Water Treatments for Backpacking and Hiking
- Boiling Water. If you find yourself with a frozen filter or lacking drops, you can always boil your water (rolling boil for one minute).
- Aqua Mira. Aqua Mira is one of the most popular ways to purify water on the trail. ...
- Household (laundry) Bleach. I hiked the trail in 2013. I never saw anyone use bleach for purification. ...
- Potable Aqua Iodine. Iodine is one of the most recognizable ways to purify water. ...
- Katadyn MicroPur Tablets. Each tablet is individually wrapped. Weight: 0.9 oz ...
- MSR Sweetwater Droplets & MSR Sweetwater Filter. The MSR Sweetwater droplets are meant to be paired with the MSR Sweetwater Filter as a filtration system.
- Sawyer Filtration Products. Sawyer filters are extremely popular filter systems for thru-hikers. My boyfriend and I used the Sawyer Squeeze for the second half of our thru-hike.
- Platypus Gravity Works Water Filtration System. Weight: 11.5 oz
- SteriPen. I did not see many thru-hikers using the SteriPen on the trail. I think the SteriPen is more effective for short trips because the system does require batteries.
- Katadyn Hiker & Hiker Pro Filter. This is the Hiker Pro. ...
How to treat water while hiking or backpacking?
Below are the best ways to treat your water while hiking or backpacking. These items are chosen because of popularity, weight, and effectiveness. Filters only purify the water from Protozoa & Bacteria. When looking for a filter, anything less than one micron will be effective for purifying.
How do I purify water on the trail?
Aqua Mira is one of the most popular ways to purify water on the trail. Aquamira is lightweight chlorine dioxide (not Iodine or chlorine) but not readily available in every town.
What is the best water treatment method?
Water treatment methods have evolved past the days of iodine tablets (but that doesn’t discount iodine as a treatment!). Filters are more efficient and lightweight than ever before, and purifying droplets have proved worthy with barely altered taste, if any at all.
What is the best way to treat outdoor water?
The best practice is to treat water from any source, which is what most savvy outdoor visitors do. This article offers an overview and tips on outdoor water treatment. To learn about options for travel abroad, read Water Treatment for International Travel.
How do you treat water in the backcountry?
Boiling can be used as a pathogen reduction method that should kill all pathogens. Water should be brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute. At altitudes greater than 6,562 feet (greater than 2000 meters), you should boil water for 3 minutes.
How do outdoor experts recommend treating drinking water when backpacking?
Boiling is a surefire backup option: Bring water to a rolling boil for 1 minute, or for 3 minutes if you're above 6,500 feet.
What are 3 different methods of water treatment?
Public drinking water systems use different water treatment methods to provide safe drinking water for their communities. Public water systems often use a series of water treatment steps that include coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection.
How do you get water while hiking?
You can get water while backpacking from streams, lakes, water caches, waterfalls, rivers, and even animal watering basins along your trail. You can purify water by boiling it or using purification tablets, a UV pen, a sip or squeeze filter, or carrying a bottle with a built-in purifier.
What is the best way to filter water while backpacking?
Boiling water before drinking is one of the most reliable ways to purify drinking water. The basic rule is to make sure you bring the water to a rolling boil for 1 minute at lower altitudes and 3 minutes at altitudes above 2000 meters. Boiling will eliminate bacteria, protozoa, and even viruses.
Can I boil and drink lake water?
Never drink water from a natural source that you haven't purified, even if the water looks clean. Water in a stream, river or lake may look clean, but it can still be filled with bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can result in waterborne diseases, such as cryptosporidiosis or giardiasis.
What are the 6 methodologies used in water treatment?
Top 7 Methods of Water TreatmentCoagulation / Flocculation. Coagulation is adding liquid aluminum sulfate or alum and/or polymer to raw or untreated water. ... Sedimentation. When water and flocs undergo the treatment process, they go into sedimentation basins. ... Filtration. ... Disinfection. ... Sludge Drying. ... Fluoridation. ... pH Correction.
What are the 5 steps of water treatment?
The 5 major unit processes include chemical coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection (described below). There are chemicals added to the water as it enters the various treatment processes.
What are the 7 stages of water treatment?
They typically consist of several steps in the treatment process. These include: (1) Collection ; (2) Screening and Straining ; (3) Chemical Addition ; (4) Coagulation and Flocculation ; (5) Sedimentation and Clarification ; (6) Filtration ; (7) Disinfection ; (8) Storage ; (9) and finally Distribution.
How do you filter water in the woods?
Finally, the most effective way to filter is to crush up charcoal, put it on your cloth and let the water run through it. Charcoal filters remove sediment, many contaminants, and improve the taste. Charcoal is used in store-bought home and backcountry water filters.
How do you purify water?
Boiling is sufficient to kill pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa (WHO, 2015).If water is cloudy, let it settle and filter it through a clean cloth, paperboiling water towel, or coffee filter.Bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute.More items...•
Where does water come from on a hike?
Water is plentiful on the trail from springs, streams, rivers, and ponds… but not every clear water source should be trusted. Some hikers have survived without treating water, but that doesn’t mean dangerous impurities do not exist in these sources.
What is the best way to purify water?
Iodine is one of the most recognizable ways to purify water. Iodine does leave an unpleasant taste in your drinking water, but the taste can be neutralized by taste-neutralizing tablets.
What is the best filter for thru-hiking?
Sawyer filters are extremely popular filter systems for thru-hikers. My boyfriend and I used the Sawyer Squeeze for the second half of our thru-hike. These filter systems might be difficult to collect water from shallow sources. I would recommend carrying a Gatorade bottle, which is better for ‘scooping’ water than the Sawyer or Platypus bags. The cartridge life for Sawyer Squeezes boast 1 million gallons. The Sawyer Squeeze can act as a gravity filtration system but do not expect quick results.
