My water filtration kit for good times and the very bad

Entry to water is at all times a priority when heading off the grid in my van — not after I’m dwelling in Amsterdam, a metropolis surrounded by the stuff. That certainty modified not too long ago when authorities ministers started quietly prodding residents to refill on emergency provides as a result of an elevated threat of armed battle and different regional unpleasantries.

One suggestion, of many, is to have three liters (virtually one gallon) of water per particular person per day readily available, or 15 liters per day for my five-person family. Which means 105 liters for only one week or 450 liters every month! I don’t have house for that. Who does?

So, I began considering: why not increase my emergency freshwater shops with a filtration and purification equipment that may adapt to all of the water sources round me? And since I’m a budding vanlifer and persistent adventurer, let’s make it transportable so I can take it anyplace.

I got here up with this as a first-time prepper: pairing quick-connect water filters just like the $42 LifeStraw offered by Camelbak with Dometic’s transportable 11-liter Go water jug ($69.99) and its rechargeable Go Hydration Water Faucet ($99.99). Soiled water goes in and clear water comes out with a double-tap on the tap. It even has a light-weight!

If Europe is certainly returning to a state of turmoil, then I’ll be sipping clear water — pinky prolonged — from this luxury Twenty first-century setup, no less than till the electrical energy shuts off. Even then, I’ve made contingencies, together with safety from gene-altering viruses present in zombie poop. You may by no means be too cautious.

Let me be clear: this isn’t a evaluation, regardless of having examined every thing within the equipment. It’s a beginner survivalist’s greatest guess at what’s going to assist my nomadic vanlife adventures whereas holding my household hydrated when doomsday comes. Ideas welcome.

Filtration versus purification

My main filter is the LifeStraw cartridge as a result of it has an built-in quick-connect adapter that simply snaps into the Go jug’s CPC coupler. It options two phases of filtration. The hole fiber filter bodily removes micro organism and protozoa that trigger ailments, in addition to dust and microplastics, and has a lifespan of 4,000 liters (1,000 gallons). In the meantime, the activated carbon filter removes issues like odd tastes and smells. It has a lifespan of simply 100 liters (25 gallons), and a two-pack of replacements will be had for $13 a pop.

Utilizing the Go faucet to pump water out of the Go jug by means of the in-line LifeStraw filter reached 0.5 liters in 40 seconds, or 36 seconds and not using a filter in between. I even have a small MSR filter that wants a wee little bit of 1/4-inch tubing and a quick-connect adapter to snap into the Go jug. It filtered 0.5 liters in 38 seconds.

Filtration is ok for eradicating organic pathogens generally discovered within the waters of North America and Europe, however I additionally need safety in opposition to smaller micro organism and waterborne viruses present in locations with out well-maintained sewage techniques. In vanlife, you by no means know when a grimy hippie is dropping a deuce upstream.

I splurged and spent $200 on an MSR Guardian water air purifier with a pore dimension of simply 0.02 microns, in comparison with about 0.1 to 0.2 microns for filters offered by LifeStraw, Sawyer, MSR, and others. For perspective, the anthrax micro organism measures about 8 microns; giardia, E. coli, and salmonella exist within the 0.5- to 2-micron vary; and viruses unfold by human excrement usually measure between 0.01 to 0.3 microns, in keeping with MSR. The Guardian air purifier is subsequently my go-to answer after I have to go nuclear on a suspicious water supply.

$200 is dear, however the Guardian cartridge is rated for over 3,000 liters (virtually 800 gallons) of water earlier than needing substitute. Utilizing MSR’s air purifier creates far much less waste than 3,000 liters of bottled water, which might additionally value me about $1,250 at my native grocery retailer — and that’s earlier than costs spike throughout a disaster.

The MSR Guardian air purifier requires a quick-connect adapter to snap into the Go jug. Sadly, the rechargeable Go faucet doesn’t produce sufficient suction to attract water by means of the Guardian cartridge. However that’s okay; it may slowly purify water if I take away the Go faucet, flip the Go jug the wrong way up, and set it on high of my van to behave as a gravity-fed system.

