Canadian Canoe Routes - Gear - Gear Info

Gear | Gear Info | Water Filters

Barrels
Canoes
First Aid Kit
General Group Gear
Kitchen Gear
Lights & Lanterns
Packs
Paddles
Why is my paddle bent?
Repair Kit
Sleeping bags & Mattresses
Survival Kit
Tents
Water Filters

It's sometimes easy to fool ourselves into believing that water is clean enough to drink as we're out paddling. As we sit in the middle of a remote wilderness area, far away from factories, cities and other sources of pollution it seems that we should be able to dip our cup into the river and have a long, cool drink.

Unfortunately, there is no area of the country that can claim to have water this clean. Even if drinking from a clear mountain stream seems safe, we should keep in mind that there may be a rotting deer carcass 50 ft. upstream of our location.

Any water can contain pathogens which can cause illness. Boiling is effective, but time consuming. Most backcountry travellers now use water filters or water purifiers.

Most filters use the same principle - they have a ceramic filter insert, and water is pumped under pressure through this ceramic material. The pores in the ceramic filter are smaller than the parasites in the water, and they are filtered out. The result is clear, immediately-drinkable water.

It's important to review the technical specifications before you buy a filter or a purifier. A filter with a 0.2 micron filter will effectively remove giardia cysts, which are much larger than that size; and also bacteria like E Coli. However, the smallest parasites (viruses) will travel through a 0.2 micron filter with ease. See the "Problems" section of this site for an explanation of Giardia and all the other nasties that can be found in our water.

Know what you're trying to remove and obtain a filter that meets this requirement.

For the most part, in North America we're mainly concerned with the large parasites Pur Hiker Filter

like Giardia, and suspended solids like silt, algae and organic material. Nearly any filter will effectively treat water like this. It's a good idea to have some sort of pre-filter to remove most of the silt, or your filter will clog up much sooner than it should. If that happens, you're stuck with disassembling it for cleaning, or in the case of a filter with throwaway cartridges, buying a new filter cartridge. Really murky water can be pre-filtered through a clean cloth or a coffee filter before putting it through the water filter.

A water filter will remove protozoa and bacteria from your drinking water. Purifiers go one step further - in addition to these larger pathogens, they also kill off viruses. They do this with an additional element that adds a trace amount of iodine to the water. Some also have carbon filters which will remove chemical pollutants.

For most of the backcountry areas of North America, a simple water filter is fine

A reasonably good pumping rate- in the order of 1 litre per minute.

A readily-available and easily-cleanable filter.

A filter with a long life. Manufacturers generally give an expected life (in pumpable volume) for the filter. The larger this volume, the less often you'll be changing or cleaning your filter.

Some type of pre-filter that will remove a lot of the crud from the water before it reaches the ceramic filter.

A pore size that matches your intended use. If you're going out of country and you're worried about viruses, buy a purifier, not a filter (or treat your filtered water with iodine after filtering).