Acquiring clean and safe water is an essential skill while backpacking, hunting, or fishing in wilderness areas.
Any trip into the backcountry over a few hours warrants bringing some type of water filtration or purification system.
There are 3 primary types of contaminants you should be worried about:
- Protozoa - (Giardia, Cryptosporidium)
- Bacteria - (E-coli)
- Viruses - (Hepatitis A)
The further from other people and livestock you are the cleaner the water will generally be.
Additionally, the closer to the source you are the smaller the chance is of it being contaminated.
Even with that in mind...
Always filter or purify water before consuming in the backcountry!
With as many options as there are out there it's just too easy to have clean and safe water in the back country. Why risk it?
There are 3 ways to treat water in the backcountry:
- Filters
- Chemicals
- UV treatment
Yes, you can boil water, but we've found that to be a very time consuming process and wastes fuel unnecessarily.
Filtration
There are a variety of filters available. Most remove protozoans and bacteria, but a few higher end ones also remove viruses thus classifiying them as "purifiers."
Some use gravity, others can use squeeze bladders, and some even have a pump attached to it.
Filters are great as they immediately provide clean water to drink with no wait time. They filter out dangerous protozoa as well as bacteria. And certain filters such as the Grayl Geopress filter out even viruses and heavy metals.
The downside to filters is that you can't let them freeze as it will damage the filter fibers. The work around for this is to keep it in your pocket or sleeping bag when not in use. Additionally they require back flushing (pushing water through the other way) to remove clogged filter fibers.
Chemicals
Chemical treatments work great as a backup method for water purification.
When using this type of treatment nothing is removed from the water. Instead the chemicals kill anything dangerous floating around. Since no filtration is happening it's often suggested to run it through some type of pre-filter like a mesh bag or pantyhose to remove larger sediment.
The biggest downside of using chemicals to treat water is that you have to wait for it to be effective. Wait times can range from 15 minutes up to 4 hours (for protozoa).
UV Treatment
Sterilizing water with UV light only requires a few minutes and some slight agitation of the water making this a great option for safe drinking water in the backcountry.
This type of treatment will kill all three of the main pathogens but the biggest downside is that it's a battery powered device. So reliability can be an issue.
Similar to water treated with chemicals, a UV light will not remove any sediment or debris so pre-filtering the water is recommended if it's got some floaties in it.