Fieldcraft What water purification tablets ?

[Alphatreedog]

I'm looking to add purification tablets to my gear and am wondering what you guys use . I see some that specifically say for short term use only .
Katydin makes tabs that take four hours . What are you using ?

 

[WeiserBucks]

I use a pump type purifier, a friend of mine said the tablets made him feel horrible immediately.

 

[Alphatreedog]

I use a pump type purifier, a friend of mine said the tablets made him feel horrible immediately.

I have a mini sawyer and wanted the added insurance .

 

[ForgeValley]

I've used MSR aquatabs, think they claim a 30 minute purification time. Not effective against crypto, guess I've not run into that particular bug.

 

[Alphatreedog]

So I just read up on micron size filtration for the Sawyer Mini . .1 microns .
It handles bacteria and cysts . Viruses are smaller than it filters . So cryptosporadia
and gia you're ok for . It does protazoa also so no liver flukes . But I still prefer insurance . I'll keep reading and thanks for the input .
Edit : Did more research and turns out that my filter has an available .025 micron filter I can buy that handles everything . Just gotta make sure where I'm putting hands and mouth don't get wet .

 

[RedRyder]

Have you guys ever heard of or considered a product called SteriPeN? I received one as a gift a few years back but have never used it. It uses ultraviolet light to kill the little critters in the water.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Have you guys ever heard of or considered a product called SteriPeN? I received one as a gift a few years back but have never used it. It uses ultraviolet light to kill the little critters in the water.

I think that you would have to filter or strain your water thru a handkerchief first . The mini sawyer attaches inline on a hydration bladder . For me that's optimal .

 

[45.308]

Iodine based is most effective as it infiltrates through the cells of bacteria stopping cellular activity and last longer.

I filter water through a coffee filter then roiling boil it which is the most effective. I don't trust tablets to kill everything. Seen too many issues with clogging on filters.

While in camp I build a solar still. Fill it up before leaving and let it work all day. When back in camp after a long day, fresh clean water is waiting.

Cold running water like found in most mountains have a harder time for things to grow Vs warm water down low in the flat land. Always try to avoid stagnate water even in lakes.

 

[jet_lagged]

Steri-pen is great for hiking, as long as you have extra batteries or a solar charger.

I used a steri- pen for 2 years of drinking/ brushing teeth water while working in China. Works well, but only 1 liter at a time. Had to run the water through a Brita filter to get rid of the off taste though.

 

[ReaperMedic]

I keep some https://www.potableaqua.com/ tabs in my gear as a back up. I've needed them once, when I dropped a clean bottle (I was filtering water into it) in to the stream. So I grabbed it, filled it up fully with "dirty" water, and then dropped a tab in to make it clean. They are nice to have on you, and for the size/weight, they are truly worth it.

 

[Tigr]

I like chlorine dioxide, such as katadyn micropur. The four hour window is for the hearty things. Almost every water source in north america (not mexico) will be rendered safe in thirty minutes with chlorine dioxide tabs. Pay attention to the tablet to water ratio, some say one tab for 2 quarts some are for 1 quart. If you put too much in it tastes awful and long term use can kill off some gut bacteria. I always have tabs as a backup to my filter, they are so light and take up so little room and so cheap that there is no good reason not to have them.

 

[Downtown]

I too keep Micropur tablets as back up to a First Need filter. Never used them, but use chlorine dioxide professionally as a sanitizer. Very effective, more so than iodine.

 

[Kickin45]

I use a pump or straw purifier.
For me personally, adding chemicals to my wTer to make it clean is not ideal

 

[W54/XM-388]

Or just a medicine dropper with drink safe bleach.
Put 1 drop in a large glass & good to go.

Did that for years in the dirty parts of Asia.

Tastes disgusting till you get used to it.

 

[Downtown]

I agree with using a pump. I've used First Need filters for twenty years. One of the few that go down to virus size. Tablets taste bad and are just a cheap, lightweight backup. One is none,... you know.

 

[Strykervet]

I have a mini sawyer and wanted the added insurance .

Or just a medicine dropper with drink safe bleach.
Put 1 drop in a large glass & good to go.

Did that for years in the dirty parts of Asia.

Tastes disgusting till you get used to it.

In the army they purify those water buffalos with bleach tablets. There's a certain amount you're supposed to use to get the job done without over doing it. And it's a good thing too, because I know a guy after spending a month in the desert with no bath climbed in one and took a bath with his clothes on, THEN beat one off in there before moving on. Thank god we left before drinking out of that one!

Anyway, I'd use just a few drops for a gallon, shake and give it some time do do the deed. You could probably learn a lot by looking up water sanitation too (believe it or not, there's a whole degree program just on water chemistry!).

I need to get one of those filters to btw, so you're already a step ahead of me. I've been lucky enough to usually find a ground source and I've made it over 40 years being lucky but don't wanna push it.

