Water purification and filtration kit breakdown.
- Jonathan Fisher
- Mar 12
- 7 min read
Possibly the most important, and most likely kit you will ever actually need, and it gets slept on entirely.
How long can you go without water? The book answer is 3 days. The real answer is closer to 2, and the third day you spend cramped up, dying in place.
How long can you survive with no water while having violent diarrhea as a result of drinking dirty water?
Water insecurity is not some far-off, apocalyptic fantasy. It happens today, in America. Water infrastructure is old and weak. You may find yourself lost while hiking. A natural disaster can wipe your local area into the stone age for a few days while relief efforts are set up (See Western NC).
I am not a water expert, but I have devoted a serious amount of time and effort learning and practicing what I can and getting the tools necessary to enable me to not die of dehydration or dysentery if the water gets turned off.
What follows is a breakdown of what I keep on me, both in and out of “tactical” kit. I will break it into levels.
Level 0: Mindset and knowledge, Filtration vs Purification
Level 1: On body
Level 2: In my kit
Level 3: In my pack
I am not affiliated, outside of friendship and sharing ideas, with any of the companies whose products I will mention.
Level 0: Mindset and Knowledge
Your mind is your most powerful tool. Understanding things like:
- Which water should you look for to purify?
- How do you modify your methods for clear running water versus stagnant, cloudy water?
-How much disinfectant do you need per volume?
-How do the temperature and turbidity (clarity) of the water impact the dosage of your purification?
-Do you need to filter and purify?
-Is just one method sufficient?
-How long does a filter last?
-What is the shelf life of xyz purification tablet?
All of this knowledge and more will enable you to make good decisions about water, regardless of the specific tools available to you. But how do you gain said knowledge? Research and learn from experts. My go to sources for this understanding is Zach from Cana Provisions, and Mitch from Agonic. Both have substantial time testing, researching, and developing water plans for a multitude of scenarios.
But you need to have this knowledge on hand, and you can not afford to be wrong, especially when it is the lives of yourself or your loved ones at stake. Fatigue is a hell of a drug, and when you have been awake for days, and are dehydrated, it’s best to have this knowledge on hand.
This is where I find a ton of value in the Water Data Cards from Cana Provisions. Yes, this is info you could gather on your own, but these cards are sturdy, well researched, and contain all of the info you need to purify any volume of water, with almost every available tool.
As an additional note, if you opt to get an H2gO Chlorine Generator, Cana Provisions has two data cards dedicated to it that not only detail its uses for water purification, but other use cases as well such as wound care, sterilization, and washing produce.
A few notes before going forward:
You will see an emphasis on redundancy and, as coined by DARC “resource density” going forward. This is by design so that I always have a fall back plan or something else to use in case something is lost, broken, or malfunctions.
I am a firm believer you need to filter AND purify your water at all times if possible. Filtering means removing particulates, preferably down to 0.2 microns, and purifying means removing any biological or viral contaminants.
Filtering on its own has worked for many people for a long time, alternatively, just boiling water has also worked for thousands of years.
But when you are in a no fail situation, where multiple possible contaminants are in play, I suggest using some form of filtration to get your water as clean as possible, followed by a method of purification.
Though its a bit LARP-y, your thermal and visual signature may also be in play, and lighting up a fire to boil water may not be a viable solution.
Level 1: On body
This usually resides in my field top or pants cargo pocket in a field/hiking setting. The Personal Water Decon kit weighs about 2oz when plussed up with additional items. I have the standard contents of the kit, alongside a small butane lighter, fire starter kit, and additional meds (ibuprofen and allergy meds). This is never my primary go to method, and always saved as a last ditch effort.
The PWDK has a pre-filter that can remove most large contaminants and Aqua tabs to purify. As you may notice, it doesn't include a true particulate filter, which, if used on its own, increases your risks.
The second item I usually have on me in a field situation is a Life straw water bottle is an easy and fast way of filtering water. Taking water purified with the PWDK, and transferring it to this bottle gives me a strong purification and filtration method.
Level 2: In my gear
This level is a mid-level that gives me some more security and builds on the base level.
