Water and Travel

[bear71]

I need some help. I'll be traveling to Haiti again soon and I really need to take along some type of water filtration. Something I can toss in a backpack. There's lots of options out there. I even saw a camelbak bottle with a filter built in. But I'm skeptical. Anyone have experience with a tried and true method that one could use while traveling?

Bear

[Wulf202]

sawyer squeeze bottle would be my off the cuff suggestion it needs to be supplemented with uv or chems

What kind of space/weight/cost do you want to dedicate to this?

edited to add: http://www.ar-15.co/threads/55421-Water-treatment-cheat-sheet

[Wulf202]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/577038_UPDATED_w__pix___post__7____Portable_Rev_Os mosis.html&page=1

if you want a RO unit

[bear71]

sawyer squeeze bottle would be my off the cuff suggestion it needs to be supplemented with uv or chems

What kind of space/weight/cost do you want to dedicate to this?

edited to add: http://www.ar-15.co/threads/55421-Water-treatment-cheat-sheet

Not a ton of space. It must fit in one section of a backpack. I can spend a good amount of money on this. Thanks!

Bear

[HoneyBadger]

Steripen?

[Wulf202]

Not a ton of space. It must fit in one section of a backpack. I can spend a good amount of money on this. Thanks!

Bear

Personally I would bring a solar or crank steripen ~$100
A sawyer squeeze ~$40
fill the remaining space with some coffee filters for the prefiltering of the steripen and katadyn tabs to use with the sawyer.
If you have the inkling that you may be there longer than these would last I would ad a w.a.p.i. to your ditch kit. It's explained in the thread I linked.

In those area's you really need to double treat your water.

The primary setup. Your dirty water would go into the sawyer bags, drop your katadyn tabs into the bag. Wait the time for the tabs then use the filter to drink or transfer to a clean container. This should taste decent but acquire some flavor powders with electrolyte to keep you hydrated. Pre filtration will make the filter last longer.

The backup is a steripen, fill your cup or bottle with dirty water thru a pre filter to get the turbidity out. You're using light so you don't want particles casting shadows inside the water. If you're getting cow runoff, it will still taste like cow run off it's just safe to drink cow run off. If you run out of tabs you can use the steripen with the filter. Read and comprehend the directions to use this tool you can accidentally recontaminate your supply if you don't do it right.

Tertiary is WAPI, it's about the size of a cheap string level. It requires alot of energy and time to heat water unless you have a stove and ample fuel. Boiling is not necessary and adds to the time and energy you need to spend elsewhere.

Last resort is SODIS outlined in the sheet using scrounged containers.

edited to add info

[asmo]

I much love my Sawyer.. Works well for all my needs. I do have tabs, coffee filters, and a steripen to go with it. Just remember you need clean water to backflush the Sawyer on occasion and that any contamination near the mouth of the Sawyer can cause issue. Just be careful and your fine.