4 ways to ensure you have clean drinking water in the backcountry

#2  FILTERING

Designed to strain out pathogens when water is forced through them, filters come in many forms, including battery-powered and hand pump filters, gravity filters and filters built into water bottles and straws. While they’re all effective, there are drawbacks: Battery-powered pumps need fresh batteries, and hand pumps can be tiring; gravity filters take more time to produce clean water; bottle filters offer limited capacity, and straws require your mouth to get close to the water source. As well, freezing damages some filters, so they’re limited to warmer weather. And in some cases, pre-filters are necessary to screen out particles to protect the primary filter. Filtering after treating water with boiling or chemicals ensures clean water, but requires more effort.