Which method of water purification (mainly in North America, though I may need it in Taiwan, too) do you think is most effective (considering overall purification and the speed of the purification process):

-chemical (chlorine, etc.)
-filter pump (Hiker Pro, etc.)
-SteriPen

Darwin
daroos@indiana.edu

Chemical - chlorine dioxide.

Is cost an issue? If you've got the money to spend, combine a good microfilter and Katadyn tablets.

Thank you for the input.
Do you use the full 4 hours that are recommended? If not, how long do you wait?

Thank you for the input.
Do you use the full 4 hours that are recommended for the chlorine? If not, how long do you wait?
You don't mean using both with each water treatment do you?
Lastly:), which pump filter would you recommend? If I were to get one, I was leaning toward the Hiker Pro.

Go with a mid-cost type microfilter. I've got an MSR SweetWater. The tablets will kill everything (if you wait long enough), but the microfilter helps get rid of the floaties, sinkers, general other crud, makes the water taste a little better, and helps make the purification go faster.

Its never a bad idea to wait the full 4 hours, but if you're in a fairly remote area in most places in the U.S., you can probably get away with waiting for the minimum amount of time to pass. The 4 hours is for some of the harder to kill, yet more exotic (less common) critters.

Also, make sure to let a little of the chemical water seep through your water bottle cap a few minutes after the tablet has dissolved. If you purify the water in the bottle, but have some of the contaminated stuff in your cap thread...

Sorry, I meant to say that yeah, go ahead and use both the microfilter and your chemical with each treatment if you really want "pure" water. Again, in most places in the U.S., you'll be just fine using a good microfilter alone. In the same way, if you don't mind water crud, you'll be perfectly safe using only chemicals (can't eliminate chemical pollutants, though). If you want the good stuff, filter the water, then treat it.

Darwin, if you search here and in the archives, you'll find lots of info on water filters/purification. See the sticky on "How to Search" at the beginning of the General Discussion section.

For future reference, there's no need to post identical posts in different sections. One is enough! There are probably more posts about water in "Backcountry Health and Safety" than anywhere else.

My favorite water filter, unfortunately no longer available now that ULA has been sold, is the ULA Amigo Pro. Gravity filter, no pumping, 7.5 oz. so lighter than most pump filters. It used the Katadyn Hiker Pro filter and filtered about 1 liter per minute. I suspect that you could make the equivalent using said filter, a high-quality silnylon bag and some plastic hardware and tubing from the aquarium section of the pet store.

I tried the Aquamira Frontier Pro last summer (in conjunction with Katadyn MicroPur tablets) and was very dissatisfied. The filtering rate was about 10 minutes for one liter, not counting the 20 minute waiting time for the tablets. IMHO, 30 minutes for a liter is far too slow! Trying to drink via the bite valve made my jaws ache but didn't quench my thirst. Also, this filter only filters out the protozoa. Since Aquamira doesn't bother to tell us the size of the filter, I question if it even does that. Per the CDC, it takes a 1.0 micron filter to get rid of protozoan cysts. I've seen reports that the Frontier Pro is either 2.0 or 3.0 microns, which makes me doubt that it filters 99% of the protozoa as Aquamira claims.

Pedant alert: chlorine and chlorine dioxide are very different. End of pedant alert.

The four-hour hold time is for cryptosporidium, luckily uncommon in the U.S. high country. It is common in certain waters, however, and I think calls for different measures--filtering or UV.

The Hiker/Hiker Pro are good filters, dependable and pump quickly. I'd also look at UV combined with prefiltering. It gets basically everything, and is only challenged in cloudy or very cold water.

Cheers,

I am a wilderness survival instructor I made a video on this subject

Why Filter Water ? http://www.youtube.com/peaksurvival#p/u/0/KZGvkGT-B7c

is wilderness survival instructor an actual job?

Also, i have the miniworks EX, and i'll be able to give a little review monday.
i've heard ups and downs to all of them, so its basically personal prefrence

It certainly is in the military. A friend of mine enlisted in the Air Force with the express purpose of becoming a survival instructor. He was promised a shot at a slot in the AF survival school. They made good on the promise and he became an instructor. Of course, this was back in the early 60's. YMMV.

I love the taste of cold water that has been filtered. I just wish the filters didn't
slow down halfway through the trip. I used a Steripen for 9 days in 2008.
It was very fast but the lack of filtering made the water taste a little funky.
Maybe it was the UV light effect on the floating bugs.

Jeff

I use BOTH SteriPen Adventurer and MicroPur chlorine dioxoide tablets.

STERIPEN ADVENTURER > for my bike bottle for IMMEDIATE pure water so I can always have it to mix in electrolyte drink powders. (coffee filter used as a pre-filter)

KATADYN MICROPUR TABLETS > for my hydration bladder at the evening refill so I have water ready for the next day. Plus it cleans out bacteria in the drink tube. (coffee filter used as a pre-filter)


(And for cooking water I just bring it to a good rolling boil for at least 30 seconds.)

Eric
P.S. Bacteria & viruses, like people, seem to be inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the roads and the cube of the distance above them.