Water Purification on the Trail

Last weekend, some of the older scouts in my son's troop participated in a "District Backpackoree," which was essentially a multi-troop camping event in which the troops backpacked to different spots in a county park and stopped at activity stations along the way.

Although I could not participate, I was asked to help put together a presentation these boys would make about hydration while backpacking.  A patrol would be given coordinates to the boys' location, and then receive information about different types of water purification systems from these older scouts.

The week before I had hiked with a couple of recent PCT through-hikers and discussed water purification.  I learned, for example, their opinion that purification is much more important on the PCT than on the AT, because there is so much more range land out west.  Having cattle nearby can create for some nasty bugs in the water, while the Appalachian Trail often stays further away from development.

As a hiker who cannot afford to miss work because I ingested some bug out on the trail, I am not going to take a chance on the purity of my water.  My goal is to bring plenty of water, but there are times when I do not bring enough, such as when it is hotter on the trail than I anticipated.  This happened to me recently on a hike in the Three Ridges Wilderness.  Though I filled from a spring on the trail I did not drink the water, as my Steri-Pen did not work correctly.  And though my friend said that he would not filter at this spring, I wasn't going to take the chance.

So the timing was right to look again at some options for purification on the trail.  Here are some options I considered.  There are definitely other options out there as well!  

Lifestraw

Lifestraw shown with packaging.
Tennis ball included to give idea of Lifestraw's size.

The LifeStraw is a small tube with specialized water filters inside. Place one end in unfiltered water (a glass, water bottle, river, or puddle!), and suck the resulting clean water up through the top. A Lifestraw is used by one person only and is not to be shared.  The filtration process is powered by suction, similar to using a conventional drinking straw, and filters up to 264 gallons of water, which the company claims equals a person's intake in a year. 

LifeStraw removes a minimum of 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites including giardia and cryptosporidium.  This product was chosen by CNN as one of “Ten Ideas That Will Change The World” and was Time Magazine’s “Best Invention of the Year” in 2005.  It costs $22 from Amazon.

After reading raves about this product, I decided to pick one up for myself.  It is incredibly lightweight!  It is going in my hiking pack and is my new backup hydration system.  With this, I can collect water in a widemouth container like a Nalgene, then suck the water through the Lifestraw to take in purified water.  It could not be easier, though the sucking may be hard.  And, as this video shows, you can drink some really nasty water through this unit.  Video.

A great gift for hiking friends!

Pros: Easy to use.  Very lightweight – weighs 2 ounces.  Needs no batteries.  Has no moving parts.  Easy to clean.  No need to wait for purification or pumping.

Cons: Should not ever be dropped.  Cannot store filtered water for later use or for cooking.  Cannot be shared with others.  It does not filter heavy metals or desalinate.  Does not last forever - the filter expires after 3 years.  

Steripen

I currently own my second Steripen, which kills the bad critters using an ultraviolet lamp.  My first model never worked very well, and the company sent me a second model for free after I returned the one I bought a second time.  I am pretty sure I spoke directly with the company's president after that experience!  So they get top ratings for customer service.  My current model is the Steripen Adventurer Opti.   The downside of this model is that it takes expensive CR123 lithium batteries, and they seldom seem to work!

According to one reviewer on REI: 

The CR123 lithium batteries start at 3.25 volts. They are "dead" at 2.9 volts. Actually, they still have 90% of their power left but the electronics in the SteriPen are designed to only use 10% of each battery.  

This would explain why my unit always seems to work when I test it in my kitchen, but does not work on the trail.  But I cannot confirm the accuracy of this statement.

The manufacturer claims the Steripen purifies 16 oz. in 48 seconds and 32 oz. in just 90 seconds. The UV lamp provides up to 8,000 one-liter treatments.

Pros: Easy to use.  Lightweight – weighs 2 ounces.  Easy to clean.  No need to wait for purification or pumping.  Kills viruses in addition to bacteria.

Cons: Should not ever be dropped.  Does not work for water with many particles floating – requires another filter. Batteries need to be checked regularly.  All electrical devices can fail.  Some models use expensive batteries and cannot use rechargeable batteries.

Pumps

Frankly, I think they are too slow and have way too much going on with hoses everywhere and parts to put together and cleaning and back flushing. They are good for larger groups, such as scouts, as it is cheaper to have one big pump than to issue Lifestraws to every hiker.  They are often the heaviest treatment method, and weight can be distributed among the entire group.

Tablets

I think Tablets take too long to make water available. They can be good to have as a backup system as they are very lightweight.  There are also systems using drops of a mix of liquids, which work quicker (tablets need to dissolve), but cannot be mixed in advance.

Sawyer Squeeze

Pros:  Very lightweight.  Filter fits platypus soft bottles and soda bottles.  

Cons: Freezing may harm the filter, so not recommended for winter use.  There are also complaints online about the bag that comes with this product, but the thru-hiker mentioned above loves this product and uses it with a standard plastic soda bottle.  I have never tried one, so I list it here as another potential option for folks.  

http://www.rei.com/product/837824/sawyer-squeeze-water-filter-plus