Water Treatment

I doubt is was Giardia if it only took 2 days to take him down.

2 days in to our trip. He had been on a 5 week run of pretty much back to back trips with a day or two in between.

Nice enough guy but an odd character. From the UP, 325 lbs, hated fishing, preferred sci-fi books about trolls, carried maybe 6 lbs of gear for 11 days. Had a pocket knife but didn’t like carrying the extra weight. Makes room for more troll books I guess.

Agreed about gestation periods Jeff. If you’re 3 days walk from civilization and you are going to die of dehydration unless you drink some nasty water, drink up!
 
I'll even drink the nastiest water if the alternate choice is death by dehydration
 
Another vote here for the Vario. For any lengthy fishing, hunting, camping, or hiking trip it goes in my pack for sure. The ceramic filter is awesome. Definitely extends the life of the main carbon filter and is easy to clean in the field with a green scouring pad. I also love that it will attach directly to my Nalgene bottle.

vario006.jpg
 
It seems the steripen is similiar to the miox, except it says it will kill the crypto in 60 seconds instead of 4 hours that miox says. It also uses 123 batteries. Has anyone used the steripen?
 
Just so the point is not lost here, NEVER depend solely on ANY water filter. Always take a chemical backup. Like Jeff said earlier the black waters in Peru or even in the swamps here in the states will kill any filtration system in short order. You need iodine or chlorine to treat the water in situtations like that. There are a few devices that produce chlorine form water, salt and battery power and they work great. Or the iodine tablets work well also but bear in mind some folks are allergic to it.
 
IIRC, the steripen uses UV to kill things, the MIOX uses electricity to crack salt into ionic chlorine to kill the bugs.
 
It seems the steripen is similiar to the miox, except it says it will kill the crypto in 60 seconds instead of 4 hours that miox says. It also uses 123 batteries. Has anyone used the steripen?

Steripen uses light waves to render the bugs "sterile", while miox makes a solution through electrolyisis to kill the nasties.

Here is a comparison I found where the marketing manager from MSR, Katie Bolek, on the comments section of a review.

"I'd say the biggest disadvantage to the Steri-Pen in contrast to the MSR MIOX Purifier is its inability to treat water with particulate material, although the Steri-Pen functions fine in clear water. Note that the Steri-Pen was unable to pass the EPA Purifier Protocol in "Type II" cloudy water. Even minute material can impact its effectiveness, so the water basically has to be filtered before it can be treated with the Steri-Pen, requiring the use of a second treatment device. The MSR MIOX Purifier, on the other hand, is more versatile, because it is equally effective in any type of water, including a cloudier water source, and pre-filtration is not required.

Interestingly, UV works quite well against "resistant" organisms, like Cryptosporidium and Giardia, but it is not able to inactivate certain viruses, like the Adenovirus. (Viruses tend to be more of an issue in standing water than in running water.) Again, the MIOX Purifier offers more versatility than the Steri-Pen because it inactivates ALL classes of microorganisms.

In contrast, probably the biggest advantage to the Steri-Pen is that it is a more rapid process (1-1/2 minutes) to inactivate Giardia in 1/2 liter of water than required with the Purifier (30 minutes). The wait period is virtually the same for the more common bacteria and viruses -- 1-1/2 minutes for the Steri-Pen and under 5 minutes for the MIOX Purifier (based on the most recent round of third party testing).

Another factor to consider is the size of the treatment device. The Steri-Pen is much smaller and lighter than a handheld filtration pump, but it's still about twice as big and twice as heavy as the MIOX Purifier.

Also, the Steri-Pen is not designed to treat varying volumes of water. With one dose, the MIOX Purifier can treat a 1/2 liter bottle of water, a 2 liter CamelBak hydration bag, or a gallon jug -- this versatility is nice with a larger group of campers. Also, you can treat multiple quantities, wait the specified time, and have all of your containers of water ready to go at the same time with very little effort.

