Help me lighten/refine my approach to water treatment (FirstNeed vs. filter+tabs vs. steripen vs. ??)

If you are in an area where wood fires are permitted, you could carry a titanium woodburner stove. That way, there is no weight of fuel to be carried, so you can boil lots of water without worry.

–B.G.–

if you guys can wait til tonight(maybe tommorow depending on how fast youtube completes the upload process), i will be posting an overdue video on how to make your own activated carbon filter. Meant to be used in conjunction with a chemical treatment, it will be:

-refillable for life with cheap bulk activated carbon)buyactivatedcharcoal.com) and tiny 1-micron biodiesel filter material discs(ebay)
-simple and fit easily into your gravity setups
-UL
-Remove bad tastes, bleach, etc
-Self cleaning(from a germ perspective)
-easily field serviceable
-very fast
-very cheap

1 time cost for bulk materials/parts of about 50-60 bucks, after that, it will work for years without need of another purchase.

This gets at the core of why there can be no single water treatment solution for everybody, every destination and every season. Source water and weather conditions are too variable.

Cold water limits chemical efficacy and slows or even stalls UV. Filtration often makes the most sense when the supply is very cold.

Turbidity creates problems for every treatment option. What are your plans for settling or prefiltering your source water before final treatment? You need one.

Identify your actual, rather than your imagined threat: viruses, bacteria, protozoa, tapeworm? Each has its unique set of challenges so it behooves you to learn all you can about your water supply before leaving home (e.g., do they run livestock in the area?)

Related to the above, what about chemical contamination? Almost nothing targeting biological contamination will address chemical contamination. Areas with a mining legacy can have treacherous chemical runoff–the western U.S. alone has tens, if not hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines. Creeks and rivers still hold thousands of tons of mercury from gold extraction. The mercury slowly converts to bioavailable methylmercury and works its way into the water column and foodchain.

Most of these biological treatment technologies work if used correctly and matched to the actual (potential contamination present. But they can all be defeated if used incorrectly or fail or are a poor match.

Cheers,

Rick

Daryl, I usually do the same as chemically treated water. IE, shake out the top pretty well, screw it on loosly as I squeeze. (I use LifeWater, Gatoraid, or VitaminWater bottles as water bottles…about .6L) This squeezes treated water out along the top and through the threads.
Hope this helps!

The little that mixes in is something I do not worry about.

Hi Rick

I agree with almost everything you wrote, with one exception:
> Cold water … slows or even stalls UV

I don't think this is true AT ALL. UV treatment relies on the energy of a single UV photon disrupting a chemical bond deep in the DNA of the bugs. Water temperature will not affect that process afaik.

Cheers

James and Jerry,

You guys give a good perspective on my (hydrophobic?)concern about untreated water on or about the threads of the bottle. I feel better now.

Your view seems to be in line with my friend's view which is "the solution to pollution is dilution".

Thanks,

Daryl

The other thing is, that water polution concerns are over-blown

Seldomly do you need any treatment

Especially, in alpine areas the water is pretty safe

If the water is just fine as is, then any treatment will work

Hi Roger,

To clarify, it's the lamp output that drops. I agree that UV light delivered does the job regardless of the ambient temberature. Here's a quick data point:

"Low pressure (LP), and Low Pressure High Output (LPHO) UV lamps (all small UV systems use either a LP or LPHO lamp design) are sensitive to ambient operating temperatures, and emit maximum dose at 41° C. When the lamp is subject to lower or higher operating temps, the UV output begins to drop dramatically."

Generally speaking, one can keep a UV unit warm inside a jacket pocket. This helps it to start when temps are cold but once plunged into cold water the lamp temperature and the output drop commensurately. IIRC my Aquastar instructions say to double treatment time with very cold water.

Cheers,

Rick

Never buy another charcoal/activated carbon filter for backpacking ever again. Never worry about leaks because this diy job uses no glue. Properties: removes chemical tastes from your water, improves water taste, easily field serviceable, self-cleaning(germs), not likey to freeze, removes foreign chemicals/contaminants, save money and time. With the purchase of bulk materials and the necessary parts you will be able to refill this system for years to come, saving you lots of dough you would have spent buying another filter. This system is meant to be used with chemical treatments like chlorine dioxide tablets or bleach. To prevent freezing, simply blow as much water out of the filter as you can when your done using it. This will also restore filter nearly back to its original weight before being used.

This filter wil also work in an inline cambelbak type system, You can easily suck water through it.

A note about results: Results will be directly dependent on the quality of your activated carbon, density inside the unit and exposure time.

