Water purification
 

Does anyone take some form of water filter or purification system (UV or tablets) while bike touring in North America? I know some hikers, who stop at water bodies along the way, will take such systems.

I don't. When I hike, I'll purify lake water, but not usually stream water. I use a Steripen for that. It'd be practical for bike touring - 6 oz. I'd certainly consider taking it for long tours in the mountains where it can be a long way between places with tap water. In most of the US that's not an issue.

I take a Sawyer brand filter. Be aware that I've read that the squeeze bag has some breakage complaints, but the filter screws onto a soda bottle type threading anyway, so I just use one of those as one of my water bottles just in case the bag breaks. No problems yet, though. The filter weighs practically nothing and I have made use of it multiple times. I do strictly camping while touring, though, and need enough water for my cooking, so others needs may be suited by just filling up a couple bottles during the day. I've used my 4 bottles between drinking and cooking on multiple occasions and ended up needing to refill from lake or stream or I wouldn't have anything to drink the next day until I reached a town again. I do tend to drink a good bit too, though. I'll drink 6 liters a day even in cool weather on a 50 mile day.

Hiking in the mountains, can easily hike all day and not pass a source of chlorinated water. So back in the day when I was doing that, I carried iodine tablets.
Nowadays, doing randonneuring in north Texas, that is hardly ever an issue. I'm using a Camelbak, for one thing. And then I know beforehand how far it is to the next water spot.

Some long-distance hikers carry Aquamira drops. It's a two-part system that leaves little trace of flavor after it's activated. It takes at least 20 minutes to work.

I carry that on my bike trips, but seldom use it. Where I travel, it's usually pretty easy to find pure natural water, either from a developed well or spring, and/or above pasture and civilization.

On a recent two-month cross-US trip with much stealth camping, I used water treatment once. It's definitely something I could have done without, but at such a low cost and weight penalty, I carry it anyway.

Rarely would one need to filter water in the US, west only, if willng to tote 5-6 liters thru no service areas. On one trip I overnighted by a river and treated water by filtering thru a cloth and dropping iodine. Only time in thousands of miles. More than once I've bummed off RV'ers.

There are many areas in the west with long stretches of no service, and no water to treat. That being said, I've never heard of a cyclist dieing of thirst.

The Sawyer filter is cheap and effective, but harder to use than others. I've taken it on a couple of hikes in the mountains of CO.
If I were gonna continue remote hiking, I'd get this. The suction tube and pump make the job much easier and faster.

i carry aqua mira drops and run a sawyer mini inline in with my hydro bag in my frame bag.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3853/...d5fff1d1_b.jpgyard sale by mbeganyi, on Flickr

That's not the only problem with Sawyer as I found on a backcountry trip this fall. The filter needs to be flushed with vinegar prior to use if it has been allowed to dry out. I used mine only once about 2 years ago and didn't know about the need to flush it. It took two hours of hard squeezing to get a couple of liters of water. The last thing I want to do is spend two hours on a cold dark night squeezing a cold bag of water. I finally figured out that I could use a large rock to squeeze the bag but it took just as long.

The Sawyer is lightweight but if it's useless, weight doesn't matter. I sticking to my Sweetwater in the future.

But to jickards' original question: you don't really need a filter unless you are going into the back country. If you are road touring, the filter is unnecessary.

which sawyer, and where does it have instructions for bringing them out of hibernation?

and, no offense, but it seems that had you known this before hand, the filter would have been fine, no? so its not really the filters fault... or is it?

It was the Sawyer Squeeze water filter. They have no instructions for bringing them out of "hibernation" which is part of the problem. I didn't know that they even needed to be brought into or out of hibernation. Previous filters I've used can sit for years without use and be ready to go. Apparently the Sawyer can be used and dried but it may not work again without an acid treatment. That's an important bit of information that should have been included in the instructions. It wasn't. Their FAQs don't even mention the problem until the very last item on a list of things you should do to improve the flow. And all of their suggestions to improve flow are things that can't be easily done in the field.

Lots more info here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/96...ater-tour.html

And here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/97...er-filter.html

I bought a LifeStraw Lifestraw ® ? The portable water filter. See the lifestraw here for my next trip. It should do the job - quite a lot of videos on youtube for it. I also bought some Oasis water purification tablets. Water purification tablets - Oasis ? Water purification tablets - Oasis

Thanks. Will have to poke around for info on the mini.