One last item I haven't mentioned yet is that the inclusion of the test strips enables the user of the MIOX Purifier to ensure that his water is safe to drink. Measuring a certain amount of residual disinfectant in the water shows that there is sufficient disinfectant to inactivate the microorganisms. In contrast, no other technology comes with the safety indicator strips. With other chemical disinfectants, if you're consuming water potentially contaminated by sewage flow, you have no idea if 2 tablets are going to be enough, or if you need more than 2 tablets. With the Steri-Pen you can't tell if you got all the microorganisms, or if one of them was hiding behind a particle in the water, thus making it unsafe to drink. Use of the safety indicator strips with the MIOX Purifier just gives an extra measure of security to the user, especially if he or she is drinking from a source that is potentially highly contaminated.

In summary, the MIOX Purifier is just a more versatile tool since it can treat clear or cloudy water, treats a wider range of microorganisms, is smaller and lighter, is configured to treat various volumes of water, and can ensure that the water is safe to drink. I haven't found the 30-minute wait time to be an issue because I always have multiple containers of water I'm drinking, so I have something immediately available. It usually takes me at least 30 minutes to accomplish whatever other task I'm doing while camping (or I'll treat the next day's water before going to bed), so I tend to not even notice the wait time required.

Hope this information helps!

Katie"




Also, I saw the vario, but I used a msr miniworks ex before, very similer system and it was way too slow for my tastes.
 
nc527 thanks for the info. I was kind of thinking a two part system, something with a charcoal filter, as I like what that does, then either the steripen or miox to top it off. Maybe that would be overkill though.
 
Funny thing is the black waters of the Amazon tributaries seem so clear and pristine, not muddy at all, but when you filter that water the tannins clog just about any filter in under 3 quarts. It's some wicked shit to deal with. Nice to bathe in though. Man, that tannic acid will clean you quickly without any soap!

Do the locals drink it without filtration? Where do the tannins come from?
 
I always carry the MP1 tablets with me just incase :)

My survival tin got the "plan B" Micropur 1L and my brother and I had a big fight over the real time it take for the water to become drinkable.. still to this day, im not sure. but I agree with Mike, 2 means of purifications is mendatory, water is too important.
 
Like Jeff said earlier the black waters in Peru or even in the swamps here in the states will kill any filtration system in short order.

For a long time I've packed long disposable paper tea filters for both brewing coffeee and as a pre-filter, rubber banded over the intake valve of my water purifier. I've never had any problems with filters clogging or or even needing cleaned in the field. This may very well not work in the black water or swamps, but I think it really prolongs the life of a filter under normal conditions.
 
For a long time I've packed long disposable paper tea filters for both brewing coffeee and as a pre-filter, rubber banded over the intake valve of my water purifier. I've never had any problems with filters clogging or or even needing cleaned in the field. This may very well not work in the black water or swamps, but I think it really prolongs the life of a filter under normal conditions.

Yes sir we have tried that. Even tried a chemical flocculant that is suppose to coagulate this mess before you filter it. In other words you put the water in a large container, add the flocculant, wait for a bit, then filter. Totally worthless and didn't work.
 
I like the Drink Safe Systems' Travel Tap, very light, not too big.

Here's the spec :

Purifies and filters water instantly up to 1600 litres

Squeeze gently to provide water on demand

Useful for washing grazes, brushing teeth, pouring & filling other bottles/ containers

Replaceable purification filter cartridge
Supplied with optional ‘drink direct’ insulating carrier (blue with internal ‘Reflecton’ insulation ) 1.5m adjustable lanyard and protective rubber dust cap
Auto shutdown system will always protect
Can be used - stored and reused until end of filter life
Full user operational technical guide included
1 year warranty
Water delivery method: Direct by applying pressure or Direct via mouth

Delivery Rate: 300 - 600 mls minute

Explorer bottle weight: 152g Explorer only

Insulating cover weight and strap: +76g

Dimensions: 64mm X 250mm

Colours available: Clear Opaque / Desert Tan

Bottle: Recyclable non leaching LDPE-4 Polythene Non BPA

Water capacity: 650 ml

Water Delivery / Filter Life expectancy: up to 1600 litres

Choice of colours, with / without insulated screen printed blue carrier



http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php
 
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