Imagine using the right product for the right job
Comment on Anon goes camping
Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 3 days ago
A Brita filter =/= a survival straw. There ARE filters you can use to drink directly from water sources in nature that will filter out all contaminants but a Brita ain’t one.
AshLassay@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Do those straws also take out pathogens? I thought you’d still need to boil the water pre filtering.
Stitch0815@feddit.org 2 days ago
Yes
At least bacteria. Viruses are a whole different beast but usually viruses are also not the problem in natural watersources.
Be free comes to mind, very popular in europe. Sawyer filters are very popular in the US
There is also combo filters that filter sediment and bacteria and pass the water through a charcoal filter to remove taste and organics.
This2ShallPass@lemmy.world 2 days ago
From Lifestraw website:
The majority of LifeStraw products for individual use are microfilters with an absolute pore size of 0.2 microns which remove bacteria, parasites, microplastics, and dirt/silt.
LifeStraw also manufactures ultrafilters/purifiers that, in addition to the above contaminants, also remove viruses. The absolute pore size on these purifiers is 0.02 micron.shalafi@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Said a moment ago, one saved my ass. Cut the top off a beer can and sucked river water out of it kayaking. Tasted like nothing, like tap water that’s been in the sun for a while.
bizzle@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I used a Sawyer in the boundary waters for a week, nothing short of miraculous and I didn’t shit my pants even once
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 2 days ago
Sawyer filter inline with a camelback is awesome. I’d just fill up my camelback in a stream using a (clean) handkerchief to get the large debris out and then let the filter do the rest.
WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
The most common cause of symptoms like in OP’s story are multicellular organisms. While still microscopic, they are plenty large enough to get caught in a filter.
Wanderer@lemm.ee 2 days ago
I was just about to say you are wrong. Lifestraws don’t filtre out things like lead.
Just learn new ones do though.
BrowseMan@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I always wondered: does these filters degrade?
If they filtering stuff that small, do they clog? Do you need to rinse them? Run water in opposite direction to remove what they blocked before?
WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
They clog and you do need to rinse them, and running (clean) water in the opposite direction is a common way to clean them.
They do eventually degrade or clog to the point of being unable to function and then you have to replace them. Usually they fail such that it gets slower to filter the water rather than letting dirty water through, although that’s not always the case. One time I had a cracked filter, and the symptom was the filtering went suspiciously quickly. I think I drank some only partially filtered water before I figured it out (didn’t get sick though).
jodanlime@midwest.social 3 days ago
Exactly, there are filters for tap water and there are backpacking or survival filters for filtering dirty water. I use both regularly, but wouldn’t ever take my filter pitcher hiking.