If you are a seasoned hiker or someone that’s just getting started, one major issue is the quality of the water that you have access to on your trips. If you’re just taking a one or two day trip, you might be able to get away with a simple setup involving a cooler with bottled water inside or even a car fridge. However, a longer journey is going to require something that is both more practical as well as more sophisticated, especially if you are planning on spending the majority of the time moving around through jungle or other potentially treacherous environments.
For the harder trips, many people opt for hiking water filters, special water filtration systems that are designed to be both safe and portable, allowing the traveler to consumer water from just about any source. You may be thinking that fresh water streams and rivers are safe to drink from if they are remotely located, far from any metropolitan areas. However, this is less and less true as the world’s water supplies become increasingly contaminated with all sorts of new biological threats. While the vast majority of these organisms and bacteria are not fatal to human beings, they can cause some extremely uncomfortable gastrointestinal issues. In my mind, it is far better to prepare for yourself for this eventuality by thinking ahead and determining how you are going to keep your drinking water clean! (While you’re at it, check out my article on Fluval filters if you want to keep your aquarium as clean as your water bottle).
Here are the three most popular ways that hikers filter their water:
- Boiling. This is the oldest method, involving boiling the the water over high heat for enough time to kill any organisms. This method is both cumbersome as well as a waste of water (because so much of it can potentially boil off), so I don’t want to spend very much time covering it. It’s definitely a viable filtration technique in the absence of any other technology, but it definitely would not be my first choice. If you do want to boil your water, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommend at least 3 minutes to kill even the most hardcore virii, but I’ve seen recommendations for boiling up to 4 or 5 minutes.
- Iodine Tablets. This popular filtration method involves pre-prepared chunks of iodine that are dropped into the contaminated water. In addition to iodine, there also chlorine and oxidizing agents that work essentially the same way. The tablet method has many advantages, including the fact that there are many competing products on the market that benefit from years of research since people have been doing this for quite a while now. Additionally, these tablets are smaller and lighter than a filter system, which makes for an easier hike. The downsides to iodine tablets are that they require a waiting period while they work their magic, as well as the fact that they generally don’t eliminate particulate contamination (the chunks that you can see).
- Bottle Filters. These are the newest and most sophisticated of the three methods, often involving a bottle which is hooked up to a pumping mechanism. An inlet tube is lowered into the water while the pump handle takes care of drawing the water into the filter mechanism. In turn, the filter element basically strains on the water on the microscopic level, removing contaminants as the water enters a container. Some of these hiking water filters even more sophisticated, incorporating multiple levels of filtration as well as the ability to attach to a traditional water bottle.
I’ve seen many people online best hiking water filters are, but I don’t think this question has a simple answer. It really depends on how long your trip is, what kind of water you’ll have access to, how much stuff you are willing to carry around, etc. Most people with a lot of hiking experience will tell you that they actually rely on multiple methods, providing a level of redundancy in case a backup filter is needed. A popular combination is to use a bottle filter as the primary method, and then bringing along some iodine tablets as backup.
Two Basic Types of Contaminants
While I will dispense with an exhaustive discussion of potential impurities in water since it’s outside the scope of this basic article, you should know that there are two types of contaminants that are generally found in water: Chemical and biological. The closer you are to the source of the water, the less likely it is that there are chemical issues in the water, as long as you’re pretty far away from cities or other sources of chemical waste. On the other hand, biological entities can potentially be found in any water source, no matter how pure you assume it is.
In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry, filtering the water through a method that is rated to take care of both kinds of contaminants. Be sure to carefully read the instructions for any product that you are interested in before making the purchase to make sure that you are getting the right amount and type of filtration. Most of these specifications are easy to find online at each manufacturer’s website. Speaking of specs, I’d like to close out this post by taking a look at one of the most popular products on the market in order to give you an idea of what’s available.
The Katadyn Pocket Water Microfilter
Described as the “M1A1 of water filters” by one reviewer on Amazon, the Pocket Microfilter is insanely popular and regarded as among the best hiking water filters. This unit filters any microorganism that is larger than 0.2 microns through a ceramic element, potentially sending the purified water directly into a water bottle using an included attachment. One nice aspect of this filter is the fact that you can clean and reuse the ceramic element, cutting down on stuff to carry around and making the unit far more self-contained.
Katadyn is a well-regarded company in general, but after reading tons of reviews and spec sheets, this bottle filter is by far the best reviewed out of their entire product line. I recommend that you do your own research, but for people who have a trip coming up very soon who just want a solid recommendation, they could do a lot worse than this filter.
A Selection of the Most Highly Rated Katadyn Hiking Water Filters and Accessories
Want more water dispenser information? Head to the front page!
If you’d like more water purification information, check out these posts on unicel filters and water softener parts.
