Water filter

[aweeksmm]

I'm going to jump on this thread too. I see the national park recommends a purifier like bleach in addition to a filter. How many of you actually do that? I have a Sawyer Squeeze which has always been sufficient when viruses aren't a concern.

[alicecw]

I'm going to jump on this thread too. I see the national park recommends a purifier like bleach in addition to a filter. How many of you actually do that? I have a Sawyer Squeeze which has always been sufficient when viruses aren't a concern.

I used my Sawyer Squeeze last year without any additional purifiers. I did pick up some Aquatabs before my trip (mostly because I was trying to meet REI's free shipping threshold) and brought a handful, but didn't use them. I only filtered out of Lake Superior, but if I had to filter out of a beaver pond, I probably would've used purification on top of filtering because those were so murky. The important thing is to avoid any lake that has an algae bloom because filtering won't make that safe to drink. (There were signs around Lake Ritchie last summer warning of the algae bloom and the rangers warned us, but you may want to look up what blue-green algae blooms look like so you are aware.)

[hooky]

I'm going to jump on this thread too. I see the national park recommends a purifier like bleach in addition to a filter. How many of you actually do that? I have a Sawyer Squeeze which has always been sufficient when viruses aren't a concern.

Your squeeze will be fine. Personally, I believe the additional step is CYA on the part of the NPS. Viruses aren't a problem in the N. American back country, nor are Cholera, Typhoid, Hep A, etc... With most everything in life, I try to understand the facts and make an informed judgment. I've decided that I'm not doing the extra step unless I'm filtering downstream from a sewage treatment plant or I'm somewhere where Cholera or similar is known to be present. At the end of the day, do what you think is the least risk that you're willing to accept and go have fun.