Travel Water Purification

International Travel means moving through many an airport.
Any suggestions or experience with purification tablets for on the go?

I personally avoid the tablets unless you're packing them away for a dire emergency. They taste like ass and I've got reservations about drinking that much chlorine (or bromine).

I carry one of these on my motorcycle trips, as well multi-night backcountry camping hikes. It'll easily provide enough water for a few people for drinking and cooking, and the price isn't too bad.

http://www.rei.com/product/830746/katadyn-hiker-water-filter

Stick any chemical water treatments in your check in lungague to be safe. As long as its not carry on you should be fine.

Don't forget you maybe able to buy some when you reach your destination, or you can post them to yourself when you get over there if you are worried?

My expereince has been fine, checked in, no issues.

Steri Pen is light and packable.

If you use chlorine tablets do yourself a favor and mix in kool aid or Mio or some type of flavor

Used one of these on my recent trek in Nepal:

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw

When the water wasn't frozen, it worked great!

I also like filtration rather than treatment. I use one of these. Fill it up, and you've got flowing clean water. The whole thing rolls up about the size of a bottle of soda. If you are filtering tap water, the filters last a long time. Scummy stagnant pond water plugs the filters more quickly, but still tastes fine.

http://www.rei.com/product/737349/katadyn-base-camp-water-filter

The katydyn base camp is a nice filter, but for backpacking I prefer the Platypus GravityWorks system. It's lighter and has a faster flow rate of 4 liters in 2 minutes.

And yes, I also carry a frontier filter straw for backup. $9.97 at cheaperthandirt.com.

Traveling means clear water, right? Steri-Pen all the way then!

No bad taste (at least not more than the water itself), easy, fast, convenient.



Muddy water from an unknown source in deep forest is different story but tap water, even in the worst country in the world, is kinda easy to treat.

I use filtration as well. I've had a Sweetwater (before they were bought by MSR) for 10 years of infrequent use but it's never failed and is small and light. FIlters are kinda pricey,especially if you buy for viruses.

​

Good to know we have someone onboard that knows what ass tastes like. I only know how to act like one!

I use a Katadyn Hiker Water Filter. Small light weight and easy to use. Filters to .3 Microns and has an adapter that fits my Naglene Bottle.

I carry the tablets strictly as an emergency backup. As others have said water that's treated with the tablets taste HORRIBLE.

http://www.rei.com/product/830746/katadyn-hiker-water-filter

When i buy a water filter im buying a sawyer point zero two system. Filters at .02 microns, removes everything except disolved chemicals and heavy metals and radiation. Why screw around with systems that only filter .2-.3 microns, might as well as use a wash cloth as a filter.

I have a Katadyn filter system, for many years now.

When I was in the Black Hills, I ran into a BLM ranger, living out of his truck monitoring a logging operation. He had a Sawyer Squeeze system:



My Katadyn was in box heading home a few days later.

Much easier to use than the old pump, weighs nothing and I've pulled water out of creeks and rivers since then, with no ill effects. I suppose one could add a Steri-pen or buy the fancier Sawyer if you were traveling outside the US, but apparently we have VERY few issues with viruses here in the States.

I would place water treatment into two catagories. One to filter out crud and two to kill partistes.

When hiking in low elevation areas I ususualy carry a filter. I too use the sweet water filter. THough I have broken it before and it has left em without water.

When hiking at hiker elevations when the water will msot likey be free of cows dropping their loads I use polar pure. It is iodine, but you pour in an iodine solution. There is solid iodine balls, looks like bb's, you add water and make the solution in the bottle. Pour out as many cap fulls as the water temps determines the solutions concentration. I also evaluate the waters purity and consider how many cap fulls to fill. This is a great way to chemicily treat your water as it leaves very little bad taste.

This is what I carry if I am traveling to countries of questionable water quaqlity. THough if I am in such a country I will jsut buy bottled water.
http://www.polarequipment.com/directions.htm

Looks like the DEA has outlawed the sale of iodine. Polar pure is not able to make its product. Maybe some stores still have some back stock.

Yup......very quick, easy, reliable. Stop anywhere, fill your bottle from a tap, 90 seconds later........ clean drinkable water.

...........shu

The wife and I do a fair amount of backpacking (PA, NY, ME, MT) and have used http://www.aquamira.com/consumer/aquamira-water-treatment-drops for years. Available at EMS and REI...

We've never gotten sick from bad water and the taste is actually not bad...very slight chloring taste...not as bad as some tap water I've had. That being said, we've always been in the mountains and had some sort of availability to mountain streams or small brooks where you could get clear water.

If I were headed into a situation where I didn't know what the water sources were going to be like, I'd buy a filtration device...we have an old Katadyn model that was really cool since the end spout fit perfectly into the top of a Nalgene bottle. It was super slow, but you could filter water from a puddle in the middle of the cow pasture and probably not get sick....not that I'd try, but I read it on the internet...must be true!

Steripens are great and tough as nails.