I end up using an indian well and simply boiling the water.
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Stickie said:
Boiling water is a pain in the butt. I did an 1800's weekend at the end of August witha few mates...basically a weekends bushcrafting but using only kit available in the early 1800's.
We used blankets in stead of sleeping bags and canvas tarp in stead of bashas etc...
We were camped right next to a rural canal so there was plenty of water but purifying it was what took up most of our time.... I don't remember drinking any cold water all weekend, we tended to boil it and then use it still hot for tea or coffee... we also drank beer and wine as it was easier than boiling all the time.
We all said that bushcrafting was no harder with the oldtimers kit than with modern kit with the sole execption of clean water.
9 times out of 10 I carry all the water I will need for when I am out or arrange to stay in places where a stand pipe is available but if I have to use natural water I stretch a t-shirt, scarf or similar over the top of my water bottle to keep out the large debris while I'm filling it and then pop in puri tabs before drinking it...it's fast and simple and what I do.
Cheers,
Bam.
I use either the disposable pre-mac, which fits nicely anywhere (hmmm, iodine). Or a katadyn combi, which doesn't....
I have used the pre-mac swp and mwp and premac state that the swp will work for 50 litres and the mwp will work for 400 litres and in the long term they work out quite expensive, but they do have plus sides to them, one being that you cannot fail to add a chemical purifier to your water.
I have used the Pur explorer (older model) which is basically a larger version of the pre-mac two stage purifier, it does have a far better flow rate than the pre-mac.
I have a Katadyn mini, they are very good, the flow rate isn't brilliant but acceptable, and they are possibly the best pocket filter on the market for size and weight, however you may still require to chemically sterilise the water that comes out of the filter. It does give you the option of adding strong poisons to your water and does not do it automatically like the pre-mac systems.
As far as being robust, easy to carry and tried and tested the millbank bag is a star. If you drop one it will not break, it will adopt most any shape of anywhere you wish to pack it and it doesn't get harder to pump as the filter gets more knackered. They are compact and once you have added whatever chemical that you are going to add to the water that has been through one it will be as good as any pre-mac going. They also have cost on thier side.
The pre-mac SWP will do 50 litres and costs £20, the Katadyn mini will filter 5,000 litres and cost £60. The millbank bag will cost £15 will filter thousands of litres of water and comes with a little pot of chemicals which you will have to replace every now and again at the cost of about £2.
I have used the Pur explorer (older model) which is basically a larger version of the pre-mac two stage purifier, it does have a far better flow rate than the pre-mac.
I have a Katadyn mini, they are very good, the flow rate isn't brilliant but acceptable, and they are possibly the best pocket filter on the market for size and weight, however you may still require to chemically sterilise the water that comes out of the filter. It does give you the option of adding strong poisons to your water and does not do it automatically like the pre-mac systems.
As far as being robust, easy to carry and tried and tested the millbank bag is a star. If you drop one it will not break, it will adopt most any shape of anywhere you wish to pack it and it doesn't get harder to pump as the filter gets more knackered. They are compact and once you have added whatever chemical that you are going to add to the water that has been through one it will be as good as any pre-mac going. They also have cost on thier side.
The pre-mac SWP will do 50 litres and costs £20, the Katadyn mini will filter 5,000 litres and cost £60. The millbank bag will cost £15 will filter thousands of litres of water and comes with a little pot of chemicals which you will have to replace every now and again at the cost of about £2.
My firm favourite is still Aqua Mira (UK) / Pristine (US & Can) - Chlorine dioxide rather than free Chlorine. Tastes like Evian not your local swimming pool, kills the regular nasties and works on Cryptosporidium too.
Available from several online shops for £10 - £12
Available from several online shops for £10 - £12
NickBristol said:
No doubt it is good stuff, but you still need to filter the water first, otherwise the chemicals will attach themselves to the larger particles in the water and not do thier job on the little nasties that you want rid of
Does anyone know the cheapest supplier of millbank bags?
I've thought for a while it seems a useful bit of kit.
I've thought for a while it seems a useful bit of kit.
Stickie said:
I think the conclusion here is sound. And when the availability of water is low, perhaps we tend to reserve it for consumption rather than hand washing or other hygene chores.
A neat solution to this problem is to carry a small bottle of waterless hand wash in the bag in which you carry your loo roll. This means that you can be sure that your hands are not transferring Ecoli and chums onto the dinner table, but without putting a dent in the water resources.
Wayland said:
There are a couple on Evilbay at the moment. I got mine from there with Iodine too.
Cheers,
Simon
I got my millbank bag from Jasper at Strike Force Supplies, good friendly service and because it was at the WG there was no postage. They cost £16 and then P+P on top.
Trek direct sell them as well, but they charge £21 I think
Trek direct sell them as well, but they charge £21 I think
looks like TD have a new site to pay off.. they have put their prices up on a few other things too looking at it!
remember to shop around!
remember to shop around!
After years of using water purification tablets (iodine & halzone), with which it is impossible to make a good cup of tea, I switched to the First Need water filter system. It is issued by the World Health Organization to their people. It will remove chemicals which now that I am back in North Dakota is important due to all the agriculural chemicals used in the area.
