Recommendations

Once again, since there are so many choices available the majority of walkers will disagree with most of the recommendations given here, and certainly some vendors will, so I have got to be wrong. Regardless, I will make a few.

• Assume all water coming from human-occupied areas may be contaminated and treat it 
          But in pristine environments this should not be necessary
• Watch out for murky water, farm outflows and sewerage works
• Wash your hands! A little personal hygeine does wonders
• All filters block very easily: always settle, strain and prefilter
• Of the filters, the Katadyn Hiker seems to be very popular around the world
• The First Need purifier is less convenient, but will stop viruses in overseas countries
• Pre-filtering with a coarse filter can help subsequent chemical treatments
• Chlorine dioxide treatment is reliable if the instructions are followed.
• UV treatment is reliable if the instructions are followed.
• Pentavalent iodine tablets may smell, but properly used they work for most bugs
• Chlorine tablets by themselves work well against viruses and bacteria, but have trouble against protozoa
• Chlorine plus silver is essentially the same as chlorine