On the "Backpacking Arkansas forum" someone posted a picture of a collapsible water bottle for $1 they found at the "Dollar Tree" store.

My wife told me we have one of those stores here so we went there today and bought a couple. They even come with a cheap carabiner.

When I got it home I tried a "Brita Bottle Filter" in it and it works perfectly. So, for about $4.50 you can get a lightweight 520 ml bladder type water bottle with a charcoal filter.

Before I take it on a trip I'll test it out for a bit to see how it holds up, but as far as I can tell it looks like it should do pretty good.

Bill: that Britta filter might improve the taste of your water, but it won't remove Giardia!

So boil the water, then put it in the bag.

There is a local store here called Recreational Outlet. The other day they were selling 2 liter collapsible water bags for $2. I bought 10.

Looks like the Sawyer Squeeze concept is catching hold. The good news is the threading might the same so one can mix and match pieces.

This one would at least remove chemical treatment aftertaste, so there's that.

cheers,

Yea Bill, I'm seconding balzacom's comment. The brita ONLY makes the water taste "better". Bag looks good though.

Well, since I just got the squeeze, I should see if I can buy those bottles at the dollar store. The squeeze uses the same threading as most standard water bottles.

Yeah, but why would I not want to remove "chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates" in my water? (source for NSF/ANSI Standard 42)

I don't think chlorine and mud taste all that good.

BTW, that little charcoal filter only weighs about a 1/2 oz.

And for those who only use chlorine dioxide, cryptosporidium is very tolerant to chlorine disinfection, so you may want to boil your water instead if you're worried about that. (source)

I donno...a little chlorine and particulates might be good for the digestion. . Long as you know what it is good for I am fine.

Our tap water here tastes like concrete sludge. Big surprise, since it travels through 1000 miles plus concrete canals to get here. The Brita filter helped, but it still tasted like sludge that's how bad our water is.

Does anyone know the pore size on these Brita filters?
Thanx,
-Barry

It doesn't really have a pore size. It passes water through activated carbon, which the chlorine clings to.