2020 drinking water thread.

[chrisx]

New decade means new ideas?  About water?

I have not yet found the one and only way to make my water safe to drink.  If there is a way to do so.  Most of the time I find something wrong with my new filter or gadget-  

I might start just boiling water.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Alex Hutchinson just wrote something for Outside about water treatment,

https://www.outsideonline.com/2406957/purifying-backcountry-water-research

But I don't think it really says anything really new, although he stresses that one should try to roughly calculate the risk of a water source. For example: in the middle of Alaska on top of a mountain: risk is probably low of finding tainted water; pond water in the middle of a cow pasture: high risk. This though, shouldn't be too Earth shattering.

I just use a filter, with Aqua Mira as my backup. I actually usually use nothing, if i feel there's a low risk of getting something nasty. I'm not a fan of Hutchinson's preference of a UV filter - the ones I've used tend to not work when I need them, are heavy, needs batteries, and don't work with anything but clear water.

[chrisx]

I figure in the 10 years since they posted this, someone has discovered something new_?

[chrisx]

Is there a right asswer?

[rockyroad]

New decade means new ideas?  About water?

I have not yet found the one and only way to make my water safe to drink.  If there is a way to do so.  Most of the time I find something wrong with my new filter or gadget- 

I might start just boiling water.

I believe there's no ultimate solution, but boiling is always a good practice. I have iodine tablets and carry a small water filter, but the only guaranteed way to kill everything (bacteria, viruses, protozoa) is to boil the water.  So nothing new, really, esp since that situation where your filter broke/fail is quite real, still you can boil your water.
As for heavy metals and stuff - unless you're planning to drink the water long-term (and I mean it - for weeks, months or so) I wouldn't worry about it.

[Adam Alphabet]

A number of years ago I used a (slow and heavy) steripen, it finally broke. It was always a bit finicky and the mechanical nature of it made it a bit sketchy and untrustworthy.

Since then I've used micropur MP1's with no issue. Last year I started using a Katadyn Be Free filter bottle. Both the filter bottle and mp1's in combination are a combination I can trust where I need them.

Selection is key of course and I don't like to take chances on questionable sources.

[bikelite]

The outside article is poorly written. He did not explain that chlorine and chlorine dioxide are two different chemicals. Chlorine dioxide is great. He left out some other chemical treatments. Iodine is old school and outdated by more than a decade. Go to Backpackinglight.com forums to learn the truth.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/drinking/Backcountry_Water_Treatment.pdf

[OliVDB]

Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to take this into account! So far, I've always been boiling water in order to make sure that everything's safe, but it's time consuming, and you have to stop to boil the water, and it's difficult to have fresh water this way in summer.

[offroute]

I'm still using my Steripen Adventurer. Most places I go I don't use or need the pre-filter. The thing just keeps cranking, it's miserly on battery power, fits anywhere, relaxing to use. Adam: Finicky, sketchy and untrustworthy? My experience is the opposite of yours. I've used mine probably 150 days -- 60 of those days in a row were for two people on one set of batteries that had life left. I just dropped in its third set of batteries after owning it for about eight years.

The Sawyer Mini I had might be lighter, but it stopped working soon after I began using it. Pump-style filters are weightier than the Stripen by a longshot. Another I owned (Katydyn?) suddenly and hopelessly clogged and had to be chucked at the Toaster House. I'm eternally thankful for that piece of shyt. From there I went to the Steiripen and never needed anything else. I'll certainly never entertain buying or using another filter of any kind in the BC. The Steripen, pre-filter and backup AquaMira tabs is all I will ever need short of melting snow.