Survival Straw for Water Treatment?

I googled a bit but can't find info. on the filter's pore size — or exactly how it treats biological baddies. Can't find info. about its weight or dimension either, although it looks "small and light" in the photos.

Looks to be effective against both bacteria and protozoa cysts, although 99.99% is actually on the low side, as compared to quality filters like MSR or Katadyn.

One thing you can do is pair it with chemicals — such as household bleach (unscented Chlorox). A tiny bottle to dispense 3-4 drops per quart or liter is all you need. Wait 30 minutes, then drink through the Survival Straw — and you should be fine. The Straw is supposed to eliminate bad water taste — including chlorine.

I use a similar system — pairing chlorox with Aquamira Frontier Pro.

I know some people who would love to have one of these things in their first aid kit for "just in case" type scenarios.

This survival straw probably does a good job for most survival situations. I tried to find more info on it but no luck. I’ll keep digging and while I have no basis to doubt their claims, I would still add some chemical insurance if I were to use it for recreation.

I’m personally skeptical about heavy metals and similar contaminant claims from straw manufactures. No peer reviewed data, I’m just a skeptic.

I’ve noticed over the last few years a number of high end survival straws disappeared from the market. The urban rumor floating around my community (mil survival instructors and kit makers) claims some straws were not able to perform as advertised. Seems it’s hard to generate, by mouth alone, the pressure needed pull water thru a sub 2 micron filter and really get rid of all the bugs/junk they claimed they could. The ones that did have fine filters required a lot of pressure. That translates to effort and sore cheeks for minimal water.

If it was my money I would consider an alternative. I also agree if you use a straw for recreational water procurement that they are best used in conjunction with chemical purification. I’ve used the original Frontier for quite a while and have upgraded to the Frontier Pro (since I got some freebies from my wholesale source). Tastes great, less filling (the pack that is).

Mike

I carry something similar in my daypack from AquaMira that's called a survival straw. It's different than the AquaMira frontier pro. It's only 10 dollars, weighs about half an ounce, quick and easy to use, and is good for 20 gallons. I bought mine at hikelight.com, but that site seems to be down right now. More here: http://www.trailspace.com/gear/aquamira/frontier-emergency-water-filter-system/

Kathleen:

Just thinking out loud here… I really wonder about carrying the Aquamira straw — in and of itself — for use in an emergency. According to the specs, the pore size is 3.0 micron — which is 10 to 15 times bigger than quality filters like MSR or Katadyn. The straw's large pore size renders it ineffective against bacteria!

To me, carrying an ultralight "survival blanket" can make sense. It won't be comfy, but in an emergency, it can at least help keep one alive. But a light, cheap and easy to carry filter that can only block the biggest stuff (protozoa cysts) but not any of the small stuff like bacteria? Methinks that's really just a false sense of security. Why? Because any pool of water "rich enough" to support relatively big and complicated organisms like protozoa cyst is going to be rich enough to support smaller, simpler and hardier bacteria as well.

To me, I would either save the 1 oz and $10 and carry nothing — or more prudently, take the straw along — but also carry a teeny tiny bottle of chlorine — and first treat the emergency water with 2-4 drops, wait 30 minutes, then drink through the straw. The chlorine will kill viruses and bacteria (the small stuff) — leaving the bigger (and harder to kill) stuff like protozoa cysts for the filter to block.

Good points, Ben. I hadn't realized the pore size was so big. Before I bought the straw I was carrying minidrop bottles of AquaMira itself. I can easily go back to that. There's no difference in weight. I was trying to cut down on the hassle factor on day hikes. But if it means increasing the hassle factor of beasties in my tum tum, I'll gladly take the drop hassle.

Kathleen:

You're welcome! While Aquamira drops or tablets will certainly work, they are relatively expensive and the drops require a sort-of-tedious mixing process and wait time before they could be poured into the drinking water. Chlorine (e.g. Chlorox or equivalent store-brands) are much, much cheaper and require no pre-mixing.

The one advantage of Aquamira chlorine dioxide over plain chlorine is the former's ability to kill protozoa. But this requires a long wait time — as long as 4 hours for cold mountain streams that are just above freezing! Since you have the Straw to block the bigger and harder to kill stuff (and are unlikely to wait up to 4 hours) — I don't think chlorine dioxide is really that superior of an option.

Another way of looking at this: relying only on a filter to block even the tiny stuff means lugging a heavier contraption. Relying only on chemicals to kill everything — even the big stuff — means more expensive chemicals and long, long wait time! But combining filter and chemicals and letting each do what it does best results in a cheap, light and reasonably fast setup.

I am not familiar with the Survival Straw, but the Lifestraw looks very promising. Right now they are only selling large quantities to developing countries.

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw-f-faq.htm

Good grief. My life was a lot simpler before this thread got started! So survival straw plus chlorine drops? The best of both worlds? On day trips I rarely need to use more water than I'm carrying, so I'm fine with sticking with just the aquamira drops and giving up the straw. I use only aquamira drops on backpack trips.

I don't know if any of this helps Michael with his original question about the survival straw. That aquamira survival straw was really cool, though….

I've used at least two different survival straws that I've carried as backup for when I've run out of water or my other water treatment system has failed. I haven't gotten sick yet!

The Survival Straw in the link might well be effective, but I'm going to apply the "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" truism: It's not going to provide "a lifetime of pure water," that's for sure. For one thing 5,000 gallons is nowhere near a lifetime's worth of water.

I carried a filter straw as a backup on the CDT last summer. When I ran short of Aqua Mira one time while a friend was hiking with me, it was nice having the straw as a backup.

For me, straws are for backup. I tend not to drink enough water if relying on them alone. From the info on that linked page, I'd be comfortable with that straw as a backup.