UKC

Hi all, 

I need a litter help please  

I'm heading into the Cairngorm's for a few days trek/wild camp and looking at water filters. I'm a little torn on either spending money on the Katadyn Pocket Filter, or going for one of the less priced ones and if so, what one is best??? 

The Katadyn Pocket is a old skool ceramic filter. Way over build and way over priced. (used to have one)

These days I would go for a lightweight option based on hollow fibre filters like the Sawyer mini. 

These are quite cool - my review sample is still going strong (used it this very weekend...):

https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/camping/water_treatment+flasks+hydration/ms...

Try one of the Katadyn BeFree drinking bottle/filters instead? 

if your source is relatively low turbidity why not use a cheap filter and some chlorine?  really simple and quick  

We use Water-to-Go filter bottles when in the hills. There's lots of similar products out there.

They are easy to use, just like a bike water bottle with a sooky spout. You fill the bottle, screw on the lid with the filter and suck the water through the filter.  

There was a review on here a while back: https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/camping/water_treatment+flasks+hydration/wa... 

Second the Saywer mini.

I don't know the Cairngorms but is there a problem with the water there?

I walked a lot in NW Scotland and never considered a water filter. As long as I'm away from civilisation I have just filled my water bottle from streams with no ill effects.

Dave

I bought one of those to take to Nepal. I can't fault the filter, but I found the bottle too rigid and wanted something I could squeeze. If they made a squeezier bottle that fitted properly in a bike bottle cage, they would be spot on. It also needs a proper cover for the spout to stop it getting covered in crap when you're not drinking from it.

I mainly used a Sawyer Mini inline on a hydration bladder.

The one thing you do have to make sure of with any of these style of filter is that they don't freeze - the expansion could rip the filter.

As tringa suggests provided you follow the usual rules (habitation, farm animals etc) then there's no issue drinking straight from streams in the Gorms. I've done it for years, never been sick and don't even know any one who has.

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'll take a look at the Sawyer mini. I'm sure the water in the Cairngorms is drinkable from the higher grounds and I have just gone with puri-tabs in the past but this is all new to my partner and I know he won't like the chlorine. Also, with all the luxury bits of kit on the market these days I thought I'd give them a go. If my partner enjoys ot we'll be heading further afield.

Another vote for the Sawyer Mini with a Platypus hydration bladder (I filter it into my bottle/bladder rather than use it to drink through on the move). Though in the Highlands, above valleys, I almost never use it, just drink from the streams having had a quick look for anything nasty just upstream. 

it takes less than a pea sized amount of faeces to contaminate an entire swimming pool above WHO drinking water standards.   

http://oasisdesign.net/water/quality/coliform.htm

What sort of faeces though? Human faeces in countries with rampant levels of infectious diseases maybe but sheepshit?

I've drunk stream water from the mountains of Scotland, Snowdonia and The Lakes for years with no ill effects.

All  feces  has  risk to differing degrees , dogs being the worst. But  what I'm  saying is it only takes the tinyist of something to contaminate a water source and you can't always see it.  The country your in doesn't matter if your drinking from an unprotected source. Ecoil is in the gut of all animals is a risk to all. 

Yes but, the OP is thinking of camping on the Cairngorm's, the area isn't intensely grazed and you're close to the sauce of your water. The chance of contaminated water is very low. The quality of stream water up there is far better than the chemical soup that comes out of most taps these days.

I too have drunk water from  moorland streams(shock! Horror! outrage!), 

You've got to use a bit of common sense.  Don't drink water from a stream which may drain from the area around a bothy/farm/field and so on,  or where people picnic, camp and so on.  This isn't difficult to do in the 'gorms or most other moorlands  

It is always simple enough to find a small spring or trickle of water which has only had a small and observable catchment feed.

According to this RSGS Journal paper, if you are above 635m you should be ok.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14702541.2016.1156731

I have also been drinking from streams in British and Alpine mountains all my life and never had any problem at all. The only time I ever used purifying tabs was in Canada when we were warned about giardiosis. 

if someone pays for the article they can tell us which of 7 out of 10 steams were safe to drink from in 2008.   

Sites were: Ciste Mhearad; Coire an t-Sneachda source; Coire an Lochan source; Cas Bridge; Coire an Lochan fords; White Lady; Coire an t-Sneachda fords; 2008 Day Lodge Car Park; Allt Mor at Sugar Bowl Car Park; Glenmore Bridge

Only the last 3 had detectable E, coli.

As a military brat I wasn't short of adventure while growing up. I wild camped very often and was taught a lot on how to survive. I know that running streams in higher grounds are pretty safe to drink from as long as there's no obvious animal tracks, feces or a carcass close to the water source, however, I also know that some springs can still carry infections. So, for less than the price of a night out on the sherbets, I'm quite happy to throw a little caution to the wind and purchase myself the Sawyer mini. 

Also, in my day job I work alongside upper and lowe GI surgeons... How embarrassing would it be for me to take time off for a gastrointestinal infection :-P

Again, thanks for everyone's input. Also, some of your comments have given my partner a bit more assurance.

Nobody should feel the need to treat water in the Cairngorms or any upland area in Scotland for that matter. Its maybe down to a lack of understanding of the situation or a bit of paranoia. Obviously I can't link to studies but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming: I've been drinking out of burns (with the usual precautions outlined by myself and others above) for 30+ years and never once got ill from it, I don't know anyone personally who has and have never even heard of a confirmed case other than people who have made silly mistakes.

This is my experience too. I think the first time I took a drink from a stream was probably the late 1960s, high up in the Pennines. For me it is just a given that most mountain walks will involve filling up the bottles from a stream and I have never had any quarlms about doing so, or any adverse reactions.

Perhaps I have been lucky but with normal precautions there is, in my opinion, little danger. Just use common sense - look at the map and judge if there is any obvious source of contamination above you.

Dave   

I'm a bit surprised by this thread. There have been similar ones in the past (understandable if you're a newbie or from somewhere abroad) but they very quickly filled up with people saying the same as me and thee. This one is a bit different and made me wonder if there were droves of folk out there pumping some of the finest and purest water in the land through filters or even worse putting in tablets. We tell kids on DofE in the Gorms to drink out of streams and it isn't something the H&S advisers even think worth commenting on.

Given the location of those last three (below livestock / tourist areas) I wouldn't drink from them so it seems the 'usual precautions' will indeed keep you safe in the Gorms.

Check the reviews on the water filters before you buy them and obviously look out for the bots and try and find genuine reviews and you should be fine no matter what the price. Think I saw a piece on this on my local blocked drain website http://www.southampton-drains.co.uk/ hope this helps!

My experience is the same as yours.

Has anyone heard any tales about liver fluke in upland streams? I've had folk warn me of the terrible dangers but, again, I've yet to meet anybody with any problems of that sort.

Anecdotally, one member of my group on WML assessment drank from the stream in Coire Domhain (one of the most frequently used snow hole sites in the Cairngorms) without boiling it. He got crippling diarrhoea and ended up differing. We all boiled our water for tea etc, and no one else got sick. 

Obviously theres no way to say for sure that the water caused it, but it is suspicious. 

On the other hand, I've drunk from loads of fast moving streams in other locations and been absolutely fine. I own a Sawyer mini filter and think its a great bit of kit if your worried about your water source at all. 

The only liver fluke I'm aware of (I'm out of date with this), is one carried by cattle, perhaps sheep.  But  it needs an intermediate host, which is a specialised snail.  And I just don't think that species of snail occurs in hilly/mountain areas.

The LifeStraw looks good, although there's a good chance your just paying for neat & tidy branding