Hi,
Along my adventure, hikking, bicycle trips and alpinist mountain activities I used a lot of options, but two years ago, One friend mine who mades travels around the world shows me Steripen.
Steripen is a UV gatget that sterilize germs and viruses and they can not reproduce within our organism.
It comes with a adapter to use with Nalgene bottle.
Note: It only works well if the water is clean, to allow UV light arrives at the totallity of ammount of water.
Iāve drank from streams before with no filtering or purifying, always above the height of farming areas, not small streams and always fast running water. Tastes nice. never had any issues. Iāve only ever done that when backpacking for a couple days though.
as my parents say āyou have to eat a peck of much before you dieā. I didnāt realize until early adulthood(20ās) that a peck was an imperial measurement! approximately 10-12 pounds and 4 pecks make a bushel. Thank god for metric!
Me tooā¦
I agreeā¦
Neither did Iā¦
Iāve done it even in single day outings for a SOTA activation. I picked up the water from a stream or small cascade with my hands and drank it with no worries. That saved me from the extra weight of carrying a bottle of water
I agree againā¦
73,
Guru
The Steripen is a great concept. I think that one of the stages being used for water treatment in plants does use UV light as well, it is very efficient. In the end I did not get it for the weight and because sometimes glacial melt waters have sediments and I am not 100% sure of its efficacy in such an instance but I still love the concept of a portable UV source to treat water.
I too have drunk untreated water from river streams such as on my last hike of F/AM-031. Carrying less water is a very tempting proposition given the weight considerations especially on long hikes. On the other hands, quite a few times, whether hiking or fishing, have I seen streams that looked pristine and above farmlands only to find a rotting carcasse upstream (not just farm animals but mountain goats, deer, etcā¦).
People do get sick from time to time. It is usually rare but when it happens and the consequences can be extremely (deadly) serious. So, it is a low probability event with a very serious/negative potential outcome. In these situations it is very common for people to feel they will never have any problems but if they do, it is unlikely they will come on these forums and tell us about it.
At the end of the day everybodyās utility function and risk/reward assessment is different. I have spent my youth drinking from mountain streams when hiking and never had any issue (I used to treat my water with hydroclonazone which is now thought to be a less than ideal solution in terms of efficacy). It does not mean I can get unlucky and catch a bad break.
I guess it is like lung cancer. Some people smoke 1 pack a day and never have a problem while some non-smokers end-up getting it sadly. We all have this propensity to roll the dice with our own lives, letās hope we all get lucky and manage to enjoy ourselves along the way 
I am such a kill-joy, haha
Does anyone have experience with this system, a filter that screws directly onto your water bottle?
https://www.drinkpure-waterfilter.com/water_filter/
Looks interestingā¦
That looks interesting. With the large surface area of the disc it would be easier to drink through. The outdoor model kit has the same concept as my Sawyer for back flushing. Price is not bad either.
Malen
VE6VID
My SteriPEN is now on order. Expected to be delivered by the first week of July. Thank you very much for letting me know about it.
73,
Guru
Iām either very fortunate/lucky, or we have plenty of fresh water available in our hills.
On hot days in summer I may carry half a litre of water but most of the time I can find some stream high above the farmed land and away from popular footpaths - Iām talking about moorland and not the āsouth downsā.
I have never sterilised water whilst hill/mountain walking in the UK, (but I do sterilise water in Canada, where beavers occur when out on multi day canoeing trips due to Garda parasites).
When I started hill walking it was with Duke of Ed at our school. One of the items on the essential list was creamola foam! In those days we went on 4-5 day hikes and wild camped (today they all go to campsites because of child protection). As we couldnāt carry the amount of water required the creamola foam was used to hide the taste of the water and when it frothed up we removed any larger particles. Donāt think I would use it now but didnāt seem to do us any harm!
Went with the sawyer mini as well even though I must admit I am yet to use itā¦
By the way, if people put tracks in sotamaps.org with comments, I think putting some info about water sources is very helpful for long hikes.
73, Arnaud
F/JG1XMV/P (currently)
Hi
+1 for the sawyer mini fits on to my hydration bladder or on to drinks bottles if need be.
Not much in weight to have at the bottom of the pack for an emergency.
73
Graeme
One of my boys uses this:
https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-micro-squeeze-water-filtration-system/
And pairs it up with the CNOC water bags:
Says to ditch the Sawyer water pouch as itās flimsy. Highly recommends the CNOC bags for direct coupling to the filter, or use two (color coded) for a gravity setup at basecamp.
Also highly recommends:
https://www.backcountry.com/katadyn-micropur-purification-tablets-30-pack?CMP_SKU=EXT004
Uses the micropur tablets for questionable water sources. Actually has said never had to use them, but cheap insurance and lite/small enough not to worry about having them in pack.
Forgot to ask him on any new info on the military version of the MSR MIOX personal water purifiers, but have seen quite a few on ebay now, so maybe theyāve moved on to something else?
Todd KH2TJ
Thatās what I have, mine is just older. Been using it for years. Secret to it is keeping it clean. I back flush after every use before things set up in it.