Dang, that sounds too good to be true.

Was reading up on the LIFESTRAW today and came across this information. It helps me understand some of the technicalities that I didn't before.

LifeStraw® - Acronyms/Definitions

Aging water: Water passed through the filter with determined known PH-TOC-total dissolved solids and turbidity to measure the filter’s resistance to clogging, flow-rate and lifetime.

CDC: Centers for Disease Control, USA.

CFU: Colony-Forming Unit (CFU) is a measure of viable bacterial numbers. It allows users to assess the degree of contamination in samples of water.

Challenge water: Water passed through the filter for microbiological efficacy tests. In this water, disinfectant is completely removed and residue level should be non-detectable. This is to ensure that there is no interference from residual chlorine (most tap water is chlorinated) on the contaminants introduced in the water and give a more accurate measure of the filter’s microbiological efficacy.

Environmental Protection Agency: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or USEPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and safeguarding the natural environment, namely air, water, and land.

Log reduction: -”LOG” stands for the logarithm function: 1, 2, 3 and 4 LOG reductions correspond to 90%, 99%, 99.9% and 99.99% reduction respectively, and so on.

LRV: Log Reduction Value.

Ms2: A virus which is easily cultivated in laboratories and used to measure viral reduction efficacy of the filter.

NSF International: The Public Health and Safety Company™, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in the United States, is the world leader in standards development, product certification, education, and risk-management for public health and safety.

NTU: Nephelometric Turbidity Units. Turbidity refers to how clear the water is. The greater the amount of total suspended solids (TSS) in the water, the murkier it appears and the higher the measured turbidity.

PFU: Plaque-Forming Unit (PFU) is a measure of viable numbers of viruses in the water.

Point-of-use interventions: For those who have access to sufficient quantities of water but whose water is of poor microbiological quality, an alternative is to treat water at the household or other point of use. Such a household treatment may minimise recontamination in the home, a well-known cause of water quality degradation. Interventions used in the studies include: filtration (ceramic), solar disinfection, chlorination, flocculation/disinfection and improved storage.

RR: Rate of reduction.

RTC: Randomized Control Trial.

TOC: Total organic carbon: material in the water derived from decaying vegetation, bacterial growth, and metabolic activities of living organisms or chemicals.

TTC: Thermo Tolerant Coliforms

Turbidity: Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles (suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in the air.

AND I found this as well.
(The below info is for the larger lifestraw FAMILY filter)
Microbiological Performance

Intervention Bacteria Virus Protozoan cyst Meets Environmental Protection Agency protocol
LifeStraw® Family Minimum 99.9999% Minimum 99.99% Minimum 99.9% Yes
Boiling 99.9999% 99.99% 99.9% Yes
Flocculation disinfection (Pur) 99.9999% 99.99% 99.9% Yes
Chlorination Depends upon the contact time and quantity of variable chlorine No
Bio sand filter 90%-99% 50%-90% 99.9% No
Ceramic filter >99% Low 99.9% No
Solar Distillation 99.999% 99.99% 50%-99% Unclear

Physical Performance

Intervention Water treatment capacity
Flow rate/processing time Factors affecting performance Impact on water taste/appearance Repeat intervention required
LifeStraw® Family 18,000 litres Average 9 litres/hour Safe storage if water not consumed directly Neutral for taste; positive for appearance No
Boiling Not applicable 20 minutes (includes heating water to 100°C, 1 min boiling, cooling) Boiling temperature and safe storage Neutral or negative for taste; neutral for appearance Yes
Flocculation disinfection
10 litres 30 minutes Exposure time, chemical concentration in mix Negative for taste; positive for appearance Yes

Chlorination (dilute NaOCl2)
1000 litres 30 minutes contact time after preparation and dosing Exposure time, turbidity, chlorine demand Negative Yes
Bio sand filter Up to 50 litres/day 0.1/0.3 metre/hour (when the average depth of sand filter is 0.7 metres) Proper construction, operation, and maintenance Neutral for taste; positive for appearance No
Ceramic filter 5000-10,000 litres 1-3 litres/hour Pore size and consistency; bacteriostatis; maintenance Neutral for taste; positive for appearance No
Solar Distillation
1-2 litre per bottle average 6 hours Sunlight, turbidity, dissolved solids Neutral for taste and appearance No

A good, high quality filter is indispensible. Sawyers products are top notch. As already stated, 2 is 1, 1 is none. I prefer more than 2 options. The best I've come across for the highest filtration ability is the HydroPack. It will work even if you threw it in a well used Portapotty. Its slow, and single use, but it is highly effective and adds electrolytes.

A good, high quality filter is indispensible. Sawyers products are top notch. As already stated, 2 is 1, 1 is none. I prefer more than 2 options. The best I've come across for the highest filtration ability is the HydroPack. It will work even if you threw it in a well used Portapotty. Its slow, and single use, but it is highly effective and adds electrolytes.

sorry double post

The filters I have are:

Aquamira Frontier - suck through small filter

Berkey Sports Bottle - 22oz bottle with 160 refills of prefiltered water

Katadyn Hiker - midrange pump filter

Katadyn Pocket - top of the line pump filter (13000 gallons)

I also use a stainless canteen cup for boiling, and Katadyn water purfication tablets.

For stationary needs: bleach.

Looks like you have it covered pretty well Gary!

Gary, what is your take on the First Need XLE and the life straw listed above?

I personally have only used the GI issue tablets which made the water safe but very unpleasant. I have been looking at this system lately.

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/big-berkey.html

We had a Big Berkey when we lived in town and had municipal water because you can add PF-2 post filters that remove fluoride. We sold the Berkey when we moved out of town and have well water (the whole house has a filtration system now).

Be careful with USGI tabs that are based upon iodine. It can create thyroid problems if used often.

Trust my arc I only used them in the service lol we have well water also but even that can become contaminated was my train of thought.

The Berkey is a great filter, but its not a purifier. It'll remove cysts, and so forth but cannot treat water for viruses, etc.

For a well I recommend a three step filtration system:

Sediment filtration followed by activated charcoal and then UV light.

If a viral issue is a concern the fourth step would be chlorination.