Water Treatment

There's a variety of options when it comes to treating your water on the trail.  When choosing a method, you want to take into account the cost, added weight, efficiency, time it takes, and how much chemicals are involved.  Here are a few popular options:

Many hikers choose not to treat their water at all.  This saves on expenses and pack weight.  While they are more susceptible to bacteria and viruses, they probably build some sort of immunity after a while.  Plus, they aren't adding any extra chemicals to their bodies.

Boiling water is another option.  You don't have to pay anything extra for a treatment system, but you're still purifying your water.  This is a time consuming process, and it's probably not for you if you like to put in big miles daily.  Also, this consumes precious fuel that could be used for cooking.  However, if you don't mind building fires, then you can save your fuel supply.

Another option is the Steripen.  It eliminates almost 100% of bacteria and viruses.  It works by using ultraviolet light to make water safe to drink.  It only takes about 30 seconds to a full minute (depending on how many liters of water you have) to sterilize your drinking water.  You can spend anywhere from $60 to $120 on a Steripen, and the more lightweight ones do cost more.  Also, they require Lithium batteries which are more expensive.  I used my Steripen on a 3-week backpacking trip, and it broke on me.  I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but the company is pretty good about replacing broken products.

Iodine tablets and chlorine are inexpensive and lightweight.  They come in a small bottle and normally only cost about $10.  They do discolor and add a weird taste to your water.  You can solve this problem by either getting an additional bottle of taste-neutrailizer or adding Gatorade packets to your water.  You will usually have to wait at least a half hour before your water is safe to drink.  You can get these treatment systems at most athletic stores that have a camping section.  Along a similar line, I have heard of people who add 2 drops of regular bleach to their water.  I'm not sure how healthy this is for your body, but it can't be much worse than iodine.

Water filters are another option for water treatment.  This method, unlike the others listed above, gets rid of debris so you don't have any dirt floating in your water.  Water filters get rid of parasites and bacteria, but not viruses.  It doesn't change the taste of your water either.  When buying a water filter, you should consider how often it needs to be cleaned and how often the filter needs to be replaced.  There's a variety of different brands to choose from, and the cost can run anywhere from $20 to $250.  While there are lightweight filters available, for the most part this method adds the most weight to your pack.

Not one method is right for everyone.  If you're not sure, I would choose the most inexpensive method to start with or buy the product second-hand.  Then if you're not happy, you can choose a more expensive option.