Their problem would appear to be a lack of very basic, fundamental outdoor skills, particularly map and compass (obviously). I am not familiar with that area, but I can,t imagine that there wasn't abundant water in that kind of high alpine environment. The chances are very high that the water if perfectly fine to drink without treatment of any kind. If one felt treatment to be necessary, boiling is an easy, obvious procedure that works far better than other techniques. Since they were on a planned three day hike, they surely must have had some kind of container that would have worked for boiling. Perhaps they were out of stove fuel, or didn't know how to kindle a wood fire, but one suspects that they were very sketchy on basic back country skills.

Electronic gadgetry could have saved the day, but so could the employment of very simple, straightforward procedures.

If you can't read a map and locate yourself on it, never stray from the visitor center and ranger led hikes.
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Geezer in Chief