Backwoods Home Magazine #140 - MarApr 2013 by Backwoods Home Magazine

Author:Backwoods Home Magazine [Magazine, Backwoods Home]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00EKSAM06
Publisher: Backwoods Home Magazine
Published: 2013-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Portable backpacker-type water filters are a must-have for even the most urban survival kits. Failures at water treatment facilities are not uncommon, and probably most people who use municipal tapwater have received a warning to boil or filter it at some point. There are numerous makes and models, but all drinking water filter-purifiers are EPA-mandated to remove 99.98% of organisms larger than viruses, which takes some of the guesswork out of selecting one. Filters can reduce chemical and heavy-metal concentrations by as much as 80%, and most are rated to provide at least 200 gallons of drinking water. Disposable filter-cartridge models are shorter-lived than more expensive ceramic-element models but ceramic filters clog more easily and require frequent cleaning. Operational life between replacement or cleanings is dependent on how much matter is stopped by the filter, so avoid murky water.

Most backpacking water filters employ a hand-pump unit that sucks in and forces untreated water through its filter and into a drinking container. Some consist of a collapsible bag filled with untreated water and hung up so that gravity and the water’s own weight forces it through a filter.

If you want go super light, there’s the squeeze-bottle type, like Katadyn’s new MyBottle, which has an internal replaceable filter attached to the drinking spout. This almost science-fiction filter uses hand pressure to drive untreated water through a filter, then out through a drinking spout as potable water. This filter is almost indistinguishable from an ordinary water bottle, and if you remove its filter cartridge, it can be filled with other beverages. Prices for basic filter models begin at under $50, ranging upward to more than $100 for professional-grade units.

Len McDougall is the author of more than a dozen books and has been a wilderness survival instructor for more than 25 years. His first novel, The Mackinaw Incident, will be published this summer. He lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Δ

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