The best water purification straw I’ve used is the LifeStraw. It’s compact, easy to use and the company that makes them has a great social conscience.
This LifeStraw filter has made my survival treks a lot easier! All I take with me these days is a water purifying filter and a knife.
When I first started going on out on survival treks, I’d take a knife and a metal pot to boil water in. But there were two problems. One, I had a clunky pot banging around and getting in the way when I traveled. And two, boiling water to make it safe to drink meant that I had to start a fire.
That’s all good, I can start a fire with sticks, but sometimes it’s just a pain to stop everything and start a fire. Plus, I’d have to wait for the water to cool down before drinking it.
I am really careful about what water I drink, but to be honest, most of the time I just drink the water right from the source. It’s usually too much of a hassle to boil the water. I was lucky and didn’t get sick for 25+ years. Then I drank from a beautiful spring while out trapping with my buddy… and I was camped out in his family’s bathroom for a week afterward. Never again.
Fortunately, I wasn’t in a survival situation so being sick was just inconvenient and not life-threatening. But, ever since then, I always treat my water.
I knew I needed a quick and easy way to purify my water, something that didn’t involve boiling and preferably something small enough that I could carry it with me easily.
I decided to give a water purifying straw a try. And am I ever glad I did. These things are amazing. The LifeStraw especially. It’s good for something like 1,000 gallons of filtered water, it’s easy to clean and you barely even know you’re carrying it. The damn thing tucks right in your pocket and you’re good to go in five minutes.
When you come to a water source, you just pull out your survival straw and drink right from the source. Gone are the days of carrying a clunky pot around with me. I don’t need to make a hand drill, start a fire, gather sticks and make a tinder bundle to get water. I just pull out my LifeStraw and drink.
If you’ve seen any of my survival trek videos, you’ve seen me using my LifeStraw every time. I love it.
There is one major disadvantage of the LifeStraw though. You can’t use it to carry water with you. That means you have to be near a water source to use it. That’s usually not a big issue for me because when I go out, I’m usually around a lake, river or stream anyway.
How to Carry Water in Your Water Purification Straw
Actually, you can carry a little water with you in your LifeStraw. You can suck water up into your straw and cap it quick to keep the water from running out the bottom. Then put it in your pocket upside down so the water that’s in it doesn’t drain out. You can’t store a lot of water in the straw itself, but sometimes just the little bit that’s in there tastes incredibly good during a hike.
Another tip is to suck water up into your water purification straw and let it sit in there for a couple of minutes to get the micro-pores of the filter saturated with water. Then go ahead and drink out of it like a straw. It’s a lot easier to suck through the straw if it’s already saturated.
Lifestraws are about $20 bucks on Amazon or eBay, and I highly recommend you get some kind of water purification straw for your survival kit.
Another good option, though I think the LifeStraw is better in most cases, is the Sawyer water filter I talk about here.
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