The Hydration Technology Innovations HydroPack Water Filter
is a self-hydrating drink pouch/emergency water filter that is claimed by the manufacturer to produce a refreshing drink while removing viruses, bacteria, cysts and parasites from the water. The small pouch on the left contains six individual packets that produce 12 fluid ounces each when hydrated. The larger package on the right is a 10-day water filtration system that weighs less than 5 pounds in your pack and is claimed to produce up to 8.5 gallons of safe drinking fluid in the field. 
This system, by Hydration Technology Innovations is in use by Marine, Air Force, Army and Special Ops personnel. If it works as advertised, it could be a useful addition to the bug-out bag in many situations.
Even more interesting to me, the company also manufactures a reverse-osmosis water filtration system that works in a similar way. Shown below is the Emergency Desalinator foward osmosis membrane filter and the SeaPack Crew Emergency Desalination Pouch
These SeaPack self-hydrating pouches work like the HydroPak pouches for freshwater, but create a clean drink that contains electrolytes and other nutrients from seawater by removing up to 97% of the salt from the water. All this comes in a compact package that can easily fit in the storage compartments of a sea kayak or in a life raft or abandon ship bag, without the complication of an expensive reverse-osmosis pump system. I can't wait to see how it works.
I plan to put all these units to the test in the coming weeks by seeking out the nastiest Mississippi swampwater I can find for the freshwater systems and heading south to the Gulf of Mexico for some salty seawater to sample with the desalination systems. If they work as advertised, I'll let you know here, and I'm sure I'll be adding some to my gear collection - especially the desalination units. One can never have too many back-ups when it comes to a freshwater drinking supply when venturing out to sea on small boats.
Intereting product. Thanks for pointing it out.
ReplyDeleteAny updates?
ReplyDeleteI have completed the testing, and I can say that with some reservations, these products work as advertised. I can't get into specifics here yet, because I'm doing this review on assignment for the magazine, as mentioned in the post. Once the article is published, I can then post a full update here. If you need more details because you plan to purchase the product before the review is published, you can email me for specifics.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on the LifeStraw? I recently bought a few. I have the Katadyn Pro Hiker, purification tabs and a Trangia with aluminum cup and stove to boil water as well but the LifeStraw was so compact, I figured why not? What I was surprised to see (although I should have read the fine print in the ad) was that the Katadyn still suggests boiling or tablets to kill the rest of the "bugs". I don't know why I was expecting a full on sterilization out of filters but, you live you learn. I might as well only boil the water if I have to do it anyway. Oh, and I threw in some activated charcoal in my BOB to supplement the rock, sand, grass, etc natural debris filter. Honestly if the need ever arises, I have a feeling my own purified water during a SHTF event will be higher quality than the tap water I have now. *sigh*
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