There are various types of water filters on the market that range from small to large, hand pumped, gravity fed, suction powered, inexpensive to very expensive and everywhere in between. There are so many types of water filters it can be difficult to decide which you want for your emergency plans. Really. I’ve had the same problem.
What I’ve decided is that for my home I want something large and gravity fed. Haven’t decided on a brand or style quite yet, but a gravity fed system is nice because you don’t have to actually do any work to get filtered water besides fill the upper chamber with water. The trouble with gravity fed systems is that they tend to be kind of big. Too big for an evacuation kit or 72 hour kit. Not feasible to use on the go. So now we’re needing something smaller as well.
One of the lightest weight and more portable styles of water filters are the type where one end goes in the water source and you suck through the other end of the filter, filtering the water as it flows through the “straw”, like the LifeStraw. At only 2 oz., the LifeStraw is extremely light weight and filters 264 gallons of water. It removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria. After receiving a LifeStraw in the mail, I put it to the family test.
First, it really does weigh very little. It is about 9 inches long and has a string attached for carrying it around your neck (or tying it to your pack or something).
There are two ends–the filter end and the mouthpiece. Pretty simple.
To use the LifeStraw, first head to your nearest water source.
You could just stick the LifeStraw straight into the lake/stream/swamp, but I didn’t have all the testers handy, nor did I care to stoop over the stream to drink, so I scooped out some yummy stream water to take home for testing.
Once you have your water, uncap both ends and stick the LifeStraw in the water so the filter end is in the water and the mouthpiece end is out of the water. The further you stick it in, the better chance of contamination, so keep it so it’s just in the water enough to suck water through.
Then suck on the mouthpiece end until the water filters through. This took a good little bit of sucking at first and it wasn’t super easy. I’d say if you’re 5 years old or older you’d be able to use this filter without too much trouble. If you’re wanting to provide water for anyone younger than about 5, you’d probably want to find some kind of filter that filters water into a cup or something. My little 7 year old could suck water through fine, as could the older kids. You’ll want to supervise kids using this filter just to make sure the yucky water only touches the filter end of it.
Really easy to use, and super lightweight. And at only $19.95, it’s pretty easy to get one of these in your emergency kit. Perfect size for a stocking stuffer as well.
Keep preparing! Angela
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I’m an email subscriber. Thanks for the giveaway. We live near a small creek, an in a summertime emergency, this would be another option.
Organizing and rotating my storage food. Finding enough room for all of my pantry food.
Creating several binders for my grown children and self of all how to’s. How to make things from scratch, how to use home remedies for illness, everything under the sun if we don’t have the comforts of what we call normal. A back to basic instruction guide so to speak.