Getting good drinking water on the road is always a challenge. Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to live somewhere like Campbell River with really good tap water that I can just drink straight up. Sometimes, I’m somewhere that the water is safe but tastes yucky and a simple charcoal filter like Brita makes it good.

But I usually find myself buying water. I don’t buy packages of the little bottles but rather gallon-size or larger containers. If I’m somewhere for a while, like when I was in Lethbridge, I buy a refillable water jug. Water is the only thing I drink, so I don’t think that paying for good tasting water is frivolous.

For some time now, I’ve debated getting a whole-house water filtering system, but the more boondocking I do, the more I end up with no water in the holding tank, so an undercounter or inline filter wouldn’t work for me. I also wanted more than just a charcoal filter, but rather something that would filter out bacteria and particulates.

Being here where buying water is getting to be cost-prohibitive, it was time to buy something to make the tap water here drinkable.

I did some research and came to the conclusion that the only countertop unit that would work for me is an Aqua Rain, which we used at the campground in Dawson. Great filter, but massive and super pricey.

But that memory did nudge me in another direction and reminded me of something I’ve wanted to buy since I first saw it, but couldn’t justify for the little I would use it. Dang, why did I only now realise it was the solution for my at home water consumption?

When I hiked the Chilkoot trail, we had unlimited quantities of delicious water thanks to an MSR microfilter.

This is the perfect solution for me as it will make just about all water sources safe and tasty and the filter is super long-lasting (2,000 litres/500 gallons, which should last me at least a year). I’ll also be able to take it along with me on hikes.

The filter fits over wide-mouth Nalgene bottles. I have a very worn one, so I splurged on a new one that will better match my house decor. 🙂

I was actually going to go with a competitor filter because it was Amazon Global Shipping eligible, but for whatever reason, they won’t ship here. So I went with my first choice, the MSR, and had it shipped to my best friend’s in Virginia. She’ll forward me the package and I’ll reimburse her for shipping via PayPal. I expect to have to pay tax and perhaps duty on the package whenever it gets here. A pain, but my only out of pocket costs will be the shipping and border fees thanks to some wonderful sponsors who shop on Amazon through my links. Thank you again SO MUCH!

And since I was sending an order to VA to be shipped back to SK, I added the adapter I need to plug my Macbook Pro into a TV L gave me (because the tuner went out and it’s only good to use as a computer monitor). I’ll soon be able to watch movies on a 19″ rather than 17″ screen! 🙂