water treatment

Benjamin Tang aka ben2world will answer your questions very well :)

Don't hold your breath. He's gone off on his 7 month RTW trip. Not sure whether he'll be checking in very often.

Might be awhile…Ben is on his 'round the world jaunt. (Edit: Oops, Ashley beat me to it!)

Barbara, may I suggest a search of this site for LOADS of discussion on the topic.

I did search this site for loads of info – that's why I'm confused, Ha!

Barbara,

see this thread for some help on this issue

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=20784&skip_to_post=166259#166259

Barbara,

In a nut shell: the chem treatment and the filter compliment each other.

You need the filter because the chem. only kills bacteria & viruses if given ~20 min. (chem. can kill the tougher protozoa and cysts, but that requires the 4 hrs. you've heard about).

You need chem. because the Frontier Pro filter has relatively huge pore size (3 microns, not 0.3 microns like Katadyn Hiker Pro and others). However, the Frontier Pro DOES block the relatively large protozoa and cysts.

So, used in concert, the chem kills the tiny stuff in ~20 min. and the filter traps the big stuff, and you're a happy hiker.

Take note from Roleigh's thread-link: Don't filter before the 20 min. or the charcoal in the filter will deactivate the chemicals before they've been completely effective.

If you've found this helpful, thank folks around here…I "absorbed" all this info from other members, especially (but not limited to), Ben Tang, Dan Cunningham, and Chris Chastain.

Cheers

Alternately get a new Steripen Adventurer and some GOOD CR123 batteries. Cheap ones will not work. Learn how to use it at home: you can be fooled if you try to start it the wrong way. Read the manual…

My wife and I now use the Steripen on all our trips – when we need to treat the water. We very often don't bother.

Cheers

UL, effective, and the bandanna is multi-use.

Btw, 200 micropur tabs for 9 days? How much water are you planning to treat?

Thank you everyone for your input – all very helpful. Point noted about need for filter + chem , given micron size, and also not to filter out the chem before it has a chance to work. I'm using the Steripen at home regularly, to weed out any issues now rather than later.

# of tabs needed – sorry, that was a touch of English humor, tho they are for three of us (not one). I wasn't planning on nuking the entire San Joaquin, LOL. Cheers! Barbara

There was actually a topic that mentioned that it was OK to filter through the Frontier Pro immediately after treating with Aquamira. The manufacturer actually recommended this. I'll look for the post…

Those of you who have a Frontier Pro, how do you use it? I think I'm going to have to use it as a gravity filter, but it's going to require a very long wait. Because of that, I'm only going to use it for water near cattle, horses or tourists.

I use a filter with a home made pre-filter (MSR Sweetwater) if I will be in areas where the water has a high solids content (you can't see the bottom and it is only 4" deep). By high-solids, I mean water from stock tanks, water pockets with floating dead coyotes and other such typical southern Arizona water sources. Sometimes I'll toss in a Micropur tablet once the water has been filtered just to help with the gamy taste.

For clear water that contains a lot of dissolved minerals, and taste is not an issue, I use Micropur, or equivalent, only. This would be water typical of what is available in the Grand Canyon. I use a bandanna or coffee filter to strain out the floaties so common in some of the shallow streams and seeps and then add the chemical.

For water sources in the high mountains such as the Sierra and the Cascades, I use a Steripen with top-quality lithium batteries. This is quick, and has no appreciable effect on the taste of the water. I love the taste of cold, high-country water.

To quote Walter A. Starr Jr. (1933), "No shrine like God's own starlit dome nor wine like water from my stream."

In my opinion, the Steripen, or the heavier filter, comes closest to keeping the "winelike" character of mountain water. There is a definite learning curve with the Steripen and some people, myself included, have problems with the switch (arthritic fingers). But I used mine with only a few glitches, solved by re-reading the instructions, on a JMT through-hike last year. It performed flawlessly if I did my part. I carried Micropur as a backup however.

Really, they all work, it just depends on what you anticipate.

Actually, I was able to squeeze/sit on it to speed up the flow. It worked great.

Diane,

I reviewed the Frontier Pro for BackpackGearTest.org, so you can check that site for more details. My abridged review is that it works reasonably well in all its advertised capacities (drinking straight from a stream, in a platy system, from a bottle, and gravity filtration). You can easily find a (lightweight) alternative that will do any of these better, but nothing that can do them all and still be so easy to store. Very useful and inexpensive choice.