Higher but, I’ve augmented my setup with MSR’s AutoFlow XL Gravity Filter 10L. The concept is to hold the bag excessive in a tree and await all of the soiled water to move down into the Go jug by means of the cartridge for purification and / or filtration — no pumping required. That manner the Go jug will be one hundred pc devoted to wash ingesting water.

MSR’s $129.95 gravity bundle consists of every thing you could filter numerous water for a number of folks: a 10-liter water bag with an built-in quick-connect coupler, lengthy stretches of tubing, and a Nalgene-compatible cap that connects to the tubing and screws onto the Go jug. It additionally comes with a small MSR filter with a 1,500-liter lifespan, however the gravity system works with many inline cartridges, together with my LifeStraw filter and the MSR Guardian air purifier.

MSR says its Guardian air purifier has a most move price of 0.5 liters per minute, which is correct in my testing at sea stage, when the gravity bag is hung at about six toes (183cm) or greater. The MSR filter that got here with the bag took simply 35 seconds to filter 0.5 liters of soiled water, whereas the LifeStraw filter took one minute, identical to the air purifier. I’m pretty sure I can pace that up with a 90-degree quick-connect adapter that lets the LifeStraw grasp vertically.

I like these inline filtration / purification cartridges as a result of they’re so versatile. For instance, if I’ve to journey gentle, the LifeStraw and MSR filters can be utilized to extract water instantly from a stream, jerry can, barrel, puddle… no matter — simply dangle the bottom water tube into the supply and begin sucking.

The LifeStraw’s built-in quick-connect hyperlink additionally clicks proper into my Camelbak Chase backpack, which holds a 1.5-liter water bladder for my private use. It’s the hydration bag I’ve been grabbing for the previous couple of years when mountain biking, path operating, or mountaineering. The LifeStraw provides additional bulk and weight to the light-weight and diminutive pack and requires about 20 p.c extra suction to drink. The water bladder will also be hung from a tree to function a makeshift gravity filter.

I examined the Dometic Go jug and Go faucet whereas touring round Europe in my van final summer time, however I by no means discovered it that helpful. It’s solely after including an inline filter — one thing Dometic doesn’t promote, however ought to — that I can lastly see their mixed worth.

One challenge I had with Dometic’s Go jug was the plastic style it produced when water was saved for longer than a day. That’s regardless of the receptacle being produced from BPA-free food-grade plastic. I in all probability may have solved this had I cleaned it correctly with an unscented bleach answer, however I didn’t have any. It has two openings: one is Nalgene-compatible, whereas the opposite bigger opening makes it straightforward to fill and attain inside to wash. Nonetheless, attempting it now with a filter hooked up has mounted the issue.

I additionally hacked the Go faucet to increase the hose with some 1/4-inch food-grade tubing discovered at my native ironmongery shop. That manner I can safely strap down the Go jug within the rear of my van (a distance of about two meters) whereas the tap is mounted on its magnetic base subsequent to the sink.

This provides me a selection between two faucets of operating water: one for filtered ingesting water, the opposite for unfiltered water I discover alongside the way in which that’s dubiously potable (in keeping with signage or locals) and saved in a 20-liter jerry can I hold underneath my sink. The latter I boil — killing all pathogens — for tea and low and use for laundry up or hydrating the canine. This setup ought to assist me prolong the lifetime of the filters and air purifier.

The Dometic Go faucet is a luxurious, however I type of like it. A double-tap on the tap begins the water flowing for one minute earlier than routinely shutting off to preserve that treasured useful resource (a single faucet shuts it off). The Go faucet has an inner battery able to 150 liters (virtually 40 gallons) per cost.

I’m pretty assured my water filtration and purification equipment will serve me and my household nicely, however I fear I’ve missed one thing. For instance, this equipment can’t deal with water polluted by chemical compounds or toxins, and it requires common care to keep away from cross-contamination and to cease mildew and micro organism from rising contained in the system when not in use. However what are the identified unknowns I don’t presently know?

I received’t be capable of repair it with an Amazon supply if shit goes down and provide chains are disrupted — so any ideas from the large brains… braaaaaains… of The Verge reader collective are welcome.

Pictures by Thomas Ricker / The Verge