Re-evaluating my water treatment options…

@Jerry doesn’t that get confusing sometimes? Which bottle was the clean?

I generally use some water flavoring agent so I can’t drink via the filter as some people do.

The clean bottle is one pint

The dirty bottle is 1 liter and I have a 4 liter bag

I’m trying the Steripen Ultra. I like that it fits Smartwater bottles and that it will treat .5 or 1 liter at a time. I have started carrying less water in the Sierra and doing .5 liters seems like a nice option to me.

The Ultra doesn’t fit the Gatorade bottle I carry but that’s for mixing drinks in so I treat in the Smartwater and then pour off into the Gatorade bottle.

The Ultra is long. I don’t love that. The weight is higher than ideal for a shorter trip but I think it makes more sense for a longer trip or with more people because you aren’t going to lose energy recharging it from a USB battery.

I want to like the more compact and lighter Steripen Ultralight but it only treats 20 liters per charge and only 1 liter at a time. Also the form factor requires a treatment container rather than the bottles I like to carry. A scoop made from a cut off Sawyer/Platypus bladder makes sense but it’s one more thing to keep track of.

Slight derail of a question:

Is there a better option for prefiltering floaters out of water than the toe of a stocking? I gathered water from a lake in the Sierras last summer and was surprised to see how many swimmers (mosquito larva?) I had gathered. This is less of a problem in streams of course.

But, big particles that a pre filter would get, don’t clog up your primary filter.

What clogs up the filter more, is particles that are closer to the pore size of the primary filter.

Another thing that clogs up the primary filter is minerals that precipitate onto the pores, thus clogging them.  A pre filter wouldn’t catch this either.

If Matthew is using the Steripen Ultra he’s not using it to clog his filter, but to not get the added protein of drinking mosquito larva!

that steripen ultralight looks pretty good

I would only use at most 2 liters per day, so a 20 liter charge would be 10 days – more than enough for any trip I’d do

I would also use at most 2 liters that I’d boil anyway, so wouldn’t bother treating

added protein of drinking mosquito larva

gross!

My experience:  sawyers are a fail. Regardless if it is a full size squeeze or their mini or micro and regardless of whether the water runs clear or turbid. Sawyer filters are fail and I am in the never again club.  

The aquamirea frontier pro is a 50%.  If not he water flows clear they easily last two weeks on the trail. With turbid water , at best 2 days.

MSR mini works.  Works all the time but you willl need to scrub the ceramic cartridge a few times on >1week treks with turbid water.  The downside is the weight.

For clear water the katadyn be free is awesome.  I’ve no experience with turbid sources though.

So my current thinking is the be free, but carry a spare.

Bottom line: I’ve found nothing foolproof unless I want to carry the extra pound of a mimiworks.

Bloody diarrhea is never worth the weight savings of not treating, imo. I love my BeFree, so easy. Clogs in silty water. I like the Steripen, an old battery model; I pre filter with a handiwipe if using the Steripen. I carry a micro drop bottle of pure bleach as backup. Doesn’t taste that bad.

If the water where I’m going is clear streams and lakes, the BeFree is awesome. If silty water is the only option, I’ll take the Steripen. For tundra puddles, either works but I pre filter with the handiwipe.

Handiwipe meaning an unscented baby wipe? That actually makes sense, they are fluffy and have a lot of surface area.

Handiwipe is a brand name. Check near dish detergent in your supermarket.  They’re good for wiping down tents too. https://www.amazon.com/Handi-Wipes-Multi-Use-Reusable-Cleaning/dp/B08V8HRK2B/ref=asc_df_B08V8HRK2B/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507697248479&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6307491206424560493&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1012893&hvtargid=pla-1458851319992&psc=1

Oh sure. Thanks!

Matthew wrote:

Is there a better option for prefiltering floaters out of water than the toe of a stocking? I gathered water from a lake in the Sierras last summer and was surprised to see how many swimmers (mosquito larva?) I had gathered. This is less of a problem in streams of course.

Maybe iago will chime in to this thread again, but he hikes with a Coughlan’s Filter Funnel clipped to his pack.  Collect the dirty water in one bottle, put the filter funnel in the mouth of the other bottle and pour the water through it, then use the Steripen on that bottle. Shake the drops off the funnel and clip it back to your pack. Smart and simple system, with no soggy stocking to deal with.

GSI pour over filter has worked really well for me. But more typically I just use a bandana; multi-use, I carry it anyway.

https://www.rei.com/product/165306/gsi-outdoors-reusable-pour-over-java-filter

Thanks! I like those suggestions.

“But, big particles that a pre filter would get, don’t clog up your primary filter.”

I am not sure how big you are referring to.  But I have found when taking water from lakes in the Sierras during late summer, some of my filters have clogged when I am not careful about prefiltering or even when I am prefiltering.

I have always suspected microflora that are too small to see that get in the filter and starts growing.   I think back in the day Dr Ryan Jordan wrote a long article about this.

I can think of one time I had to drink water with algae in it.  It clogged the filter but I managed.  Maybe that would have been a time a pre filter would have been useful.

So, in my experience, pre filter not usually useful but occasionally would be useful.

Water conditions vary a lot from one area to another. In the canyons of the Colorado Plateau sometimes the water is only found in potholes where standing water is left over from the last rain which could be several weeks ago. There can be a lot of algae, some micro critters, and it can stink bad enough that it is hard to get past your nose. And in that hot, dry environment it is critical to drink a LOT of water. So… in those circumstances weight is the least of my considerations… the micro filters would clog in less than a half a liter… the prefilters can clog just as quickly. My solution is to take my heavy as a brick Katadyn Vario filter. It weighs over a pound! But… when it clogs you just unscrew the top and manually clean the top of the ceramic pre-filter and you are good to go for filtering more water. So, basically, your filter is never defeated by getting clogged. It also has an activated charcoal element that takes out stink… or at least some of the stink. If the stink is really bacd I will add some strong drink flavoring to help make it palatable… In the high mountains, where the water is clear, I just use my trusty, dependable Steripen.