Lots of knives but what about safe drinking water?

Falcor

Falcor

Joined
Feb 20, 2009
Messages
361
I see lots of threads on survival and the like, but unless I missed them, I don't recall seeing anything about potable water, i.e. water you can safely drink without glowing in the dark or leading to chronic diarrhea.

Lots about knives, with sayings like "This is the only survival tool I need" referring to a knife. Anyone with real survival training knows the importance of safe drinking water.

I suggest that any future RAT Survival Pack has a simple AquaStraw or similar. It can filter up to 50 liters of water and needs replacing when you cannot suck through it anymore. It does not get more simple and its the length of an Izula.

A picture of my straw is below. I take with me even on business trips, and if any of you have ever been to India or seen Slumdog Millionaire, you'll know why. I am not against India, its just the one place other than in the jungle that I use the straw.

Stay safe all!

Aqua-Straw-Opt.gif
 
Water is our most precious resource that we take for granted without a doubt. When is the last time you stood there at the sink and thought about how lucky you were to have a glass of drinkable water with zero effort? I find myself appreciating it more and more all the time.

Those aqua straws seem to get pretty good reviews. With all water purifiers, the weakness is they gunk up with sediment and stop working. But as you said, when it stops working, toss it and get another. I need to add water purification to my kits. One of the biggest problems being in a agricultural hot spot is that most of the water is contaminated with chemicals to some extent and most of our water sources are muddy creeks and rivers. Worth a shot and beats dying of dehydration on day 3. :D

Great post!
 
i have an older msr sweetwater in my pack. as well as aqua tabs. and pot for boiling if i wanted to.
 
Falcor said:
Lots about knives, with sayings like "This is the only survival tool I need" referring to a knife. Anyone with real survival training knows the importance of safe drinking water.
Aqua-Straw-Opt.gif
Click to expand...

I think you nailed this. This is a very important point. If you get diarrhea out away from some help you will be in serious jeopardy. Dehydration and weakness will set in and possibly death. Ugh! What a terrible thing that could be avoided.

I like the size of this. Any recommendations on where to get them would help. Thanks for this great tip.:thumbup:
 
I have the MSR Waterworks filter, potable water tabs, and a container to boil water.

I think it gets omitted from a lot of posts here simply because this is the ESEE knife forum. Here the focus is on knives. Without a good knife, getting a fire started to boil water, which is still my prefered method of purifying, becomes even more challenging.

I would hope that anyone here would agree that having a method of purifying water in their kit is simply a given.
 
I have a Katydin Pro Hiker in my BOB-I'm sure Jeff will jump in with the importance of water filtering in a survival scenario especially some of the SA spots he trains in.
 
I have a pair of 20 oz water bottles with built in filter straws in my camping "kitchen chest" as a JIC item. My preferred "canteen" is a 1 liter stel bottle (unlined) so I can boil water in it.
This would only do me "some" good in many ag areas, becuase of dissolved chemicals in the water, but at least I would be able to live through the first 3 days. (long term effects of drinking nitrated water can be dealt with after the fact)
 
A lot of people seem to forget the significance of clean water. I have never scene the straw before, I always just used the tabs. Sure I guess you could drink it anyway, but if you get sick you will dehydrate faster then if you just left the water alone.

Speaking of tabs I always wondered why people opted to put fishing kits, money and arrow heads in their HEST. When I get one I plan to fill it full of water treatment tablets. Clean water and an knife can hold you over longer then a knife and a fish or a knife and an arrowhead lol.
 
The thought of sticking that into a mossy pond and taking slurps off it gives me the willies... Does it work well? How does the water taste? I might have to get one to try out.....
 
Thanks for the feedback guys and for looking. Sticking it into a mossy ponds or even puddles is exactly what it is designed for and works well under those conditions. It also tastes far better than puritabs or whatever form of purification tablets you have. It has a NATO part # and is standard issue to some armies.:thumbup:

When using in muddy water, I usually use some fabric to filter the mud first and then use the straw to make the straw last longer. At one time I scooped up muddy water in my boonie and let it filter into my mug and used the straw from there. No, I did not wear it again until I washed it out in a clear stream;)
 
It's gotta be awful hard to make a profit in THAT market anymore.
Maybe at one time....but now...

Tab's are dirt cheap and everywhere, I've recently put an Aquamira water straw system in all my family BOB's...for under $8 bucks I think...and with free shipping (amazon)
weighs less than an ounce and does 20 gallons of water.

Not that it isn't a great thread, but I can't see how ESEE could get into this market and make money. I sure don't want to see the company lose money! I want 'em around for my kids to enjoy! :)
 
Falcor said:
When using in muddy water, I usually use some fabric to filter the mud first and then use the straw to make the straw last longer. At one time I scooped up muddy water in my boonie and let it filter into my mug and used the straw from there. No, I did not wear it again until I washed it out in a clear stream;)
Click to expand...

I have a Katadyn Hiker Microfilter. Also have a AquaMira Frontier Straw device that I keep in smaller kits.

Everyone needs to take a page from the British, they use something called a Millbank Bag. Heavy, tight weave cotton canvas bag with a slanted bottom so it constantly drips when soaked with water and has a loop on the top so you can hang it from an improvised tripod or a tree limb, etc.

You fill it with water and put your boiling container, canteen or whatever under the dripping point. Boil or chemically treat after you filter out the sediment.
 
i've heard mediocre reviews on the straws and they don't seem ideal for my area where you need to be able to take water with you. probably better in areas where there's lots of water available and you just need it to be safe to drink. but the size and price are attractive.

in my Camelbak i keep one of the small Katadyn pumps. forget the name but it's slow and hard to pump, especially when compared to a larger filter.

there's also the Miox and Steripen, but they use batteries and since the Steripen uses UV it's not as effective in murky water as it is in clear.

there's iodine tabs, but i don't know if i'd put them in the handle of the HEST because they need to be sealed up. even a small ziploc might not seal them enough.

"pool shock" dry chlorine gets good reviews and you could keep it in a small nalgene bottle.

Polar Pure only seems to make single doses at a time.

vitamin C will neutralize the iodine taste, but you need to only add it AFTER the treatment time. some of the electrolyte replacement mixes have vitamin C so the same goes for them.
 
I have a Katadyn Vario ,seems to work pretty good , I keep it in my Junglas back pack and will have it on me when us Boys hit the 275 acres next weekend (cricket dave,Drew ,Shotty & myself)
 
texastonydobbs said:
I have a Katadyn Vario ,seems to work pretty good , I keep it in my Junglas back pack and will have it on me when us Boys hit the 275 acres next weekend (cricket dave,Drew ,Shotty & myself)
Click to expand...

oh i did not tell ya....i am gonna sneak out this weekend and hide several gallon jugs of drinking water throughout the woods......lol.....just kidding that would be cheating.....I put some corn and beer in a gallon coffee can to start it souring...we can use this to bait in a hog...thinking we can each build a different style trap and see who can get food for the weekend...
 
drew1095hc said:
oh i did not tell ya....i am gonna sneak out this weekend and hide several gallon jugs of drinking water throughout the woods......lol.....just kidding that would be cheating.....i put some corn and beer in a gallon coffee can to start it souring...we can use this to bait in a hog...thinking we can each build a different style trap and see who can get food for the weekend...
Click to expand...

:D lol
 
Never bothered to put a filter in my pack because the woods i hunt are filled with natural springs....but after getting a crapload of gift cards for academy for bday i think i may add one....
 
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