I'm not saying cyccommute is right or wrong at all, but my experience with my Sawyer is that it does have instructions that came with it saying to run a few ounces of bleach through it after prolonged storage. Maybe his was an earlier or different model that didn't come with the instructions. It also comes with a plunger to backwash it if the water flow begins to slow. I've never needed to, but I don't usually filter water with much crap in it. I just filter clean lake or stream water for bacteria. I also have left mine for months without use and then used it with no problems, no bleach or other prep. Just grab it off of the shelf, after winter, toss it in my bag, use it on the trip. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe cyccommute was just unlucky. Who knows.

You use bleach for an entirely different reason. Bleach is used to sterilize the filter. It has a very basic ph (12.5) and would do nothing for the problem I experienced. Vinegar is flushed through the filter to get rid of calcium salts. Considering that the single time I used my filter was at 11,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies that isn't know for having a lot of calcium carried in the water...it was flowing over granite and in the middle of granite peaks...I assume that the calcium clogging is due to something in the microfilter itself.

After doing some searching, this appears to be a very common problem but not one that is publicized by Sawyer. If I had been at home, it wouldn't have been an issue but if I'd been at home, I wouldn't have needed the filter.

The water in Beer is pretty safe :beer: the process requires the yeast not die , so has to be Clean , boiled.

Who cares about the water in the beer? :lol:

It was better than the well water for centuries.

I've always preferred my water fermented with barley and hops if possible. I just wish it weren't so heavy to carry a tour's worth that way.

I don't want to speak for cycocommute, but I'm guessing he's referring to a post I made after after my September mountain bike tour, also 11,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. I called Sawyer regarding the issue and they suggested the vinegar trick. It worked great, I just wish I knew about it before the trip. I ended buying iodine tablets in the first twon I hit. From now on I'll test the Sawyer before I hit the road.

I don't know how the Aquamira works, but years ago I bought a two-part system at the local outdoor shop. It may be the same as Aquamira.

The first part were the usual iodine tablets. The second part killed the iodine taste. When I read the label I discovered the second tablets were ascorbic acid, which I remembered from High School science class is simply Vitamin C. I could have saved a bunch of money buying Vitamin C rather than a incredibly over-priced "Iodine Taste Killer Tablet". I don't know if Aquamira is the same, but it might be worth checking out for those who use it.

I almost always boil my water (and turn it into tea) no mater what the source. Boiling being the best way to make water safe. But I always have 2 filters if they are needed. A Life Straw that is part of my every day carry kit. And a larger, high volume filter I built out of a kitchen water filter cartridge and some pvc (online instructions, google "diy water filter") that lives in my bike kit.

I almost never need a water filter. But its nice to know it's there if I need it. I don't ride for speed so a little more weight for an "in-case" item is no big deal for me. Most of the people that do the "round the world" thing pack less than I do for almost every ride (LOL).

Ride safe, enjoy the world.

I haven't seen your post but I had a similar experience. Considering that you are depending on the filter for water...which is a necessity...it would have been good to know about the problem before I left. My problem was that there were no towns on my trip. I'll stick with a heavier, more dependable Sweetwater in the future.

I have a Steripen that I've used maybe once a year. Out west it can be far between clean water so I'd rather be safe than sorry and boiling water at elevation isn't fun.

Thirty years ago for my first off-pavement tour in the Andes I bought a Katadyne Pocket Filter. Initially expensive, slow to pump, heavy @ 1.5 pounds but easily maintained and back washed, very durable and it kept me healthy. I have since used it Mexico, Western Canada and Alaska on bike and kayak tours. It doess not treat or filter viruses.

For the Divide Ride I switched to the Katadyne chlorine dioxide Micropur tablets which were very satisfactory when needed and much lighter and cheaper. The tablets are a superior replacement for iodine tablets without the awful taste. One tablet per quart or liter and wait 20 minutes before drinking.

I have not found taking a filter to be worthwhile on most US tours. That said there are places where it makes sense. On the Sierra Cascades route it was well worth it. It was very hot out but there were lots of ice cold mountain streams. Freshly filtered ice cold water was nice to have.

On the ST anywhere that there wasn't frequently available tap water there also was no surface water to filter.

On the TA I found little enough use for it that I mailed it home.

