Western Flyer 

I met a German man while touring in Eastern Utah. As he filled up my water bottles in this dry land he quizzed me. “How come when I come close to cities in the United States the water tastes like (here he stumbled trying to find the right word and finally blurted out) . . . a swimming pool?”

How, if at all, do folks treat their water while on tour?

I carry two water filter bottles. A Clear 2 Go for all municipal and biologically safe water, mostly to clean up the chemical taste, and a Katadyn My Bottle for most surface water. Basically, I filter nearly every drop I drink.

fietsbob

Yup, chlorine & fluorine.. , unless its private well water..

I have a Katadyne ceramic filter, that .02 micron pumps the water through it.
but is for Guardia and other microbial life , doesnt change the taste..

need a charcoal filter stage for doing that.

I went to Europe I got my bottles filled in Taverns and such..

some places the minerals in the drainage basin, or rock strata impart a taste,
or now Fracking for more Gas and Oil contaminates the Aquafer..
in the drilling Biz those are' Externalities'.

adventurepdx

I've toured for many a year and have never used filtration, amazingly enough. And I definitely have had less tolerable water on tours, but only a couple times was anything out-and-out drinkable. I tend to use Platypus water bladders for extra water when I'll need it, and I also get water sometimes from the soda machine at the convenience store, since it's cold and filtered.

Saying all that, I did recently pick up a CamelBak "All Clear" water purification system:
https://www.rei.com/product/830862/ca...urifier-bottle
I plan on doing a bit more backcountry touring this year, so I definitely will need it.

The Clear 2 O system looks interesting. Your link didn't work, so here's a good one:
https://www.clear2o.com/

clayton c

I filter nearly all natural water sources which is very handy and if it keeps me from buying water. There are places I would definitely not get water from even with filtering, like run offs from the highway or industrial areas. I don't quite trust my water filter enough for chemicals.

I just like the ability to get safe drinking water from almost any natural water source whether it's a puddle or an intermittent creek. Maybe I may have to start filtering water piped-in also. I am really wanting to buy one of these https://www.rei.com/product/737349/ka...p-water-filter for in-camp use or for increasing my carrying capacity for dryer regions.

iforgotmename

I am getting into backpacking this year and have done some research and the Sawyer system seems to be the best, it will also be useful on my short tours...no more buying water.https://www.rei.com/product/786393/sa...system-2-liter

staehpj1 

Depending on the location I may or may not carry or use a filter. Most places I do not. When municipal sources are scarce and there are lots of mountain streams I carry a Sawyer Squeeze and filter all water from lakes, streams, puddles, and so on. I really like that particular filter and always take it when backpacking, but way less than half the time when touring.

I pretty much never filter water from a tap that is supposed to be potable, but there are places where I refuse to drink it due to the mineral content and associated nasty taste. In those relatively infrequent cases I might buy bottled water.

Chlorinated water doesn't bother me because I grew up drinking it.

imi

On tour in New Zealand I had a Katadyn Pocket filter. There were stretches where water had to be taken from lakes and streams. Otherwise, for the most part, I'll drink any old tap water.

Must say, those Sawyer filters look interesting...

fotooutdoors

I agree, city water doesn't generally taste the best. In much of Europe, they use ozone for water treatment instead of chlorine, hence the taste difference.

I have carried a MSR filter in the past, but have actually never used it. In the east, I pass through towns often enough that I just stock up as needed (obviously with some planning ahead). I just got a steripen from Sierra Trading Post (they were on sale for $25) which I will be using for my ride of the Colorado Trail this summer, where I will need to treat water at times. In addition to my primary treatment method, I carry iodine as a lightweight backup.

In short, I don't worry about taste, but I do about safety.

Ekdog

Most tap water is just fine, especially if you fill a jug and leave it uncovered so the chlorine can evaporate. Bottled water? A complete rip off.

djb

and of course all the damn plastic that is thrown out, dumped on the street or wherever, ending up in a landfill most likely.
Not to mention having to be made in the first place.
The attitude people have to "having to have" some bottled water is a very sad example of attitudes in society of not giving a rats patootee about waste, garbage and landfill issues. First world people buying bottled water and creating mountains of (usually) non recycled plastic bottles is just plain wrong.

Cyclebum

I certainly don't 'treat' municipal water in North America. On rare occasion, I've dipped out of a stream, lake, stock tank,, run it thru a piece of panty hose, and sterilized with iodine and/or boiling.

Being able to treat water is a bit like prepping for the very rare blown tire. Just takes a tiny bit of material, so might as well if there is a possibility of need on your touring route. Mostly useful for managing load in remote, hilly terrain. Of course, best to verify there is an actual source of wild water before setting out with empty bottles. Can be very problematic, especially in the west.

Since switching to a bent, not much of a problem, as I can pack 10 liters if the terrain is not too hilly. Did carry 8 on a long, hot day in Big Bend. No wild water anywhere.

Cyclebum

1+

staehpj1 

I agree as long as the "most" qualifier is there.

