Nothing can put a worse crimp in a camping trip than a case of gastroenteritis.  It’s fairly romantic to think of roughing it in the wilderness and drinking from that swiftly flowing mountain stream.  Unfortunately, regardless of how clear and clean the water may seem, it could be filled with a number of very undesirable characters which can cause serious illness.  Besides the fact that animals will often defecate and urinate in or near the water, runoff from farms miles away can still affect the quality of the ground water, which eventually finds its way into the stream flowing past you.

Anyone who is planning on spending some time in the woods camping should include a water filter among their supplies.  A good water filter is every bit as important as your tent or your food, perhaps more so.

  Untreated water can contain:

• Amoebae
• Giardia
• E. coli
• Salmonella
• Protozoa
• Shigella
• Pesticides and herbicides

• Seychelle offers a number of excellent camp water filters including: 28oz Flip Top Water Filter Bottle Advanced, which is easy to tuck into a backpack; Advanced Water Filter Bag; and the Advanced Water Filter Pouch.  All of these filters provide you with 100 gallons of purified water.
• The Go Berkey Water Purifier Kit and Sport Bottle make an excellent accompaniment to any camping expedition.  This filter set is highly recommended. Both filters remove literally 100% of all bacteria, viruses, and cysts, as well as heavy metals and VOCs.  
• Katadyn water filters are well known to campers and hikers.  The MyBottle Purifier Water Filter Bottle is easy to take along, as well as providing an economical solution to water safety.  Katadyn also makes the Hiker Pro Microfilter for longer use, or try the Pocket Microfilter Water Filter, which can purify up to 13,000 gallons of water, for an extended camping trip.
• Aquacera has the Mini gravity water filter that comes with a CeraCarb filter element it is Highly portable, lightweight, and durable Easy to use and simple to maintain. It removes -Pathogenic bacteria (cholera, typhoid, salmonella, E coli, etc.), Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and other parasites. All types of particle contamination down to 0.5 Micron It also removes Chlorine, Chlormaines, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), Lead, Arsenic, Nitrite, Pesticides, Herbicides, VOC’s, Iron, Aluminum, THM (Trihalomethanes), PAH (Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons)
• Sawyer has devised a convenient way to filter water during a camping trip.  The Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System provides you with 3 pouches, a screw on filter, and a syringe for backwashing.  You need only fill the pouch with water, attach the filter, and then squeeze purified water out.   Sawyer also has the Point Zero Two Water Filter Purifier, which is meant for use with a bucket.  This filter removes over 99% of bacteria, viruses, and cysts, meaning that your camping trip will not be interrupted by illness from poor quality drinking water.