See youtube description for links:

Weight: 2.3oz
Total cost Bulk purchase: $57-$67
Total cost Sample sizes: $$32-$40

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOhrlPjjkTw

Part 2;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSyLXavJA-o

(1.)Suitable activated carbon(I have not tried the 20×50 sizes, they may seep through 1 micron material I dunno. Check the size chart after clicking the description):
About $30-$40 bulk or $10(shipping included):

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/granular_activated_charcoal_12x30mesh_coconut_acid_washed

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/granular_activated_carbon_20x50mesh

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/bone_char_8x24mesh

Calgon Activated Carbon information:
http://www.calgoncarbon.com/carbon_products/water.html
(google search calgon after deciding which you want)

samples:
http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/SAM

(2.) 1 (or ½) Micron biodiesel filter material:
Ebay, bought bulk about $25 shipped
Bought small portion: about $10
(3.) Yorker caps from Usplastic:
#66112, #66113, #66114
$5 shipped
(4.) Coghlans contain-alls:
Online $10 shipped
Store $5
(5.) 5 Hour energy bottle:
$2
Or order the coghlans contain alls and thinner bottles off usplastic and try to come up with your own combo of thinner bottles.

Ike,

Nice job on the videos.

"SteriPen – it sounds like this is effective against both small viruses and large protozoa? Do people pair this with a pre-filter or treatment drops/tablets? I guess the big worry here is just that the device might malfunction? Am I missing something?"

I use a 3 step method.

1.) Allow gravity to work on the nasty stuff. These organisms are like everything else on earth and will be pulled to the bottom of whatever container the water sits in. This takes about 10 minutes and reduces the turbidity as well. Turbidity is bad because it either a.) uses up your batteries/UV lamp on the steripen or b.) clogs the heck out of the light weight filters that have basically no pressure or media in them to begin with. I use the bottom half of a 3 liter plastic bottle, my ditty bag and a stuff sack fit into this container to pack it nicely w/out extra volume. Also, the indents on the bottom of these containers trap sediment, much like the indent on the bottom of a wine bottle. Wine bottles were designed with these indents a long time ago to reduce the sediment poured into your glass, from a time before we had the filters we have today. The indent is still there today, dunno why haha!

2.) Collect water through a coffee filter from the gravity filtering container (this is a redundant as the filter will get almost everything out). I use an aluminum foil funnel with the filter set down into it. This also serves as my windscreen for my penny alcohol stove. Discard the remaining funk water from the bottom of your gravity filtering container. I use my cooking pot to collect this gravity and coffee filtered water. Make sure its deep enough to work the steripen in though.

3.) Steripen and stir in the container! Make sure you stir well enough to get the sides of the container wet. This isn't crucial but its an extra precaution that is nice to perfect over time. Don't worry if this doesn't happen sometimes. I like to get the water swirling THEN stick in the steripen and continue to stir. This way the water is spinning and swirling around my UV lamp from the instant it turns on.

4.) Drinky drinky time.

Skip the gravity filter and go straight to the coffee filter/bandanna if you don't have 15m to sit around. It is the most effective natural filter in the world but will not make a difference to your health because the steripen is designed to handle water as turbid as "weak lemonade".

IMPORTANT: Take back up aquamira tabs. I carry a couple in my first aid kit and that's it. They may be needed for first aid or emergency water so I have them when all else fails.

IMPORTANT: Steripen only treats 8,000 ONE liter treatments. That is to say, it will only treat 2,000 two liter treatments of turbid water. The circuitry is designed to shut the UV lamp off permanently after this. The lamp is serviceable and needs to be returned to an authorized source for replacement at this point.

I recommend the steripen opti because it has the photo cells that use a built in LED to test for light refraction in the water. The older steripen utilizes conductivity strips which will not work in all water types and are much less reliable. A benefit to the opti is also that the LED is a bright photon type LED that will double as a backup flashlight in a pinch. It is also the lightest.

IMPORTANT: Remove your batteries from all electronic devices during extended storage. They will run down inside the steripen and cause a lot of corrosion over time. This is true of all electronic battery operated devices in the world, to some extent.

IMPORTANT: None of these methods are going to remove the run off from farm fields. I also selectively use a small home made carbon filter. I found the supplies for this at the pet supply store. The one I use fits into the mouth of a 1 liter bottle, pretty small. If I am unable to find a water source that isn't downhill/stream of farm fields or if the water just tastes funny then I employ this filter. I put the filter between two 1 liter plastic bottles and simply pour the water back and forth through it like a backcountry bar tender.

Most people around here using aquamira haven't read the instructions and are actually drinking potentially "contaminated" water most of the time. I have seen very few people wait a good hour for a nice cold stream water to warm itself to the point chemical agents are actually effective. Chemical agents are only effective if the water isn't refreshing imo. I enjoy the use of a steripen because I can drink fresh, tasty water 15 seconds after I pull it from the earth if I really want to. This to me is well worth any frustrations people have voiced over the steripen (not that I believe in them, read on).

