LifeStraw’s magic little device
Growing up in southern Arizona, I learned very early on how vital water is in the desert. When my friend Bruce and I first began hiking up into the Catalina Mountains, neither of us yet eight years old, we carried ours in surplus metal GI canteens, which along with their canvas covers and three-inch-wide M36 belts probably weighed as much as the water inside. I remember distinctly the one time we miscalculated when trying a “short cut” summer climb over a ridge separating Sabino and Bear canyons. We sucked the last drops out of our canteens before we even reached the crest, and by the time we made it to the picnic area in Sabino and its taps we were pretty severely dehydrated. Never again did I hike anywhere, any time, without a generous supply of water.
Until last fall.
Roseann and I camped near the headwaters of the Little Colorado River, where I wanted to try to catch one of Arizona’s native fish, the Apache trout. This high up in its watershed the Little Colorado is small enough to jump across in places, but although its flow is year-round, drinking is not advisable due in part to the cattle grazing in the area—a possible source of Giardia.
However, I had with me one of Lifestraw’s clever filtration straws, which removes 99.999 percent of parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium, 99.9999 percent of bacteria, and also microplastics. So I left the Nalgenes at the truck for a full day of fishing, carrying only the 1.8-ounce, stainless-steel filter (3.1 with carrying case). Whenever I needed a drink I simply knelt down and sipped through the straw right from the stream. It was cool to rehydrate directly (well-almost) from the Little Colorado River itself, and saved at least six pounds in my rucksack. The filtration matrix is good for about 1,000 liters, which, assuming I would have carried three liters of water otherwise, corresponds to roughly 330 such outings.
There’s nothing to using the straw except the need to use care to avoid cross-contamination. It takes a bit of effort to draw water through the filtration system, but less than I would have guessed. I finished the day a convert. I’ll carry this whenever I’m in an area with water sources that might be risky (which, according to the EPA, includes about half of all surface water in the country). And It will ride in my vehicle as a fail-safe, lightweight survival tool. Well-recommended—and, at $35, an absurd bargain.
