As a young backpacker I grew up in the days of iodine tablets and guessing whether questionable water had been boiled long enough to be safe (nothing a generous scoop of Tang drink mix can’t make worse). Eventually a friend or two bought filtration pumps that served a dual purpose of making your arms ripped while filtering a single swallow’s worth of water at a time. Water filtering has improved a lot over the years and even now includes techy UV light filters that sunburn bacteria to death. Continue Reading…