I was looking at these again recently...

I've seen survival straw threads on several forums over the years, and the most common question is simply - "do they work?" The most common answer seems to be "I don't know, but it's probably better than nothing" or something similar.

The idea of an emergency backup to your favorite filtration or purification method that is both reliable and tiny is an attractive one, which may be the reason so many people are attracted to the concept - but when a products task is as crucial as making water safe to drink, people want to know if they "work".

What do I mean by work?

Ideally, a survival straw should be able to filter out things like cysts and large bacteria, and somehow kill anything else that gets through -- smaller bacteria and viruses. Basically, it should be able to reliably defeat the most common baddies you are likely to encounter, anything else is a bonus. A consequence of their size, survival straws may clog quickly -- but for it's purpose, that will be ok if you can get a few days use out of it, even if you have to pre filter the water through a coffee filter or something.

Unfortunately, many of the survival straws out available either
1. Don't go into very much detail about construction or specs - they may rattle off a couple of keywords like "E.Coli" and "lasts for a gazillion gallons" and assume that's enough to satisfy your questions
2. The Manufacturer may not be well known (or even known at all!)
or
3. Claim to pass EPA and FDA specs, and "independent testing" without going into any detail about who tested them, the tests themselves, and the results of the tests.

When trusting your life to a product, such ambiguity and vagueness is not comforting. Neither is second hand accounts of "I've used it and didn't get sick... so I guess it works"

Assuming a survival straw is indeed better than nothing, which to choose? I've compiled all the survival straws I could find after a quick google search, including some of the claims and some observations for reference sake. I still find myself in the "does it work?" crowd.



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Seychelle Pure Water Straw - $24.95



Claims:
-Up to 50 gallon filter life
-Removes 99.99% of contaminants found in fresh water including Guardia, Cryptosporidium, E-Coli Bacteria and Virus
-Attractive carrying case with compartment for Chlorine tablets.
-Tested by independent laboratories using EPA and ANSI protocols.

Observations:
-Didn't see any filter micron figures
-While larger baddies can be filtered out, it does not go into how it gets rid of smaller critters that may pass filters, like viruses




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Survival Straw - $29.99
Second Link
(urls are just a few of many who sell the product, but can't find any manufacturer info or homepage)



Claims:
-Destroys: E.Coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidia
-Removes: EDB, Iron, Mercury, Chlorine, Radon, Pesticides, Herbacides
-Eliminates: Bad Taste, Odor
-Purifies 5,000 gallons of drinking water
-Indefinite Shelf Life
-100% "alloy media", no silver or carbons

Observations:
-Who makes this? Not in business anymore?
-Claims seem to vary depending on where you find the product, hence the multiple links. Seems a little suspect anyway
-Does not go into detail about how it functions, filter specs, and so forth

Note: There is another straw that looks externally like the one above, but is yellow instead of blue. Quite a few pages seems to carry and sell these, but information on them is sketchy at best - details seem to vary depending on which distributer you're looking at. Perhaps this is the same straw, just a different color and actiongear.com just goes into a little more detail? Perhaps it's a newer model? Who knows.

Claims (only listing the ones that are different from the above)
-Eliminates soluable heavy metal toxins such as Lead, Cadmium, Arsnic.
-Eliminates a wide range of carcinogens including Chlorinated Hydrocarbons, Tri-Halomethanes, and other man-made chemicals.
-Garunteed proven by independant Lab Testing
-Meets FDA and EPA standards to kill viruses, bacteria, and filter disease causing cysts.
-Improved and patented 100% KDF alloy media (not silver or carbon) destroys 99.9% of harmful microorganisms.
-Including algae mold and fungi

Observations:
-KDA alloy, and this straw, discussed here



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McNett (Aquamira) Frontier Emergency Water Filtration System) - $9.99 - $14.90


Claims:
-Removes Giardia, Cryptosporidium and bacteria such as E.Coli
-Will not remove viruses or bacteria smaller than 2 microns
-Filters up to 20 gallons

Observations:
-Goes into at least some detail about filter size - won't work on things smaller than 2 microns. is that absolute, nominal, or mean though?




