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mjmiller
19
Mar 16, 2018
In our group, all of us carry water filtration of some sort and some people carry a back up in case their primary fails. We might share getting water in the evening or the morning but we all have our systems with us. Most of us in the south will consume about 3 L of water per day plus what we use for meal preparation and clean up. Some observations: If you are thirsty you are already dehydrated. You need to be sipping regularly so as not to get thirsty or to end up with a head ache or heat prostration from dehydration. Second observation is that you need capacity and to carry more water than you think you will need. Just because there is an indication of a water source on a map, it does not mean that the water is either accessible or that the source has not dried up. If you are backpacking, you should be able to carry enough water to survive a dry camp if you need to. I carry a rigid bottle, a soft side bottle, and a hydration pack in addition to dirty and clean water bags for my gravity filter. I also generally carry a SteriPen because water filtration does not get all viruses and I feel I need the extra security when getting water from some lakes and rivers in our area especially in late summer. As for convenience, I want a system that permits me to filter directly into a bottle or my hydration pack as well as the clean water bag. If my clean water bag can serve for extra storage on the the trail or can be used as a back up hydration pack, so much the better. As for size, I prefer a 3 L capacity. 2 L means 2 trips to the water source when making camp and a 4 L in a single bag can be cumbersome if filled to capacity and if you are climbing down/up a steep slippery slope to get water. It might sound like overkill but the rigid bottle is a necessity to carry an electrolyte solution during the day and store plain water in a tent at night. The soft side bottle is a convenience for cooking and washing water at fireside or extra capacity if we are making a dry camp. The filtration system stays suspended by my tent to refill whatever needs refilling. The ability to hang your filtration system once and refill a variety of differing containers as needed is a real convenience when choosing a system. Most of us have been backpacking for many years and have gone through the chemical treatment, the pump and the squeeze filtration systems. Compared to previously used methods for water treatment, gravity filtration is the cat's meow.
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