It’s the season of the year when people start heading out to the wilderness for outdoor activities. If you love spending time outdoors, you probably know that plenty of planning is required to make sure you stay safe during any unwanted circumstance. You need to ensure safety of every of your step so that your outdoor trip is more enjoyable and carefree. This includes making sure you have access to clean drinking water outdoors. For most hikers and campers, clean water is the furthest thing from their minds. But just like any other living being, we humans need drinkable water every day in order to function and survive. So we shouldn’t take water for granted.
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| source: posthood.com |
While drinkable water is common thing for most people, some people in some places aren’t so lucky and suffer from poor access to drinking water. Either the water isn’t clean and safe to drink, or is far away. This means you won’t always have access to clean water when you are out for a hike or camping. Fortunately, there are products such as water filter straws that are tried and tested to take dirty water and make it safe for drinking wherever you go.
What is a water filter straw?
A water filter straw is a survival tool that meets your needs for clean drinking water outdoors especially where water resources are abundant. As the name suggests, this tool is light, compact and portable water filtration device that makes sure you have clean water anywhere, anytime. So when heading out in the wilderness, make sure you pack a survival straw in your emergency or bug-out bag. With the filter straw, you can drink water directly from the water resources such as lakes and streams to stay hydrated and fresh during your hiking or mount climbing trips and tours.
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| source: insider.com |
Water filter straws use an ultrafiltration membrane to filter out any potentially harmful substances that can be found the water. The hollow fibre membrane contains an activated carbon capsule that eradicates chemicals such as chlorine and other organic compounds. To filter unclean water, you need to get it from the water source through the straw. The unclean water will pass through several porous fibre layers to get rid of all parasites, viruses, bacteria and other contaminants in the water. No debris or sediment whatsoever will be spared as the IF membrane inside residue bacteria or viruses. Therefore, the water coming out from the filter straw is clean and drinkable. Keep in mind that you can’t use a water filter straw in salt, brackish or chemically contaminated water.
Choosing a Water Straw Filter
Today technology has evolved where a single straw can filter all pathogens and particles and render the water for safe consumption. Straw filters are ultra-light, backpack and travel-friendly. And due to their ease of carrying, you can pack them anywhere. But how do you choose the right water filter straw? Sometimes people get confused when choosing a filter straw since there are so many different brands that offer similar portable filters. However, there are a quite a few water filter straws on the market. And when it comes to safe drinkable water, the quality must be never compromised.
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| source: hackyourpack.com |
To select the best straw filter, consider the following:
Filtration Efficiency
When choosing a survival straw, look whether a micron rating is listed on the label. This is the rating of the maximum-size particle or organism that will be eradicated by the filter. Water filter straws use a hollow fibre UF membrane with pore size .01 to .02 micron to filter water. This means that harmful substances larger than the pore size would be eradicated. Generally, the smaller the membrane pore size the better as with lower micron rating more harmful substance would be removed. The most commonly used pore size for a straw filter is .01 micron which ensures both high filtration efficiency and fast water slow.
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| source: hysonetch.com |
Lifespan
Any water filter has a life span and it’s measured in a number of gallons it can safely filter before it loses its effectiveness. From hundreds of gallons to hundreds of thousands of gallons, which means you can use it from several months to years. Filter straws with a long lifespan can be used to serve a group of people, and can handle up to 100 000 gallons of water before they need to be replaced. If you just use it personally, you can choose a personal water filter with two-stage filtration unit like, for example, the one from LifeStraw, which is simple yet solid filter that gets rid of all bacteria and protozoa.
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| source: cultivationwaterstorage.com |
Weight and Size
Every ounce counts when you are on long hiking or camping trips and need to carry all of your gear. So it’s important to consider the weight and size of a water filter straw. Though most filter straws are fairly compact, they do vary in size and weight. Of course, this depends on their design, filtering technology, and construction materials. Most filter straws range in a length from 6 to 9 inches, and weight range between 2 and 6 ounces. Typically, the size and weight is closely relevant to the lifespan of a water filter straw. Smaller and lighter filters tend to have a shorter lifespan than the bigger and heavier ones.
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| source: en.aventurenordique.com |
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