There are several methods for getting safe water for drinking in the backcountry. Water filtering is the most popular, and is effective in the North American Wilderness.
It is very important to have safe drinking water while in the backcountry. For that reason most backpackers carry along a water filter or water purifier.
A water filter removes most particulates and pathogens from the water, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. It does not protect against water borne diseases or viruses. Fortunately, in most North American Wilderness waters, these are rare.
Water filters should remove particulates as small as .2 microns - the size of the smallest element in the filter.
Filters come in many sizes and price ranges. Check Rei.com or Campmor.com to see the range of water filter products.
A water purifier takes the additional step of removing viruses from the water.
A new water purifier has come out recently, which uses Ultraviolet (UV-C) light rays to sterilize water and destroy viruses, bacteria and protozoa including Giardia and Cryptosporidium It is called the SteriPen Water Filter, and runs from four alkaline or Lithium AA batteries. Four AA batteries will purify 20 to 40 8on glasses of water.
Many of the less expensive water filters and purifiers are made of plastic. That makes them lighter, which is good, but in many cases results in them being less durable.
Durability is very important to me. I once had the plastic handle of my water filter break off. I had to boil water for the rest of my backpack trip, and was worried I would run out of fuel.
After that I bought the Katadyn Pocket Filter, which is made entirely of metal, and durable as a chunk of feldspar. I have used it for 5 years now, without any problems. When pumping gets slow, I just unscrew the casing and scrape off the filter element with a scrubbing pad, or a handful of grass - either method works.