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BCB Survival Aquastraw - $15.95




Claims:
-Uses an iodine based agent
-Particularly effective in the prevention of amoebic dysentery
-Reduces viruses and bacteria by an astonishing 96%
-50 liter capacity

Observations:
-How does the "iodine based agent" kill viruses and bacteria given the short exposure time inherent to sucking water through a straw, when water purification tablets take 15+ minutes?
-Is this a filter and purifier, or just a purifier, relying entirely on the "iodine based agent"?
-If it uses a filter too, it seems reasonable that the larger baddies, such as the larger bacteria and cysts like cryptosporidium will be removed as well -- but it does not mention it, the ad only mentions viruses and bacteria.



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Lifestraw - No price figures found. Not for individual sale? Wholesale only?




This product appears to be directed towards aid groups and 3rd world countries as opposed to individual resale to hikers and for emergencies.

Claims:
-Two stage particle filtration - filters particles from 125 microns to 6 microns
-Contains a specially developed halogen-based resin that kills bacteria on contact.
-Active Carbon withholds particles such as parasites.
-Active Ingredients: "Halogenated Resin", "Anion Exchange Resin", "Active Carbon, Silver Loaded"
-Effective against the following waterbourne bacteria: Shigella, Salmonella, Enterrococus, Staphylococcus Aureus, E. Coli
-Water flow governed to between 100 ml to 150 ml per minute to get the maximum benefit of bacteria killing effect.
-Does not filter arsenic, iron, flouride and other heavy metals.
-Drinking saline water through the Lifestraw will reduce effective life to 350 liters
-Capacity of 700 liters, or 1 year (2 liters / day)

Observations:
-Larger than the above mentioned products
-Page includes a great deal of information about the product including test results
-Is the "125 microns to 6 microns" figure represent absolute, nominal, or mean?
-Viruses aren't mentioned... will the "active ingredients" neutralize them as well?
-Cryptosporidium and other cysts are not mentioned, and may be smaller than the 6 micron figure listed




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Eco-Pure Aqua Straw
(Picture only, no other information found)




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I absolutely love the "99.99%" claims that go on to say "including" this and that virus. My question is always: "What's included in that .01% that the filter does NOT remove?"

Burncycle,
Thanks for the research. I've also been contemplating the straws, but like you have not been fully comfortable with the claims by some. It will be interesting to see where this thread goes as others see it and post their thoughts, findings etc.

Happy New Year.

Regards,
Comanche7

As long as you've gone this far, why not email the mfgrs and ask your specific questions?

And, any mfgr that said their product removed 100% of the bad stuff is setting themselves up for a lawsuit. Some clown would probably kill himself trying to find something that it didn't filter.

Sue

Thank you!
Very nice summary <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Here is some other ideas I was looking at for filtration. HTI had made a DOD survival filter that is at 3-5 angstroms which takes out pesticides as well as viruses, etc.. The problem is all the nitrates ((fertilizers), oil, etc.. getting into the ground water on top of the rising temps of the water spawning more bacteria growth. I have a Katadyn combi and a Steripen Adventure to try to catch the pesticides as well, but I'm still looking for that wonder filter myself. I 've been hoping the nano tube carbon process will come along to have a straw to sip out sip drinking water out of the ocean as well as the sewage. Steripen is also working with the Marine Corp on a UV LED steripen, hopefully next year they may release a public version. It's extremely light and small, long battery times on led's and you have led's v/s the filliment. And using solar on it is ideal. The Miox keeps giving salt errors at altitude from what I've been reading in the alpine forums as well as how useless pizo electric lighters and butane type stoves. Although Brunton has a new stove thats coming out that burns just about everything from butane, gas, diesel, alcohol, kerosene. I think the more nano technology progresses that these filters will start to prevail.

HTI Aqua Pack Carbon Nanotube Straw High Tec water Straw Burton AF

While most would prefer the bigger filters like "sweat water",Katadyn and/or Mioxx, a straw might be better than nothing in a compact kit.
There are times when you can't boil water.
Also I wonder if you treated the water before hand with Aqua or chlorine and then used the straw, might kill the taste.
A straw may have a role after all.

When building the kits for xmas I looked at alot of these and came to similiar conclusions. Here are some of the things I found:

lifestraw specifications:
http://www.lifestraw.com/en/low/specs_low.asp

lifestraw test results:
http://www.lifestraw.com/en/low/test_results_low.asp

Good info here:
giardiaclub.com

Extremely good resource, found by accident on google.. read at your own risk:
http://usachppm.apgea.army.mil/WPD/PDFDocs/FinalReport.pdf