5 Best Water Purification Systems for the Outdoors

I’d consider Katadyn the gold standard of water purification, not just because of their general price points, but because of their quality. They even sell a desalination system.

This particular system that I’m linking to is a ‘pocket’ version. It’s a pump system like the Survivor Filter above. With this system you’d pump the water into another container. It filters down to 0.2 microns and has a filter life of about 13,000 gallons. It can filter up to 1 quart a minute! Pretty impressive numbers there.

Katadyn is one of my all-time favorite brands and would recommend them to anyone. This particular one is super compact but they have a lot of other quality systems.

I’ve been using this filter for a while and I’ve always felt confident using it. It purifies down to 0.2 microns. It’s easy to use, easy to clean and has a quick flow rate. I’m able to fill up that clear cup in record time.

This is a great system to filter a lot of water into a large container like a water bladder, gravity system or just a regular bottle. Since I routinely go out with my family and dogs, a water purification system like this one makes sense.

It’s been independently Tested in the USA to show 99.999 percent filtration removal of tested Virus, bacteria, parasites and reduces heavy metals, unpleasant tastes and odors. It has a 17 ounce per minute rate of flow, so it fills containers quickly.

Renovo is pretty innovative in its design. This is a modular system in which you can have various different types of filters all at once, or just one or two filters. They can be interchanged, which is pretty dang neat.

It can remove chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria, eColi, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, cysts, viruses, and more. Removes 99.999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and chemicals, heavy metals, and diesel fuel. Yes, you read that last one correctly. Diesel fuel. Ever thought about wanting to remove fuel from your water? In urban areas, you may want to.

In addition, their hollow fiber module filters down to 0.1 microns. They also have a water bottle system that I’ve used many times and love it. My kids found it easy to drink from the bottle, as well, which was important to me.

This is a water bottle filter. Pour the water into the bottle then press down and it filters through, then you drink it from the water bottle. All in a nice pretty package. I love it because there aren’t a whole lot of parts, it’s like a standard water bottle.

It removes viruses (e.g. rotavirus, norovirus, hepatitis A), bacteria (e.g. E. Coli, salmonella, dysentery), and protozoa (e.g. giardia, cryptosporidium, amoebae). It also filters and cleans particulates (e.g. sediment, silt, microplastics), many chemicals (e.g. chlorine, benzene, chloroform), and heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic, chromium) as well as improves taste, smell, and clarity.

I absolutely love this filter, except for two things –

• It only holds 24oz – I’d be filling it constantly!
• Filter has a short life of only filtering 65 gallons – I can go through 65 gallons in a weekend of camping between me, my husband, two kids and two dogs.

However, I still like this method for some quick water purification along a hike or for home purposes. I have several water bottle filters and especially like having them around for the kids because I can simply hand them the water bottle and they don’t have to do anything special, they can drink from the bottle right away.

I’m mentioning this system because I believe every home should have a reverse osmosis system. You can’t take it with you while you hike, but it’s great for the home. This reverse osmosis system will essentially strip the water of everything, even nutrients. While stripping it of the bad stuff is great, it will also strip it of the good stuff. Kind of like distillation.

In saying that, you can always add nutrients back into your own body or back into the water through various powders, vitamins, etc. But this is a great system to have in your home to ensure your water is safe to drink no matter what.