How To Purify Water In The Wild Without Fire

Learning how to purify water in the wild could save you a trip to the hospital or spending a week or so never further than ten feet from the nearest crapper (!) (Image credit: Getty)

When we're out adventuring in the wilds, the bodily fluids nosotros lose through exertion and sweat are in constant need of replacing – at a charge per unit, most authorities claim, of around i liter per two hours of hiking. Even so, getting plenty prophylactic, clean drinking water in the system (see our explainer, Water for hiking: how much do you need?) is often far from easy, particularly when our trails take us deep into the backcountry and replenishing our supplies of H2O requires taking it from wild sources like streams, lakes, creeks, or rivers. While these may wait make clean, clear, and harmless to the naked eye, inside them there may lurk myriad microscopic mayhem-makers that could easily put paid to our plans for a fun, trouble-free trip. As such, learning how to purify water in the wild – and taking the time to do so – is of the utmost importance for any hiker corking to avoid a trip to infirmary or a lengthy spell of fourth dimension on the crapper.

In this post, we explain how to purify water in the wild in half dozen unlike ways, from old-fashioned boiling right through to high-tech ultraviolet sterilization.

Why purifying water is of import

Few things can ruin a hiking or backpacking trip in quite the aforementioned way as water-borne bacteria, protozoa, or viruses. The most mutual of these include:

Giardia and cryptosporidium Protozoa independent in human and animal feces that can cause extreme gastrointestinal illness (vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps). Both are widespread in most rural parts of the earth.

Dysentery and amoebic dysentery These are as well caused by protozoan parasites contained in human or animal carrion. Symptoms include fever, bloody or mucous diarrhea, chills, and abdominal hurting or discomfort. For a (slightly graphic) preview of what a few days with amoebic dysentery looks like, check out The Fourth dimension I Died in Ladakh (opens in new tab).

Leaner The most common h2o-borne bacterial diseases include shigella, E.Coli, salmonella, campylobacter, all of which tin can be fatal.

Viruses Hepatitis A, enterovirus, rotavirus, and norovirus are just a few of the water-borne viruses that might be caught by drinking from wild water sources. None of these are eliminated past water filtration systems, simply tin can be eliminated by UV pens, boiling, and some purification tablets.

water bottle and waterfall — Taking water directly from the source = not a dandy idea (Paradigm credit: Getty)

How to purify water in the wild: 6 methods

Boiling

Boiling is one of the safest ways to purify drinking water taken from wild sources. The reason for this is that none of the pathogens commonly establish in wild water tin withstand temperatures of over 170 °F. Given that h2o boils at 212 at bounding main level and at around 200 °F at elevations of roughly 14,000 feet, boiling will safely eliminate whatsoever water-borne ill-doers when done properly.

Equally a full general rule, you should aim to have your h2o on a bubbling, rolling eddy for at least 2 minutes to get in safe for drinking.

Pros

Eliminates bacteria, protozoa, and fifty-fifty viruses

No carve up kit required (if you're camping)

Cons

You tin only process very limited quantities of water at a fourth dimension

Requires carrying a camping stove of some description

Time-consuming

Fuel consumption

Processed h2o is hot (platonic for cooking, not so much for drinking)

camping checklist — Boiling your h2o is the well-nigh constructive - if not the most efficient - way of making your Water safe to beverage (Image credit: Getty)

Purification tablets

Chemical purification tablets are generally considered the ideal purification method for gram-counters and hikers or campers trying to keep pack size to a minimum. They counterbalance next to null and a blister pack of ten pills – which volition treat up to x liters of h2o – takes up about every bit much space equally your average stick of gum. The two most common chemical treatments are Iodine and Chlorine Dioxide. While the majority of tablets can effectively eliminate most microorganisms, bacteria, and viruses, iodine does not eliminate one of the nigh mutual water-borne nasties – Cryptosporidium – and both leave your water tasting very funky.

Pros

Lightweight and packable

Easy to utilize

Cheap

Cons

Doesn't filter our mud or silt

Leave a funky gustatory modality

Necessary to wait at least 30 minutes before drinking

Iodine tin pose a health risk to pregnant women and those with thyroid conditions

Ultraviolet light sterilization pens

Ultraviolet light purifiers use UV rays to neutralize bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Most models are very piece of cake to use – all you lot demand to do is fill your h2o bottle (run into: all-time hiking water bottles) and then stir the h2o with your purifier pen for i-2 minutes, then you'll take rubber-to-beverage H2O. The only downside to UV purification is that the pens run on batteries, and so you'll need to go on these charged, and you may have to pre-filter your water to remove sediment.

Our top pick of pens is the SteriPEN Aqua UV H2o Purifier (opens in new tab).

Pros

Lightweight

Short processing time

Eliminate all pathogens and viruses

Cons

Crave batteries

Easy to pause

H2o might demand pre-filtering to remove sediment

Pricey

Sip/squeeze filters

Too known as "straw filters", these are personal filtration systems that remove bacteria and protozoa via microscopic pores in the filter measuring as little as 0.two microns. These devices are lightweight, cheap, and can also be used to drink directly from a water source or attached to your water bottle. On the downside, they do not eliminate viruses and are not an efficient means of processing large quantities of h2o. For more on these, cheque out Hydration packs vs water purification.

Pros

Inexpensive

Lightweight and packable

Cons

Don't eliminate viruses

Cannot process enough water for a group/cooking

The Lifestraw Filter (opens in new tab) is one of the most popular sip filters on the market place. (Image credit: Amazon)

Pump filters

Pump water filters are, essentially, sip/squeeze/straw filters with a pump attached that saves you having to suck the Water through the filter. Every bit such, they're a far improve pick for processing larger quantities of water. As with well-nigh filters, pump-fashion models are effective in eliminating bacteria and protozoa, just only a few, high-end models will have care of viruses. The only downsides to pump filters are their lofty RRP, bulkiness, and demand for frequent (and fiddly) maintenance.

The Katadyn Hiker Pro Microfilter (opens in new tab) is our pick of the agglomeration.

Pros

Quick processing

Removes sediment from the water

Provides clean water immediately

Cons

Relatively pricey

Filters tin can clog upwards

Filtering large quantities requires a flake of transmission graft

Bulky

pump water filter — Pump water filters can process water more than quickly than sip/harbinger filters (Image credit: Getty)

Gravity filters

Gravity filters are the ideal pick when basecamping or camping in large groups. As the name suggests, they piece of work by using gravity to filter water from a large reservoir into a container below. The dazzler of these types of filters is that they can process upwardly to a liter of water per infinitesimal and allow you to kick back and relax in your camping chair while they do so. On the downside, gravity filters counterbalance a lot more than UV pens, purification tablets, and straws, and the filters can clog up in a hurry if the reservoir is filled with heavily sedimented water.

Our favorite gravity filter is the Katadyn Gravity Camp 6L Water Filter (opens in new tab).

Pros

No pumping or stirring required

Very short look time

Capable of processing large quantities of h2o

Cons

Require a tree co-operative or other support to paw the reservoir from

Quite heavy and bulky

Don't eliminate viruses

Former Advnture editor Kieran is a climber, mountaineer, and author who divides his fourth dimension betwixt the Italian Alps, the US, and his native Scotland.

He has climbed a handful of 6000ers in the Himalayas, 4000ers in the Alps, 14ers in the U.s.a., and loves zero more than than a good long-distance wander in the wilderness. He climbs when he should be writing, writes when he should be sleeping, has fun always.

Kieran is the author of 'Climbing the Walls (opens in new tab) ', an exploration of the mental wellness benefits of climbing, mountaineering, and the nifty outdoors.