The new filters like the Sawyer mini or the Squeeze are light enough (about 2 and 3 ounces respectively?) that taking them along is more tempting. I have used both a Squeeze and a Mini a lot for backpacking and also on The SC and found them very trouble free. After long storage it sounds like a good idea to check them before a trip to be sure they are flowing.

The problems with the bags can be avoided if you handle them with care and carry a spare. I think folks squeeze them too hard. I have used them a lot and never burst a bag. I either squeeze gently or if not in a hurry hang them up and let gravity do the work

+1 I always keep a few of these in my first aid bag "just in case" on any tour. Take up no space and weigh nothing.

On my canoeing adventures into the northern wilderness, I always carry my Katadyne Hiker water filtering system which sees daily use but much too heavy and bulky to consider for my touring.

Aqua Mira is entirely different from iodine. It is a two-part system that produces chlorine dioxide. However, it is not the same as sodium hypochlorite which is the main ingredient in bleach and which is also used to purify water, imparting that "chlorine" taste. Aqua Mira treated water has no residual taste as is the case with chlorine and iodine based systems. If you read their literature they only claim to purify "potable" drinking water which is a bit disconcerting. I'm not sure exactly why they aren't claiming to disinfect water but one study that was done seems to support the idea that the treatment is effective against a wide-range of water borne pathogens and is better than iodine and filters at eliminating the risk of ingesting something bad. See here: Aqua Mira FAQs and here: Efficacy of Water Treatments study I have used it successfully (at least I haven't yet gotten any intestinal parasites) for the last 10 years backpacking and touring (and drinking from streams and lakes in Maine, Labrador, Quebec, and Ontario while doing so).

+1. I used the Squeeze, backpacking, as a gravity fed inline filter from a 3L collapsible canteen, and only had problem with reduced flow when the filter needed to be backwashed with the supplied syringe. One caution: if you are filtering water downstream from farm fields, you might want to upgrade to a heavier MSR mini or Katadyn pump which has a carbon filter to remove toxic chemicals. Melted snow at mountain top, no problem; stream with run off from pastures or row crops, sicky-poo.

Yes, it is. But you have to love marketing. The MSDS for Part A says that the solution contains "stabilized chlorine dioxide" which is kind of a weasely way of a water solution of a salt. I know how to make chlorine dioxide but I'd rather not tell people how to do it since chlorine dioxide can be quite hazardous in high concentrations and it is very easy to make.

Chlorine dioxide also imparts a "chlorine" taste. Gaseous chlorine has been replaced in most places to treat drinking water but it can still leave that "chlorine" taste. I wouldn't use sodium hyprochlorite...aka household bleach...to sanitize water.

There is a reason that their literature says that it can only be used for "purifying" (really sanitizing) potable water. Chlorine dioxide is an aggressive, but indiscriminate, oxidant. It will oxidize important parts of organisms which kill them but if there is plant material present in the water as could occur if you have unfiltered stream water, the chlorine dioxide will also oxidize parts of that plant material as well. Most of the oxidant would be wasted on the plants, which don't need sterilization, and not on the organism which can cause you harm.

For municipal water treatment, chlorine dioxide is used as a polishing step to kill anything that gets through the filtration system. It's too expensive to use upstream of the filters. The same is true for backcountry uses. The Aqua Mira would be useful for places where the water quality is doubtful but you would still need to remove most of the organic material before use...and that means filtering the water beforehand. Since the filter removes most of the organisms to begin with, I'm not sure the use of the chemical treatment isn't just a bit of OCD treatment.

AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Marketers! Damned marketers! Stupid, damned marketers! Comments like these drive chemist crazy!

Aquamira isn't a "breakthrough" in technology nor does it use "stabilized chlorine dioxide". It's a relatively simple chemical reaction that has been know for a very long time. But the comment that really, really, really chaps my hide is this absolutely stupid comment

Yes, chlorine gas and gaseous chlorine dioxide are two different chemicals but both have the element "chlorine" in them. Chlorine dioxide will decompose...quite violently and unexpectedly in a slow speed explosion front called a "puff"...into chlorine gas and water in the right conditions. You can't even compress chlorine dioxide into a gas cylinder because that makes it even more unstable.

As for this claim

Chlorine dioxide can form many of the same potentially harmful by-products. It is an oxidant that contains chlorine which can react with organic molecules to form halogenated compounds. It's mostly safe in low concentrations but the chemistry is still much the same as other forms of chlorine salts and compounds.