Find a system that works for you. This is the most important thing. My friend carries the 1lb filter with a full service kit no matter where he is going. That's too heavy for me but he claims nothing else is reliable. If you read the manual to the steripen (seriously read it) and use your head the thing works fine. People that complain about the reliability of these things are neglecting their maintenance and methods 99% of the time. If someone didn't change the oil in a car would you listen to their complaints about the motor blowing up at 30,000 miles? You might if they didn't know or indicate to you that their oil had never been changed because we assume people experienced with cars understand car maintenance. You know what they say about assumption. I am well versed in the use and care of a steripen and haven't had a single reliability issue with it. Further more, I can often deduce from people's complaints about the unit that they indeed have not taken the time to learn these things. So there you have it, good luck.

"IMPORTANT: None of these methods are going to remove the run off from farm fields."

Are you talking about pesticides/substances or germs?

Cassie Thomas:
"Crypto is a concern everywhere; we commissioned a risk analysis and found that both crypto and giardia were more common in people with children in day care than in hikers or 3rd world travelers. Take a look at wikipedia's listing of crypto outbreaks in the developed world (US, UK and Australia) if you don't believe me."

I would like to see some facts on this.

> I think if I carry my Steripen, I'll trust if for clear water, but not for turbid water.

Fair enough, but define 'turbid water'!
To be sure, if the water is that turbid that it is blocking a fair bit of sunlight, then it will also block UV and make the process unreliable. But would you drink that water?

I suspect what is 'turbid' to one person might be quite OK to another. Lacking turbidity units, the discussion becomes slightly meaningless.

Cheers

> "IMPORTANT: None of these methods are going to remove the run off from farm fields."
> Are you talking about pesticides/substances or germs?

Well, primarily agro-chemicals I imagine. Farmers sometimes put all sorts of herbicides on their fields, or they spray to kill insects. Do you want to drink that? And since the stuff is dissolved, neither a filter nor UV can get rid of it.

Mind you, I did see one farmer running concentrated pig effluent off his property into a National Park once. I don't think I would want to drink that even after boiling for 5 minutes! (It was reported, and his farm was closed down quickly.)

Cheers

I think it is rough to refer to Australia as part of the developed world. :-)

–B.G.–

> "Crypto is a concern everywhere;

Sydney, a city of 5+ million, had a crypto outbreak a few years ago. The Water Board had 'economised' and stopped flushing out pipes for a year or two. Management didn't know ehy they had been doing that in the past. Crypto built up in some piping back-ends. Then it was released after an incident. Sydney had to boil its water for a week. That's what happens when ignorant managers go on an uneducated economy drive …

So yes, Crypto and Giardia do happen in towns and cities. And especially around small children!

Cheers

Roger, you will have to stand for public office.

–B.G.–

http://www.calgoncarbon.com/carbon_products/index.html

Im sure one of those activated carbons would be able to remove farm run off.

Ike — how did you determine how much activated charcoal to use?
How many liters will it be effective?

I did a little bit of research online into how much was in the britta/and similar filters. While I use less the carbon is higher quality. Then i figured that mine was higher which it is based on iodine numbers, hardness, apparent density and surface area.

Aside from the data, i tested various dirty streams around my area and observed the results with varrying amounts of carbon. Tested again with bleach to see how much bleach was removed with each amount of carbon. Not that scientific aside from the data, but someone else more knowledgeable and with more time than me can do more research if they wish. The Katahyn and similar filters have less than mine if that makes you feel better.

Ike — nice job on the filter, thank you for the background and the carbon sources.

I know there is no doubt that an activated carbon filter can improve the quality of a lot of different kinds of water that we come across.

I use a carbon filter at my summer tent platform where the provided water is treated with an insane amount of chlorine. Even a Brita type filter will reduce the chlorine taste significantly.

Activated carbon is supposed to significantly reduce pesticides, petroleum products, animal wastes, …

But, you still need to use either chemical, UV or filter to get rid of the microorganisms and viri.

What do folks do with Steripens and glacier run-off? When I backpacked in Mt. Rainier National Park last year, there were a few times that I wouldn't have wanted to use a UV source, because the turbidity was so high. My filter took care of it nicely, and I was glad that I had it. I had a light-weight bucket with me, dipped a bucket and carried it back to camp, let it sit for a while to let some of the grit settle out, then filtered it. I use a Sweetwater Guardian, and have a quick-connect system that allows me to take off a bite valve then click the outflow hose to my filter directly into the drinking tube for my Camelbak. Easy to stop at a stream side this way and fill up without taking the bladder out of the backpack, but probably way too heavy for most folks on this site. I would like to get lighter, but the convenience factor has been too high.

Glacial silt will plug up filter pretty quick

Sometimes, there'll be a main stream that's full of glacial silt, but a small side stream will be better filtered and have little silt. You have to maybe look upstream or downstream.

I'm thinking of examples on Mount Hood or Adams.