Water filtration/purification?

[Robinhood21]

What are you guys doing for water filtration/purification on drop camp moose hunts.
We will be dropped on a lake.

Do I need a filtration system?
I'm not apposed to good ol' iodine tablets.

Thanks!

 

[KJH]

Yes, IMHO you need a filtration system. 12-14 days without enough water for cooking/coffee/drinking, etc. would be a real PIA. For a lake hunt, I take a primary filter like a katadyn vario and then a smaller backup, just in case. The bigger one will make 5 gallons of water in 10ish minutes and weights about 2 lbs.

You're spending a lot of time and money for a great hunt (kind of like an investment), and not taking a filter seems like a poor use of your investment. Studies have shown iodine disinfection is not totally effective in inactivating Cryptosporidium oocysts in water. You don't want to risk crapping all day everyday, since you're there to hunt... Time is precious. Besides I'm assuming you're on a beaver, so weight isn't much of an issue unless you're flying out and back with other clients.

Others may differ in opinion, but that's my two cents.

 

[Becca]

My preference is usually to get water from a flowing source when possible, but lake water will do if there isn’t a flowing source nearby (it just tastes terrible, at least IME). I would absolutely take a filter of some kind. For heavy fly outs we usually use a Katadyne hiker pro handpump, although a large gravity filter would work also. We still use our sawyer in line filters to dip and go when hiking around during the day, but the handpump will batch process water for camp and cooking faster than the sawyer will.

Depending on whether we can spare the weight, I often bring a few gallon jugs of bottled water on flyouts. That way if you get dropped off late in the day you don’t have to deal with water filtration that first night after setting up camp, etc. once empty, the jugs can be easily refilled with the hand pump for easy storage in camp.

 

[Robinhood21]

Yes, IMHO you need a filtration system. 12-14 days without enough water for cooking/coffee/drinking, etc. would be a real PIA. For a lake hunt, I take a primary filter like a katadyn vario and then a smaller backup, just in case. The bigger one will make 5 gallons of water in 10ish minutes and weights about 2 lbs.

You're spending a lot of time and money for a great hunt (kind of like an investment), and not taking a filter seems like a poor use of your investment. Studies have shown iodine disinfection is not totally effective in inactivating Cryptosporidium oocysts in water. You don't want to risk crapping all day everyday, since you're there to hunt... Time is precious. Besides I'm assuming you're on a beaver, so weight isn't much of an issue unless you're flying out and back with other clients.

Others may differ in opinion, but that's my two cents.

Point taken, filtration system is in my plans. Thanks!

 

[AKDoc]

Point taken, filtration system is in my plans. Thanks!

Wise decision sir!

Katadyn base camp and Steripen for me...just remember that the filters don't work when frozen.

Have a great hunt!

 

[diamond10x]

Which type of filters do y’all prefer on moose hunts in September, pump or gravity? Obviously if it get below freezing you have to have a back up choice, but for filter type what is y’alls choice?

 

[KJH]

Which type of filters do y’all prefer on moose hunts in September, pump or gravity? Obviously if it get below freezing you have to have a back up choice, but for filter type what is y’alls choice?

I've never used a decent sizer gravity filter because if you go to somewhere without any sizable trees to hang your filter it might not work well. I only have one pump filter and I use it on hunts where there are no trees. I just use the one pump filter I have, and keep a sawyer mini in my pack as a backup. So, I'd say the gravity filter is nice if you know you will have trees, but I can purify 5 gallons of water in about 10 minutes with the pump. That's my choice and why... Can't see you going wrong with either in the right location.

 

[Becca]

I've never used a decent sizer gravity filter because if you go to somewhere without any sizable trees to hang your filter it might not work well. I only have one pump filter and I use it on hunts where there are no trees. I just use the one pump filter I have, and keep a sawyer mini in my pack as a backup. So, I'd say the gravity filter is nice if you know you will have trees, but I can purify 5 gallons of water in about 10 minutes with the pump. That's my choice and why... Can't see you going wrong with either in the right location.

We tend to use the pump over a gravity filter as well. But lack of trees shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you wanted to do gravity. We’ve hung our platypus bladders off a tripod or trekking pole lots of times, as well as from tipi center pole.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I'm not recommending it, but I stopped filtering water years ago. In the areas I camp in I can usually locate a source of water like a mountainside seep or tiny stream coming from nearby origins. I would not do it in a location where water was stagnant or likely to be visited by waste-producing animals. I have a high level of confidence in the purity of those sources. And again, I'm not advocating either way...filtered or not.

For in-camp use I've preferred a gravity rig over a pump. I just never liked hand operating a pump to fill jugs.... I'm lazy like that. As KJH said, a lack of a nearby tree makes it more problematic, and as Becca said, there are ways to overcome that. I guess if I ever filter again it will be with a gravity system for its convenience. My biggest negative is the need to prevent filter freezing. Not easy to do when temps go below freezing at dark and stay there until noon the next day.

 

[KJH]

Never thought about hanging the gravity filter from something I brought along (pack frame, kiking pole tripod, etc.). I guess since I don't have one, I've never had to think about it.

I've spent too many years in third world countries (jungles to deserts and in between) and know what its like to get a "bug" from something I ingested and suffer for days because of it. I can attest that iodine tablets don't work like people think. I'm an unapologetic wimp when it comes to the thought of getting that again, especially when I'm in a beautiful drainage, and supposed to be hunting. I also take some Cipro tablets with me just in case! Again, I might be an alarmist wimp but I've experienced what could happen.

My emergency water purification is 4 drops of chlorine bleach to a quart of water and wait an hour to drink it. It works, but tastes like a swimming pool.

 

[Burnsie]

Platypus gravity system - Easy Peasy, real slick.
Like Kevin, my first choice is to find a hillside seep, then I don't filter. Otherwise gravity.

 

[mcseal2]

I plan to take a Katadyn base camp and a Steripen for our trip this fall. The base camp will be used at camp for both of us and the Steripen will be our back-up and carried in the pack for when we re-fill water bottles during the day. I have a synthetic bandana to pre filter the water into the Nalgene before using the steripen during the day, and a cone shaped filter sock to pre-filter the water into the Katadyn base camp. I also have a Sea to Summit 10L folding bucket to pour water into the pre-filter and Katadyn.

We used another guy's older base camp on a Canadian fishing trip a few years back and the lake water clogged the filter mid-trip. I don't know that the filter was new for that trip. It was the same filter as my Katadyn Hiker I used at the time took so we replaced it with the filter from mine and got by. I figure pre-filtering makes expensive filters last longer and doesn't add much weight to the group's items.

 

[AKDoc]

Good game plan mcseal2...be sure to start with a new filter and have a spare or two.

You will be likely base-camped on a lake, and you may be surprised at how quickly a brand new filter may clog...not all lakes are equal in the area you are going. Some are clear as a bell, but still need filtered...others have a significant amount of bio-material that will greatly reduce your filter's life.

Ship a couple of collapsible multi-gallon water jugs up here with your gear, fill them at the transporters operation base, and then bring them to the field full. It's a great starting point.

 

[mcseal2]

I have a new filter in, and spare filter stored with the Base Camp already. I think the pre-filter sock should help a bunch keeping them flowing.