Do Water Filters Work?
More Articles Related to Survival GearThere are a bewildering array of portable water filters on the market, all competing with one another for your dollars. Claims are being made by the water filter manufacturers about the contaminants these portable water filters remove. Additional and even conflicting claims are sometimes listed by the sellers of water filters. What exactly does this mean?
How to you know if these what they are saying about these water filters is valid?
Disease free drinking water is of paramount importance to survival, and these water filter companies seem to be playing roulette with your health. There is something unnerving about trusting products that are possibly more popular due to the miracle of modern advertising than the miracle of modern science. Anything to make a dollar. As in everything, I am trying to get beyond the hype and find the truth.
Over at the Equipped forum, a participant has started an interesting post about Survival Straws. Survival straws are those small water filters that are about the size of a large ballpoint pen. In theory portable drinking water filters like these would be ideal for day hikers or those who want to minimize gear weight and bulk.
The forum posting shows some research and makes good points that are also valid for the larger drinking water filters.
In my opinion, even if there were a portable water filter that removes 100% of disease organisms, which there isn't, there are too many variables involved to totally trust the water filtration method. Human error and mechanical breakdown – such as a malfunctioning part or the filter needs changing etc - can fool you into thinking the water is potable when in fact it remains polluted. One drink and you could have a good case of guardia, cryptosporidium, or worse.
I believe the most sure way to remove disease organisms from water is by boiling. If you can find the fuel, boiling is the best water purification method and the most fool proof. It takes little training to be able to recognize when water is boiling. The pot and the fire do the job as expected every time and proof of success is in the boiling itself.
By all means use your water if that is all you have. Filtering the water supply is, perhaps, “better than nothing”. But be sure to do your water filter research and know how to correctly use the filter you choose. For now I am sticking with boiling water to make it safe to drink.
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