Backpacking tip: Skip the water filter
Water purification tablets from Potable Aqua
Here’s another tip in our occasional series of weight and space saving backpacking tips: for short trips, leave your water filter at home. Instead of hauling your water filter for a short trip (say less than a week) you can get by with water purification tablets, available at most outdoor retailers and online. Just drop one or two tablets into a standard size water bottle and your water will be safe to drink.
The tablets use chemicals such as iodine to treat the water and because of this they have a somewhat unpleasant taste. According to the website for Potable Aqua, the company doesn’t recommend use beyond 6 weeks (!) but the fact that the product is marketed as “emergency treatment” makes me think it’s a good idea to use the product as sparingly as possible.
Still, for beginning backpackers the price is right (about $7 for enough tablets to treat 25-50 quarts of water) and the weight is light. As a beginning backpacker I relied on Potable Aqua tablets and today I carry them on trips where I plan to carry all the water I need anyway (like desert backpacking trips). Even if you don’t plan to rely on purification tablets in place of a water filter they’re a great addition to any first aid kit - you never know when your filter might break down!
Also be sure to check out our backpacking water filter reviews.
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