- Water Data cards live in my kit in the new ZAP XL pouch along with my admin items like a notebook. This lets me have detailed purification information on hand at all times. Special shoutout to Black hills designs, for creating a new RANGE-R card to match the size, providing me with a passive way to range targets and be stored with my data cards.
-The Steripen UV-based purifier offers some unique advantages. The main one being that it can not be overdosed. Overdosing water with a chlorine-based solution will yield similar results to drinking contaminated water: diarrhea, vomiting etc. The Steripen allows me to accept water from a friend or teammate, who may have properly purified it, or possibly has not, and lets me verify it is purified with no additional risk.
Its downside is that it can only purify one liter at a time and requires clear water to work properly. It is a relatively cheap insurance policy for personal use water.
-2 Nalgene water bottles. One wide mouth, the other narrow mouth for compatibility with a gas mask.
- 1 Titanium cup. This can be used to collect water without compromising my other containers, cook with, or make hot drinks with a heat source (which is nice sometimes). Also, don’t forget that boiling your water is a tertiary method of disinfecting the water, it is valid
Level 3: In my pack
In my day pack or rucksack lives a system for larger volumes of water. It lives in a Spiritus Systems Wonton
-I have a 4L Gravity Works Platypus gravity bag system. This enables me to filter 1.75L of
water per minute down to 0.2 microns. The dirty bag gives me a safe way to collect water without contaminating my clean water storage. The filter I prefer is the Gravity Works filter. It tends to suffer less clogging and maintain a higher flow rate than other options. Though I don't have one on hand yet, Platypus also makes an inline charcoal filter that can be added into any system to help strip chemicals out of the water.
That being said, Sawyer products like the Mini and Squeeze are great options as well, and I keep those around too, just be cautious with dirtier water, you may be measuring your filters life in minutes, not thousands of liters… be diligent in back flushing them and understand they will have a reduced flow rate if that is important to you. They are substantially less expensive for a reason.
-H2gO Chlorine Generator. This is an exceptionally powerful tool. Using electrolysis, it turns
a saltwater brine mixture into Sodium Hypochlorite (NaClO), the active ingredient in bleach. The brine mixture requires only a small amount of table salt, and any water (even dirty water) to make. It has a built-in (but slow) solar charger, and can also be recharged via USBC.
The H2gO is a very scalable tool, and can purify anywhere from 1 to 20 Liters of water with the push of a button. As long as you have salt, and sunlight, you essentially have unlimited water purification. As I said, powerful.
- Expanded set of water data cards. These are the additional cards for odd sized containers that I don't really plan on using, but I may come across.
-The goodie bag. Electrolyte and caffeine packets. Water labels to mark containers and when/if they are purified. Extra marker.
- Additional filters.
- Additional Purification Tablets. A great backup to the H2gO in case it dies for some reason
- Battery pack This serves to recharge my H2gO and Steripen, as well as the other rechargeables I run, in my lights and lasers.
Available to pack depending on circumstances
-Hydrapak collapsible bottle and camelbak for additional water storage
Final notes:
My at home water plan as far as filtration and purification is fairly simple. I use an activated carbon filter from Brita for my drinking water. If the water is compromised beyond what that will handle, I have the tools necessary to filter and purify (listed above)
The other concept I fully believe in is something Rich, the founder of DARC calls “step off water” which is water stored in your home, that you can grab and go with you. I have approximately 10 gallons of water in jugs stored in my home. Stabilized with AquaMira and kept out of sunlight.
I am a single dude with 2 dogs. This is not enough water for a family, but that is not my life right now. I suggest you scale as necessary, and check out this video for more info from my boys at Dirty Civilian.
Special thanks and resources.
I want to give a special shout out to Zach from Cana Provisions. He took the time to proofread this article to ensure its accuracy. I do not want to put out bad information that could potentially get someone hurt, and am glad to have his expertise.
If you are interested in Water Data Cards, Decon kits, Steripens, or an H2gO, please check out his website www.Cana-provisions.com. He is also on IG as well https://www.instagram.com/cana_provisions/
Again, I am not sponsored or affiliated, Zach is just a great American putting out great info and products for water treatment.
Shoutout to Black Hills Designs for being the most dangerous nerds I know.
Shoutout to Spiritus for financially ruining me, but at least I have dope and functional kit to show for it
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