Clean drinking water is a very important, if not the most important part of any day, overnight or multiday adventure. You will need plenty of drinking water to stay hydrated as well as water to cook and clean in the outdoors. Un-filtered, dirty water and cause serious health issues and can ruin your adventure plans. For any extended outdoor adventure you will need a water filter and/or purification tool to collect clean drinking water on the go without having to carry 10kgs of water - it's heavier than you think!
Difference Between Water Filters and Purifiers
Water filters are designed to remove waterborne bacteria and other contaminants by physically blocking debris that flows through the filter. A water filter can be effective at removing bacteria and protozoa but usually will not remove viruses as they are much smaller and can slip through even the smallest of filter pores.
On the other hand, a water purifier is designed to remove viruses, as well as protozoa and bacteria. This is often achieved by using a contaminant-grabbing media to force water through a very small semi-permeable membrane. By forcing the water through this semi-permeable membrane, it screens out all particles that were too big to follow the pathway of the water. Water can also be purified using chemicals or UV light but this is not a popular option in the outdoors.
When to use a Water Filter
Water filters are an effective means of collecting clean drinking water from running streams and fresh lakes. Although not as effective as a purifier, a water filter is usually sufficient for local trips, particularly where human traffic is relatively low.
When to use a Water Purifier
Water purifiers are popular for travellers and people living in less devloped regions where water treatment and sanitation infrastructures are poor. They are also a good idea if you notice that people aren’t practicing good hygiene near water sources like popular lakes and tourist hot spots.
Luckily these days you don't have to choose one or the other!
Many brands in the outdoors market now offer 2 in 1 systems that will filter and purify your water.
RapidPure Technology
All RapidPure products are certified water purifiers and meet or exceed US EPA standards.
- Made in a Water Quality Association (WQA) Gold seal factory in USA
- RapidPure is a Purifier & filter unlike other brands which are filters only.
- Purifiers remove bacteria, cysts and viruses, whereas filters will need additional treatment such as chemicals/UV light to remove viruses.
- No pumping, No priming, No chemicals.
- Cartridges can be reused after being frozen unlike others
- Removes 99.9% of pathogens
- RapidPure cartridges are infused with Sliver and Carbon. Silver kills the contaminants and the Carbon reduces odour and improves taste
- Pores being 1.75micron apart increases speed of use. Most other filter are 0.2 micron and purifiers are 0.02 microns. Making RP significantly easier to drink (2-8 times faster)
RapidPure UltraCeram’s Electropositive Force Field
RapidPure with UltraCeram is a new and improved technology that filters AND purifies water, capturing protozoa, cysts, bacteria and viruses. UltraCeram’s electropositive, silver infused, fibrous media attracts, traps, and kills viruses, bacteria, cysts and protozoa as well as other contaminants. UltraCeram’s electropositive fibrous media has a higher pathogen removal efficacy with 50 to 250 times greater contaminant holding capacity than traditional water filters.
In summary ...
- Viruses, bacteria and cysts are negatively charged
- UltraCeram (cartridge) is positively charged which attracts the negative charged particles and traps them within the UltraCeram cartridge
- The fibres are 1.75micron apart but the positive charge (produced by the active ingredient Pseudoboehmite) are 2microns apart, thus overlapping and capturing the contaminants
- Since water molecules have 10 protons and 10 electrons, they are neutral and pass freely through the cartridge.