I know, it might sound trivial and unimportant, but it isn't. When you need it, you really need it and if you don't have it, you can always improvise with shemag or peace of cloth. But, in the example I am giving, it is not applicable.
After long week of work in a city and at the end of the day in the garden. Mrs. Sail and me were siting by the fire enjoying our refreshments. Fire had started to die down, so we decided it's good time to bring the marinated ribs. I set my drink down on the ground as I set out to get the food from Root Cellar. We use it as refrigerator when we stay there.
Once the meat is prepared and roasting on the fire. I pick up my drink, which was gin/tonic, to find out that it's completely covered with sugar ants. I only had one sip before the invasion and there were a lot of gin/tonic left, so I couldn't rationalize throwing it all away.
Also, I could not rationalize using my scarf (shemag) to filter it because I was using it to protect my neck from other enemy: mosquitoes.
Solution was simple, I went to get Mrs. Snail's water filter kit and got myself one of the coffee filters. They are very thin and made from plastic fibers. Compressed you can have 100 of them in a size of cigarette pack, maybe even smaller.
So,I filter my drink into the cup and continue enjoying my evening without a fuss. I mention coffee filters in my article about proven water filtration methods found: here.
Sure for clean water, some scarf of peace of cloth could work just as effectively, but now you have wet peace of cloth at the end of the day. You're gonna wear wet scarf? Put the wet peace of cloth into your backpack? I suppose you can hang it to dry if your not on the move.
Captured Enemy Combatants.
I think coffee filters are no-brainer, I find them extremely useful and they will stay in my kit. Hope you will consider adding these (or any other type) as well to your water treatment kit.
Thank you to my friend from Australia for sending me these!
Tip:Whatever method you choose, it's never good idea to run dirty water directly through your water filter. Have to Pre-Filter it first.
