I'm going to part company with you here and step out on a bit of a limb. The conventional wisdom is that one should place water treatment capability up fairly high on the list. For me, water treatment just barely makes my top thirty coming in just about last out of thirty.
Why? What's the #1 threat in N. America? Giardia. What's the gestation period of giardia? Two to three weeks. Recall that I'm building a kit for a 72 hour scenario. Giardia might get me a couple of weeks after I've gotten out of the mess, but dehydration might kill me that very day. In a pinch, I'd drink untreated water.
Would I rate water treatment so low outside of N. America? No! Nor would I rate water treatment so low in urban survival scenarios (e.g. after an earthquake). But for a 72 hour survival scenario in a N. American wilderness area, water treatment falls very low on my list. Water itself ranks high, but treating that water ranks low.
HJ
Fair enough, and a good point based on a valid philosophy. The ability to boil water, to me, is versatile enough to include, but your philosophy is sound, for a 72 hour kit is not essential, though, here in the northeast, a cup of hot water/tea can be good for staving off hypothermia or even pouring it into the platypus bag as an impromptu hot water bottle, while at the same time aiding with hydration. Heat/Shelter, Hydration, Signaling, and First Aid should be the priorities of the first 72 IMHO, but it is as always, a matter of taste and environment.
.02
C. Rowe
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