Drinking Water

DRINKING WATER

Perhaps the most important item in your backpack as you head off, down the trail, into the back country, is your water drinking system. Sure, if you're a practiced survivalist, you may know of a few ways to safely hydrate yourself in the wild. And as long as you can make a fire, you can always just boil your water before you drink it. But I think we can all agree that a good, reliable, store-bought purification or filtration system should be a requirement on any outdoor-adventure packing list.

We can break the options down into three main categories: Purification, Sterilization, and Filtration.


1. "Purification" systems rely on chemical tablets or liquids like Iodine or Chlorine Dioxide to kill off any harmful viruses, bacterias, protozoa (Giardia and Cryptosporidium), or other harmful microorganisms. These systems are popular for guided trips, especially for youth backpacking programs because of their guarantee to prevent sicknesses from any suspect water sources, and because they don't require any laborious pumping at the river-bank. One has only to drop the tablet into their full canteen, wait the 30 minutes to an hour, and then drink. They really do work if used properly, guaranteed.

My opinion:
While tried and true, I just don't like the "Purification" systems. To call them "purification" systems in the first place seems inaccurate, when really it's more like adding small amounts of poison to your drinking water; enough to kill the microorganisms and viruses, but not enough to harm your own body.
Secondly, you can only use this system as long as you have the tablets in your bag. If they were to get lost, contaminated, or otherwise compromised, then you're out of luck.
Thirdly, the tablets do change the taste of the water, no matter what the manufacturers claim. Often times the purification tablets even come with a second bottle of "Taste-Neutralizer" tablets, but even those have their distinct effect on the water's taste.
And finally, on a personal note, Iodine purification systems give me bad gas... especially in conjunction with a typical backpacking diet of high-starch grains and dense, dehydrated proteins/veggies.... (too much information?) ... moving on;

2. "Sterilization" systems are relatively new, and consist of battery powered UV light sticks that effectively burn the harmful viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and other microorganisms to death. These systems are really cool. They accomplish all that the Purification Tablet systems do, but without the compromised taste, without the use of chemicals, and they do it in far less time. One has only to submerge the UV light into their canteen for 30 to 90 seconds, depending on the volume of water, to render their bottle drinkable.

Some downsides:
Batteries, of course, are the biggest downside to these systems. Not only do the manufacturers recommend the use of the more expensive "brand name" Lithium batteries, but even the right batteries have relatively short lives, especially in colder climates. One user review claimed that any temperature under 70 F would significantly decrease the number of uses from fresh batteries. Usually you will need at least one back-up set for a typical 4-5 day trip.
Secondly, the system's success often depends on the quality of the water. It needs to be clear, and it has to have good electrical conductivity. Cloudy water, or water of low electrical conductivity, such as snow or ice-melt, will often cause device failure (device failure = bad).
Thirdly, the price is high. Perhaps shelling out $100 + (depending on the model) is not worth the convenience and pack-weight/time efficiency.
Finally, both the "Purification" and "Sterilization" systems fail to address the issue of heavy metals, organics, and in-organics that are often present even in our tap water. These systems do not remove or reduce the potentially harmful DDT, PCBs, THMs, Lead, Copper, Mercury, Arsenic, and Chromium 6. With pollutants like these becoming ever-present in all areas of the environment, the appropriate cautions should be taken when designing a water drinking system.

3. The water "Filtration" systems are self explanatory and more widely known. Whether by pump (like the example below), gravity, or some other form of applied pressure, the water source is forced through a filter that catches almost all the bad stuff and lets almost all the good stuff through, into your drinking container.

Pros outweigh the cons:
Although these systems are often bulkier, heavier, and more time consuming, they ultimately are the better choice. The water will taste better, 99.9999% percent of viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and other microorganisms are removed, and 99.99% of heavy metals, organics, and in-organics are removed/reduced. And the filters do not need to be replaced very often, so one can usually count on reliable system performance for long trips.

ULTIMATELY, the best system is one with multiple back-ups. If it were up to me, and budget was not an obstacle, I would have my filtration system as my main, go-to drinking water technique. Then I would carry a bottle of some sort of purification tablets (with an up-to-date expiration), and on top of it all, as a back-up-back-up, I would carry a UV sterilization system with a fresh set of lithium batteries. I like to pack light, but back-up water systems should be seen as just as important as a first aid kit.

Stay tuned for my next blog entry this coming week. There are some amazing new Filtration technologies on the market these days. I'll compare a few of my favorites and show you how they bypass the above-listed downsides of traditional filtration systems. I've developed a double back-up system using only variations of filtration systems. Lightweight, easy, and fast. Check it out by the end of this week!