Can you boil water on a hike?
If you find yourself with a frozen filter or lacking drops, you can always boil your water (rolling boil for one minute). I do not recommend doing this for your entire hike. This wastes fuel and time, but will work just fine in those sticky situations.
How to purify water on a hike?
You can choose from chemical treatment (iodine or chlorine), filtration, ultraviolet light, or boiling. Each of these methods is very effective when used properly.
How to make sure water is safe to drink?
Water Purification. Use one of these techniques to make sure your water is safe to drink. Clean drinking water. This should be at the top of everyone’s 10 Essentials list. It keeps you going on the trail and staves off needless injuries associated with dehydration.
How to make water potable?
Here are the typical methods for making water potable: • Bring to a rolling boil for one minute. Advantage: foolproof. Drawbacks: uses a lot of fuel, is inconvenient in mid-hike, and on a sweltering summer day, hot water does not satisfy like crisp, cool spring water.
Do you need to use all four water purifiers?
You don’t need to use all four, just choose one that’s easy for you to use and stick with it faithfully. Just one lapse in purifying your water could take you off the trail for quite a while. Dehydration is a preventable and often overlooked problem while hiking.
How long to boil water at altitude?
Pros: The most low-tech and easy technique of all those mentioned here is to boil your water. Bring it to a “rolling boil” for a minute (or three minutes at altitudes above 6,500 ft.). This is also cost-effective (for the most part) since you likely already have a cook-set with you.
What is a water bottle filter?
Pros: Water Bottle Filters (filtration or purification depending on brand): These bottles have built-in filtration or purification elements. Some use the suction you provide when you sip from the bottle while others work like a coffee press or use UV light to filter/purify your water. They are easy to use for the whole family, and tend to be reasonably priced. The new Lifestraw Play is designed for kids with it’s two stage filtration and leak proof design. The lid is a great feature to keep dirt and sand out of straw. For an adult option, check out the Lifestraw Go.
Types of Water Treatment
Boiling: Boiling water will kill just about everything, however, it does take time, requires taking extra fuel, and is cumbersome to do while hiking. When you’re back at camp enjoying dinner, it isn’t an issue, but the last thing you’ll want to do on the middle of a hike is take our your stove, fuel, and pots to boil some water to drink.
Water Treatment Shopping Tips
Weight? As with all things related to hiking and backpacking, light weight is key.
How to gather water for treatment?
How to Gather Water. The most important thing when you gather water for treatment is to seek out the clearest possible water. Leaves, algae and silt don’t pose a threat, but they do complicate the process of treating water when they’re present. If murky or silty water is unavoidable, consider these strategies:
How to get rid of murky water?
If murky or silty water is unavoidable, consider these strategies: Gather from the surface: Use the pot in your cookset and scoop water from near the surface of the least murky section of water you can locate. Let the pot sit so sediment sinks to the bottom.
What are the viruses that are difficult to filter out of water?
Viruses include Hepatitis A, rotavirus, and norovirus. Because they are smaller than protozoa and bacteria, they are difficult to filter out of water. Technically speaking, treating water by removing or neutralizing them is when you’re “purifying” water.
What bacteria can be removed from water?
Their relatively large size, though, makes them easier to filter out of water. Bacteria include Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, Campylobacter and many others. These midsize microorganisms can also be removed by water filters. Viruses include Hepatitis A, rotavirus, and norovirus.
What are the primary waterborne threats?
Primary Types of Waterborne Threats. Any water source on Earth could contain microscopic pathogens, a fluvial zoo spawned when that source became contaminated with human or animal feces. Ingesting as few as 10 disease-causing microorganisms is enough to produce diarrhea and other dehydration-inducing symptoms.
How long to boil water to make it safe?
Boiling is a surefire backup option: Bring water to a rolling boil for 1 minute, or for 3 minutes if you’re above 6,500 feet.
Why is it important to keep mosquitoes away from water?
This is a good option because it isn’t conducive to the growth of algae or the accumulation of microorganisms. A bonus is that mosquitoes don’t lay eggs in fast-flowing water. If no clear flowing source is available, then look for calm water (a lake, a pool, a slow-moving stream) without a lot of sediment or silt.
Boiling
Although sterilization by heating is referred to as “boiling,” it is not necessary to actually bring water to a full rolling boil or to boil for 5 to 10 minutes, as is often stated. Raising the temperature of water to 155°F (70°C) is sufficient to kill most biota encountered by backpackers.
Filtering
Filters depend primarily on forcing water through a medium with tiny holes to physically remove microbes and matter. Anything larger than the hole size is blocked, so a filter’s effectiveness depends on its “pore” size. Most filters available for backpackers remove all parasites and bacteria, plus some viruses.
Chemical Treatment: Iodine and Chlorine
The chemical treatment approach uses one of two halogens ( chlorine or iodine) to kill biota. This is the method most used by municipal water supplies around the world. The backpacker’s approach is to use a small amount of the halogen, rather than the massive treatment plant used by your local water company.
Ultraviolet Radiation
A recent addition to the quiver of techniques for purifying water in the field is ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The most widely available device for doing this is the SteriPen. This is a battery-operated device that is stirred in the water (preferably a one-liter water bottle with a wide mouth) for a short period of time (couple of minutes).
The Bottom Line
As noted previously in “Part 3: What is in Backcountry Water,” the strong evidence is that for backcountry travelers in the United States and Canada, the major source of digestive tract illness is not waterborne pathogens or other contamination, but poor sanitation. The best prevention is paying diligent attention to simple sanitation measures:
Filter recommendations
This version is lighter, faster and more reliable than my older pump filter.
Backpacking water purification without a filter
But you're not locked into carrying a hiking water filter in your backpack.