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Boiling for 5 min is a waste of time and fuel. None of the bugs can survive above 180F. By the time the water reaches boiling, even at high elevations, it's been above the killing point for long enough to be sterile. Then, it'll remain above 180 for a while as it cools. Just bring it to a boil, let it cool a few min., and you're good to go.

FWIW, when I wash dishes, I use sand to scour them to remove any visible stuff, rinse them, then I sear them over a direct flame. No bugs can survive much searing. This is assuming that I'm not using plastic, of course. Most plastics can's survive much searing, either.

True, but just try to start a fire with your titanium cookware.

Here in WA the water is usually safe in the mountains. Drank it straight from streams and rivers for years without a problem. However, now that I know the risks I'm filtering. Elkhunter 241 has the most efficient method IMHO. It is simple to make a tripod, set the bucket on top, hang the filters and let gravity do its work into whatever clean container you want to use. We filtered some nasty water that looked good at first glance. We got our water one year from a four acre lake. Problem was it was only about 3' deep and in a high elk population area. May as well have been cow pasture water. After a week we had a warm afternoon and I stood and gave myself a quasi bath in it. Never have gotten rid of all the bacteria out of the hairline on the back of my neck. Can't imagine drinking that stuff!
I like gravity because you can make a lot of water without much effort. I carry a sweetwater bottle with a filter in one end that works great on the trail. And I still have my MSR pump that gets the job done, too. The pump comes with the drops, but I usually don't use them.
Gravity is the way to go.

Really like my PUR HIKER. The gravity filter is interesting and I will look into those also.

Don,t trust chemical treatment alone to kill Giradia ect. if that was true all water plants in the US could do so. Filter then chemical treatment is probably your safest bet. IMHO and based on years of running water plants.


http://www.family-survival-planning.com/how-to-purify-water.html

i've always used the potable aqua tablets. i've been wanting to get one of the micro filters.

I use a Katadyn Base Camp gravity filter. We carry an empty 1 gal jug on the llamas. When we get to camp, I fill the filter bag, hang it with the hose going into the jug, and by the time we have the llamas tethered and the tent up, we have a gal of clean water.

Is this the backpacking forum?

Water treament plants don't treat a liter at a time with iodine and a lengthy residence time........

So even if I filter it with something like the msr pump I should still add the drops to the water?

No need to do both. If you're going to carry iodine or chlorine dioxide drops, there's absolutely no need to lug a filter along too because the drops will kill everything you'll run into. We like to talk about chemicals, toxins, and viruses but the two things you need to worry about most in the backcountry are Giardia/other protozoans, and bacteria. A filter will remove both. If you're worried about viruses, the drops will kill Giardia, bacteria, and viruses. But like I said, if you're gonna have drops along anyway, you can lose the filter. Unless the water has so much sediment in it that you have to remove it to make it drinkable:

http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/water+treatment+backcountry.html

The drops/pills way next to nothing. If i use a filter then i bring the drops along as well. If my filter craps out I can use the drops.

If just using the drops then I will leave the filter at home.

I got sick the first time i used the drops b/c I didn't wait long enough.

Cold mirky water from a lake with beavers needs more than 20 minutes to work. LOL. Good thing it was only a 3 day trip. When I got home it hit pretty hard.

Now I use a gravity filter and I love in. I mostly hunt form a spike camp. So get to camp take out my collapsible bucket fill it up at lake/stream, hang filter system in tree tree, pour water from bucket into upper bladder, let gravity filter water down into lower bladder. Go do what ever needs doing then come back and I have water on tap.

here's my kit

platypus gravity works water filter - 15.9 oz
32 oz collapsible bucket - 2 oz

working from a spike camp and even hiking this is the best set-up for me. I can stop for a 15 min break pull out the filter let gravity do the work while I eat then i have fresh water.

When i leave spike camp I fill up my bottles with water and take pills with me for the day.

Originally Posted By: 338WIN
It is simple to make a tripod, set the bucket on top, hang the filters and let gravity do its work into whatever clean container you want to use.


Is this the backpacking forum?

smokepole, not sure what your question is. I know I filter water when backpacking. Seems clear enough. Am I missing something?

For emergencies, you can carry a little dropper bottle full of ordinary bleach. 2 drops in a quart of dirty water will make it clean enough to drink...but don't figure on anything even vaguely resembling tasty. It tastes like crap.

Bleach doesn't work as well as Iodine, particularly in turbid water. If the water has dissolved clay in it, bleach doesn't work very well. Neither, as I have read, kills crypto. Treatment plants use UV because it kills everything. Chemical treatment doesn't. Boiling does. Too expensive for treatment plants, but 1 press of my Jetboil stove's start button and in 2 minutes, I've got about a quart of boiled water.

I bought a Katadyn water filter when they first came out. It was a couple hundred bucks and was hard to pump. Clean water trickled out the hose no matter how fast you tried to pump it. You were forcing water through a cylinder shaped rock, literally and it was hard. The logic was that the pores in the rock were smaller than the bacteria and protozoans and water going through would be filtered. Great. Viruses are smaller. To get rid of them, now you've got to add iodine or boil. I'd just boil it to start out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification

Long, but well worth the read.

Most water treatment plants use chlorine dioxide which is much different than bleach. Chlorine dioxide kills crypto, but to do so requires a longer activation time. It also kills viruses, bacteria and protozoa. Chlorine dioxide also has minimal taste.

Either drops or tablets work well. It's too bad that Kleerwater seems to have gone away as their one part (no mixing of drops) chlorine dioxide was the most convenient.

I am a little surprised no one mentioned the Steripen or Utra Violet purification.

Jayco

The Steripen works best for situations where you don't need to purify a lot of water at once. I use one quite a bit on fastpack trips and long backcountry runs/hikes where water is generally available. I can scoop and use the Steripen as I continue to walk. Water is ready to drink in a minute or so.

I usually use a Steripen and carry iodine as a second method, although sometimes I just drink from the source without either, particularly if it is near a spring, or snow melt source. I personally like a filter the best, but don't like the bulk / time.