Water, water everywhere!..

My experience with water purification is somewhat limited. On the majority of walks I've done I have had good access to tapped water sources so purification was unnecessary. When I started reading into the world of techniques and devices there were a lot of options; boiling, filtering with a muslin cloth or pump, UV pens, purification tablets, purification droplets e.t.c. They each have their own merits, although are seemingly inefficient, time consuming, expensive, or bulky to carry.

After much ummm-ing and err-ing, and mild panicking as my departure date loomed, a solution presented its self! Friday's product training at work was on a new water filter device: the Sawyer Mini Filter.

At 60 grams it is among the lightest options I have seen. It is also versatile; able to be used as a straw, attached onto the included pouch for an instant drinking device or decanter; or as I have opted for. fixed onto the hose of a hydration bladder.

It works by channeling water through a membrane composed of 0.1 micron hollow fibres. This is small enough to remove bacteria, parasites, e.t.c. although not viruses (hence it is a filter, rather than a purifier). Water-borne in North America and Europe are very rare, and additional boiling would remove these if the source looked particularly suspect. The filter can be easily cleaned by back-washing with the included plunger, and the life of the device is given as 100,000 gallons 378,000-ish liters), so it should outlast me. Oh, and it's only £30. Looks good from the reviews so far (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E2-F2jRUlk) . Looking forward to taking it out for a test run this week; especially interested to see what the flow-rate is like through the hydration bladder tube.

Full product info can be found on Sawyer's website. Review to follow!