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August 05, 2008
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What’s the best way to keep plenty of filtered water on hand for a large group?
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CleanStream Gravity Filter System (courtesy, Platypus)
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Our group of four to six people takes a yearly fly-in fishing trip on a remote
lake in northern Ontario. I'm in charge of water filtration. I have two MSR pump
filters and still come up way short on water supply. Do you have any
recommendations for a large group that can’t stand the taste of iodine?
— Ed
Hamburg, New York
Do you have a question of your own?
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 Those must be thirsty folks! I should think two MSR filters would keep up with
that. My advice: Fly in more beer. After all, hardly anyone drank water during
the great age of seagoing exploration. It just didn’t keep. So they drank beer.
And that’s what brought the Pilgrims ashore in a place where they didn’t want to
land—they were out of beer.
Anyway, what you clearly need is a Platypus CleanStream Gravity Filter System
($80). The name pretty much explains what it is: a water-filtering tool that uses
gravity, not a pump action, to force water through a filter. The whole kit
consists of two four-liter Platypus bags, some tubes, and a filter. You fill one
bag with water from a lake or stream and hang it on a tree or something. Then,
gravity forces the water through the filter and the other four-liter bag. It
filters out dirt, protozoa, Giardia, and other stuff you don’t want in the water.
The system is capable of filtering four liters of water in 2.5 minutes, and even
though it probably slows down as the filter fills, that still should be plenty of
output for your group.
Sawyer makes a similar system ($90) that also hits the four
liters-in-three-minutes mark, and that actually has a slightly finer filter. You
use your own bottles or bags for outflow.
Good fishing to you!
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