Try tasting the water in Jackson Hot Springs of some other places with super high mineral content. Water in some locales can be completely un-appealing. In those locations bottled water is a god send. You can usually spot such locations when you see all of the locals having multiple gallon jugs of bottled water in their shopping carts. I will acknowledge that this is the case for a limited number of locations. On the souther tier and in the sierras I don't recall any water that was bad. Ditto for the Colorado Rockies, the Pacific Coast, and the Santa Fe trail. There were a few places on the Trans America were the water was absolutely awful, to the extent we could hardly choke it down without adding gatorade powder and even then it was iffy.

Western Flyer 

I certainly agree with the environmental pollution posed by bottled water bottles, but Penn and Tiller are guilty of a bit of their own BS in their “blind” taste tests of an unnamed bottled water v NYC tap water. New York City has one of the purest municipal water supplies of any large city in the world. It is sourced from pristine watersheds in the Adirondack Mountain. How about a taste test between say San Pellegrino and the blended brown liquid that comes out of taps in Los Angeles? I don’t drink bottled water on tour, not even San Pellegrino sparkling water. I will on occasion enjoy a cold can of San Pellegrino Aranciata after a hot day on the road.

njkayaker

It seems bizarre that people think that US municipal water needs to be treated (for safety). There is varying degrees of "clorine" smell/taste in US water that people have varying tolerance for (treating for smell/tasted might make sense). It's fairly common for Europeans to comment about it.

Ekdog

Yes, I strongly agree! Also consider how much energy we waste transporting all of those bottles and how much of the plastic ends up in our oceans.

Ekdog

European water is chlorinated, too. (Thank God!)

Ekdog

You see people filling their carts with bottled water no matter where you go, even New York, which has, as Western Flyer has pointed out, some of the purest water available anywhere. I contend that this is 99% mental.

MichaelW

I have drunk a few sources untreated:
High lake in Scottish isle (Raasy) that was the water supply.
Waterfalls after heavy rain in high Alpes and Madeira
Mineral spring in Slovenia (yuk), Bath, UK (yuk).
Spring water piped into the town centre in Malvern (yummy)
Malvern spring water is one of the posh bottled spring waters that you buy at restaurants. You get it for free in Malvern but in the supermarket not 50 paces away, you can buy French and Italian spring water.

Fans of bottled water madness should check out Peckham Spring water.

staehpj1 

Actually my observation is that most folks do not buy their water in bottles. For small rural town folks to overwhelmingly buy their water in gallon jugs is definitely not the norm unless the local water is really bad.

I'll buy that it is mental in 99% or more of the US. Still there is that fraction of a percent of the country where the water is really bad to the extent of being pretty much undrinkable.

adventurepdx

I remember when I spent time in Tucson a few years back, the water was pretty undrinkable so there would be filtered water kiosks in grocery store parking lots and the like. That's how many people got their drinking water. If you see a bunch of those in a place you're riding through, take it as a sign.

Most grocery stores also have a water filtration station, so you could always fill water bottles there.

Western Flyer 

I will drink artesian spring water that is untreated almost anywhere. I have done it several times in China with no ill effects. I like to taste where I am traveling. Because I burn readily available alcohol in my stove I will often boil surface water from a nearby lake or stream and not run it through a filter just to get the full taste of it.

Tourist in MSN

Public water supplies in the USA are closely regulated and tested. Not all are chlorinated but most municipal systems are. Even the tavern on the side of the road in the middle of no-where probably has had regular water testing.

I wish you luck. Spring water may have been in the ground for millenia in whch case it is likely quite clean. But in other locations that water could have only a few days earlier been in a creek a few miles away with cattle standing in the creek (and doing what cattle occasionally do).

djb

as someone who has a family member that got giardia about 30 yrs ago, when it was less known, and suffered from it until it was finally diagnosed, I tend to be a bit more careful than most drinking river or lake water. Good pump style filters have gone down in prices over the years, the MSR one or whatever I got many years ago was probably 150 or more, but it seems comparable ones are around half that (the last time I looked quickly at an outdoor store)

I checked and yup, current MSR type that screws onto wide mouthed nalgenes is $82 can.

andrewclaus

I carry a set of AquaMira though I seldom use it. It's cheap and light and long-lasting and effective for what I need it for, which is the occasional dip into a pond or stream possibly contaminated by septic or pasture. On a wet ride through the Cascades recently, I was able to fill up without getting off my bike by just reaching out to the streams falling off the rock walls. I don't treat piped spring water, either, though you don't see many of those on bike tours. I love finding the old manual well pumps in parks--it's hard to get better water than that. I've even dumped out my city swimming pool water and filled up on well water when I can find it.

On my AT thru hike, I would meet people carrying bottled "Appalachian Spring Water" (purchased in town at $3 per liter) into the woods. When faced with the actual spring, though, they'd pull out a filter or drop chemicals into it. It seemed sad, to be afraid of town water in town and afraid of spring water in the woods.