I'm taking the Frontier Pro out for it's first official run this weekend. I plan on using it both as a gravity filter and an on the go filter. As I'm hiking, I'll just fill up my platypus, put in the bleach drops, and start drinking through the frontier pro 15-20 minutes later. I find it plenty easy to suck the water through the filter.

In camp, I'll either use it to gravity fill a 1 liter bottle I'm bringing along, or just hold the platypus over my pot and squeeze the bite valve with my fingers to fill it. If that works I can just leave the spare bottle at home next time and save an ounce. It might be too much of a pain though.

At home, testing the gravity filter function, I've found the the water flow to be plenty fast for my liking, but I have no experience with gravity filters to compare to. I haven't time it though, and it was with clear tap water, not sediment-y pond water.

I believe there's physics I don't understand/can't explain, but I think the key to the gravity filter being speedy is to have the FP at the end of the hose, or at least inline, rather than screwed directly onto the bladder. Something to do with funneling the water down a narrow tube, creating pressure and forcing it through fast, I think. Somebody smart might be able to explain the science behind it, if in fact I am basically correct, which I may not be.

I have a camelback and the Frontier Pro fits weakly on the tube. I don't trust it well enough to have it dangling from the drinking end. And I can't attach it close to the bottle. Perhaps I can find an old platypus cap to use with my one-liter platypus bottles for the gravity filter. I'm trying to avoid buying a platypus since my camelback works so well for now with the nice big opening and all. But I may have to succumb.

Barbara,

You might want to consider the Sawyer In Line Filter, which does not require the use of chemicals, like the Frontier Pro.

I use mine as a gravity filter in camp and I use it with a disposable pint water bottle for use on the trail.

I have been using this filter for my family and I as my only water treatment system for the past 2.5 yrs without ever getting sick.

If you check the User Review Area, I have a very detailed review, photos of what the gravity filter looks like, and step by step instructions on how to build one and use one in the field.

It is not a perfect solution only in that there is no active charcoal in the filter to help improve the taste of the water, but it will take care of any biological problem, short of viruses.

Hope that this helps you out.

-Tony

I couldn’t find my way around a hardware store if my life depended on it, but I was thinking of looking for something like this, in the appropriate size of course, the make sure the tube stays where it’s supposed to stay.

That hose clamp will be too big, as will all of them. It may be more workable to use the piece of tubing that came with the filter and a plastic tubing joiner to join it with the existing tube. You wouldn't know until you tried, however.

Thanks for the suggestion Tony – will do. I really appreciate your and everyone's patient input, given that I know it's been covered so many time before! Cheers- B

Barbara,

If this helps you, here is a link to REI for what comes with the filter:

http://www.rei.com/product/778041

You can find it for a little bit cheaper online elsewhere.

You will notice that the kit comes with clamps and extra tubing.

When I bought mine, it did not comes with the faucet attachment, which is a nice touch.

Note: the small black thing in the photos is meant to join two lines together, in case you cut your hydration hose to "plug in" your Sawyer filter. Never used it myself.

-Tony

Barbara,

I carry two modes of treatment:

1. Steripen Adventurer > W/ small funnel & small 1 cup coffee filters. This is for my bike bottle when I need water to drink right away.

2. Katadyn Chlorine Dioxide tablets> These are for my hydration bag. They keep bacterial bugs out of the drink tube and the water tastes great. These tabs do take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to work, depending upon water temperature. One tablet per liter of clear water.
**Plus the tablets are a backup to my Steripen.

Eric

Barbara,

For the steripen, you may consider taking your batteries out between use and keep them warm, like in a pocket. I've been using mine for over a year and the only time I've ever had problems is when the unit was cold, like 20* F. When I warmed up the batteries it worked like a champ.

-Happy Trails,
-Mark

Mark – Thanks for the suggestion – yeah, I'd read quite a few other comments about battery drain and inadvertent use. The cap is such a PITA to take off – or to put back on, to be more accurate, but obviously worth doing.

All – has anyone tried out the Platy Clean Stream gravity filter that goes down to 0.2 microns? Using it with a lighter weight bag and my own water container for the clean water would cut the weight (advertised as 12.7oz, tho the filter itself is advertised as 4 ozs).

Barbara