UKC

Hi, can anybody recommend a light water filter/purification system for wild camping on the pennine way or similar places? Normally in the mountains I drink straight from streams, but for lower/less remote places like the pennines I would prefer some kind of extra precaution. Thanks in advance for advice.

In reply to jlury:

Have a look at this: http://www.sawyereurope.com/water-filtration/sawyer-mini-water-filter

Really small and only £30 I think! You should be fine with just that method, but to be double sure throw in some chlorine dioxide tabs.

Used that combo in some really crappy places in South America and Asia and it worked fantastically

In reply to jlury:

I use these http://evaq8.co.uk/WATER-PURIFICATION-TABLETS-Pack-of-50-Tablets.html?gclid...

In reply to jlury:

Very interested in the same issue, mainly for the same sort of places too. Peak District water sources even quite high up on Kinder and the like do not often look as clear as the Scottish, Lakes and Welsh streams I used to drink from without much thought as a youth, and perhaps age is make me more cautious too!

In reply to Adam_Turner:

I used a sawyer squeeze on a cycling trip last year and didn't get ill, so far so good and simple to use & backflush

In reply to jlury:

Yep, the Sawyer mini-filter is a great little bit of kit. It doesn't remove viruses if I remember correctly, but is fine for most stuff in the UK. I use mine with a Platypus, so I can gravity feed into another container at times, rather than just squeeze. Flow rate is pretty good, and it comes with a back flush kit (a plunger basically) so you can clear the filter out, worth doing regularly.

In reply to jlury:

I use chlorine dioxide tablets with a neutraliser...

In reply to Mal Grey:

I second the recommendation for the Sawyer Mini. Tiny, light, ingenious, long life and excellent quality output.

Otherwise I'd go for Steripen. Clever little devices and preferable to tabs when used properly.

In reply to jlury:
And I third the recommendation for the sawyer mini. Great bit of kit! I compiled some info on this on my blog (if you're bored.. haha)....

http://goblog.co.uk/index.php/2015/10/13/safe-drinking-water-on-the-go/#mor...

In reply to jlury: Another +1 for the sawyer mini from me. Take an old 2l water bottle to fill with dirty water - it's easier than using the flexible bottle it comes with.

In reply to TobyA:


Presumably due to the peat?
I've never had any hesitation drinking from Peak District streams (using the same criteria as anywhere else) and it's not killed me yet!
The Dales is a bit harder due to the shortage of streams, many of the ones there are tend to be lower in the valleys and slow moving.

In reply to jlury:

Sawyer excellent. Used in the Pyrenees when knee deep in cow shit. No problems

In reply to Simon Caldwell:


I'm sure that's true. Actually I camped high up on Kinder last week and I'm sure the streams were fine up there - although there are a lot of sheep around though. Where you climb though in the Peak, and where I went bikepacking last summer http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/bikepacking-around-peak-dis... I've found you are normally still on agricultural land of one type or another and that makes me more suspicious of water.


I noticed that last year when visiting Malham and area, I guess it's all down to the limestone.

In reply to LJC:


I don't see how you would make a decent water tight seal with an old bottle. The bespoke bottles have a decent screw thread. Open to persuasion.

In reply to Pedro50: Try filling a flexible bottle from a trickle on a rock and let me know how you get on.

In reply to jlury:

Just add chlorine tablets to clear water, you'd have to be very unlucky to get crypto.

In reply to ScottTalbot:

Thanks for the links.

Bush Crafters are an interesting lot aren't they? Why do you have to wear a collared shirt to go bush crafting?!

His video was interesting but in mentioning flouride he was getting a bit into Ron Paul/radical-libertarian/Birchers/trilateral commission sort of stuff I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy

In reply to LJC:


Yes but after that what about the filtering bit? Genuinely curious

In reply to Pedro50:


I've never had a pop bottle leak. In fact one of my regularly used water bottles is a 12 or so year old pop bottle. I did get it when I lived in Finland and they still have bottle deposits there, so they make heavier duty ones than in the UK, but the thread/cap is exactly the same as you 25 p bottle of Tesco savers cola here. Seriously, those bottles last forever!

I prefer my nalgene because its much wide mouthed so easier to fill, but it did cost a tenner or something, while my pop bottle cost 50 cents in the sense of that's what I would have got putting it in the recycling machine.

In reply to Pedro50:
I've got an old Evian bottle which fits the seal perfectly, just turn it upside down and fill a Nalgene with it.

In reply to LJC:

Thanks I'll give it a try

Toby we're talking about the donor(dirty) bottle not the clean recipient one if that makes sense.

In reply to jlury:

Easiest and cheapest way, rubber band some fine mesh of some sort over the mouth of a 1 litre water bottle and pop an oasis purification tablet in. This will work on almost any moving freshwater source, except for maybe tropical/jungle locations, stagnant water and swamps.

I have used something like this which I got some free sweets in at a wedding reception.

http://www.lexalu.com/images/metallicsilver.JPG

In reply to TobyA:

Overly critical?

Maybe cos it's something he can clip his mic onto?

Paul Kirtley is very knowledgeable and well respected in this field, he makes Bear Grylls look like... well,...like Bear Grylls.

In reply to jlury:

Just be careful of the chemical run off from farms. None of the filters or tablets will deal with that.

In reply to Dell:

Not really, it's just a bit of a bushcraft tradition/fashion I presume. Maybe we should blame Ray Mears, although he would probably say Lofty Wiseman did it before him. (Yes, I was a child of 80s who learnt the SAS survival handbook cover to cover and desperately wished my parents would let me have a "Rambo knife" )

In reply to TobyA:

You and me the same, and if you read Paul Kirtley's blog, somewhere he has written what you just did pretty much word for word....

Except his parents bought him the knife!

The collar thing must be something to do with military issue kit. All collars and buttons back in the day, more reliable than zips, and silent.

In reply to Dell:

Yes, plus a collar protects you more from sun burn than a t-shirt does. I've been reading Ray Jardine's ultralight backpacking guide and he recommends a shirt for that reason too, although like lots in that book, it is quite particular to the US.

But, hey, we all have our subcultural uniforms don't we? Moving to Sheffield was amusing that way, you can see the climbers 50 mtrs away from the approach shoes, baggy trousers and duvets or hoodies.

In reply to Orgsm:

This is true, and may have been the cause of my downfall on the River Spey.

In reply to TobyA:




Haha! I'm not sure about the dress sense, or the spoon whittling, but they know their stuff!

In reply to jlury:

Did you know...quoted below from the WHO website...although for most trips in the UK you'd be looking at 2 days to make safe drinking water...and it wont get rid of chemicals.

"Solar disinfection - Ultra-violent rays from the sun are used to inactivate and destroy pathogens present in water. Fill transparent plastic containers with water and expose them to full sunlight for about five hours (or two consecutive days under 100% cloudy sky). Disinfection occurs by a combination of radiation and thermal treatment. If a water temperature of least 50oC is achieved, an exposure period of one hour is sufficient. Solar disinfection requires clear water to be effective."