Anything you do, including boiling, will make it taste shitty. If I were gonna depend on it for a long time, I'd build a still and try and use the best parts. There's also this steam still I saw a while back, I'd imagine it would work with water.

Great question for this part of the forum though.

 

[brianf]

Grab a msr guardian pump
Has the correct micron filter to pull everything out
Spits a percentage of each pump to remove crap from filters.

 

[45.308]

Actually iodine is the most effective tablet, again it infiltrates cell walls of bacteria to stop them dead. But, its not effective on ecoli and I should have mentioned this.

For use in North America, iodine is preferred,, it also has a very long shelf. If traveling overseas in high human waste area, chlorine based is more effective on ecoli but it has a very short shelf life but it will be used more frequent. This is the reason groups going over seas use it as does the military.

Do not scoop water into your bottle cup, etc. if you plan to dink from it. If you do, after you drop iodine, splash some contents around the rim of your bottle cup.

For large groups or lots of water, a pump filter is great but they can and do clog, always prefilter your water. Glacier silt is very hard of filters.

Boiling water to a rolling boil, its debatable on how long to boil from a good rolling boil to 10 mins boil, is the most effective.

Or get water straight off glacier melt and snow pack. It does have an earthy taste.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Only one mention of the solar still. I'm surprised.

"drink safe bleach"? As in, there are differences? Clorox, Javex, Perfex?

This is quite the topic here. Parts 2 and 3 will be getting into Reverse Osmosis and De-salinization.

 

[DeftSystems]

Iodine based is most effective as it infiltrates through the cells of bacteria stopping cellular activity and last longer.

I filter water through a coffee filter then roiling boil it which is the most effective. I don't trust tablets to kill everything. Seen too many issues with clogging on filters.

While in camp I build a solar still. Fill it up before leaving and let it work all day. When back in camp after a long day, fresh clean water is waiting.

Cold running water like found in most mountains have a harder time for things to grow Vs warm water down low in the flat land. Always try to avoid stagnate water even in lakes.

Any "best practices" on that solar still you could share?

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Here's a link to the general 'solar still' theory:

Solar still - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What I was taught though, was simply black plastic and clear plastic sheeting. One form of it or another can be found most anywhere, and is a good idea to keep some in a survival kit.

That link keeps talking about 'dig a pit' but we were learned to build-up berms to form a basin that once lined with the black plastic, would hold a gallon or two of the "questionable" water. Relatively shallow, and sorta 'old-fashioned coffin shaped'.

Then, you build yourself a kite with a few sticks and some string/twine/floss/wire/Tarzan Vines/whatever, except this kite is more like an oblong tripod. The longest point (tail end of the 'kite') would be at the lowest point of the whole design. Cover that whole thing with the clear plastic, rolling/curling it up inside. So that the roll/curl is now an inner 'gutter' and gravity will work with you dropping the contents of the gutter towards the end of the kite. Into a container/basin/catch-pool.

The principle is, the sun heats the 'bad water' and evaporates it. The vapour condenses on the clear plastic, and because of the angles of the kite-form, the droplets fall down like a shower curtain into the gutter and then collect in the basin.

Did I explain that as concisely as it is in my head?

This thing only needs to be 1 1/2 feet wide and maybe 2 1/2 feet long.

 

[Laser1]

Spent time on the Colorado River on raft trips through the Grand Canyon. We used 10 drops of standard bleach/5 gallons of river water. Wait 30 minutes before using and we never had any problems. Tastes bad but blended in drink mixes (Koolaid, lemonade, etc) to help cut the bleach taste/smell. 10 drops bleach in 5 gallons of water has a surprisingly heavy bleach taste/odor.

 

[thejeep]

Actually iodine is the most effective tablet, again it infiltrates cell walls of bacteria to stop them dead. But, its not effective on ecoli and I should have mentioned this.

For use in North America, iodine is preferred,, it also has a very long shelf. If traveling overseas in high human waste area, chlorine based is more effective on ecoli but it has a very short shelf life but it will be used more frequent. This is the reason groups going over seas use it as does the military.

Do not scoop water into your bottle cup, etc. if you plan to dink from it. If you do, after you drop iodine, splash some contents around the rim of your bottle cup.

For large groups or lots of water, a pump filter is great but they can and do clog, always prefilter your water. Glacier silt is very hard of filters.

Boiling water to a rolling boil, its debatable on how long to boil from a good rolling boil to 10 mins boil, is the most effective.

Or get water straight off glacier melt and snow pack. It does have an earthy taste.

Glacier silt: we were crossing the AK range one afternoon and we’re going to camp in a spot familiar to us that had had some beautiful pools of that blue green water. I figured we’d just re up in one of those pools. Apparently my memory of the pools were from the early am and in the late pm they were torrents of chocolate milk!! What a sandy dinner.

If you are out for a while and are using a filter I’d recommend one with a user serviceable cartridge. Msr mini works I think . Slow but you can clean it and can withstand daily use for 2 ish months.