
https://badlandsfieldcraft.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/junk-on-the-bunk-water-kit/
What are you running?
What’s the nastiest stuff you’ve purified and drank without the hemorrhagic blowsh*ts?
Creek flood water on one occasion, and cow-filled-pasture runoff on another.
This bad boy is heavy, but it works:

Test your water gear on real raw water, now while you don’t need the purification.
Gather, boil, cool, drink.
Everybody in my family has the decent water filters in their Bob’s and their vehicles. We prefer the metal one shown a few pics down. By far the best portable unit.
The plastic plungers on the plastic units in extreme cold tend to snap. Not happened to me but a brother, who pushs his gear yearly to fatal breakage, to confirm funtion fit stuff.
It’s been so so long ago, I don’t remember the names of these things anymore.
Home related we have a few Big Berkeys with many extra hi end screw in filters.
Good stuff Pete.
Dirt
I’m pretty much on the same level page as gringo at the moment, filter and boil is the only option. I have a Brita water bottle, this filters but dosen’t decontaminate. I drank some KS creek water straight when I was a kid, no ill effects (I got lucky) all KS water is nasty, we are landlocked and it’s mostly flat. Had some water stored in an aquatainer for a year+ that was questionable, put in a few drops bleach and that was fine too.
I use a Katadyn Vario-anyone know of anything that removes heavy metals? Western Montana was/is mining country, and there’s a lot of flow from old mines into waterways. It’s largely at safe levels 100m away from the mine mouth (so I’ve heard, and read a few reports on) but I’m not really sure about all that.
The town of Mackay ID sits below a huge copper mine, and yet the town had the best drinking water I’ve ever had. Water tested pure too.
But if in doubt, hike up above the mine for better water. 🙂
One of the studies I read was about the Elkhorn mine at the ghost town of Coolidge, MT. The water coming out of the mine is oranger than Orange Man Bad. Yet it hits Elkhorn creek and shortly thereafter the water tests pure, according to the DEQ measures.
The Grayl in the above linked article filters heavy metals.
MSr miniworks + 2 qt canteen in pack // iodine/peroxide tablets + 1qt canteen + camelback on BB
OK, so I am going totally off the reservation here. I recently bought a Survivor Filter Pro-X (125 USD)
The X stands for electric. It will filter down to .01 microns (viruses), .5 liter per minute. Two AA batteries will filter over 90 liters of water. It also has a USB Port so you can power it off one of those solar cell phone chargers with the solar panel/light set ups. You can hang it on your pack to keep it charged.
There is not many things that I dislike more than kneeling in the mud next to a creek, pumping water.
Since two is one and one is none, I also have a Survivor Filter Pro pump filter. These two videos are pretty impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfp6WLafVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQOyreY7Gds&t=219s
For base camp, a Life Straw Gravity Mission Filter with 5 liter or 12 liter bag. Also filters out viruses. Rather slow when filtering down to .01 micron, but its base camp.
I have that very model of Katadyn. Yes its heavy, its slow to process a gallon, about 220 pumps, but its easy to use. Its easy to clean and it’ll process water all day.
Theres a life straw in every bag, glove box, camel back, cause they are lite weight and affordable.
I don’t hunt out the nastiest water to process. I just completed the IDBDR (1,400 miles) and used my Katadyn everyday to refill my camelback and my Rotopax 1 gallon water can. The rivers run clear here in Idaho.
Noticed not long ago that a Berkey Water filter tank filter
is made with Diatomaceous Earth, at least the one I saw.
I love a glass of diatomaceous earth (food grade) in the morning….
…two heaping tablespoons in the morning stirred into glass
of water in my case.
6 Proven Diatomaceous Earth Uses and Benefits
https://draxe.com/nutrition/diatomaceous-earth/
Have a couple of those handheld water filters discussed on this thread.
The no-see-ums is what I worry about..
Good tips – Muchas gracias
Wideners ran a shootout awhile back. Some good info here:
https://www.wideners.com/blog/water-filter-tests-for-survival/