Bacteria-Killing Water Bottle
 

i know they sell these ridiculous 80$ water bottles online that come with a UV light that kill alot of bacteria (advertised as 99.9%). to me this sounds like a colossal waste of money when i can just start another DIY project and somehow waterproof a UV LED to the underside of the water bottle cap so i can flip a switch and kill all the creepy crawlies from stream water etc. what does TFP suggest for LED wavelength? power source? length of time needed to completely nuke the water? stupidity of the idea?

Bacteria are less of a concern than protozoa.

There are so many less expensive and less risky conventional methods of purifying stream water. There's no reason to risk your health on some hair-brained diy project. Do yourself a favor and invest a few coins in one of the following: purifying tabs, microfiltering water bottle, or just do the old-fashioned thing and boil it.

I wouldn't risk it if involves your health or your live.

*****

Speaking of killing things that make you "ugggghhhh" in the night.

My co-worker and I were arguing about using one of those store bought water filter pitchers will filter questionable water (say from a pond or steam). I read somewhere it is not made to filter harmful bacteria from waters. Anyone know the answer to that one?

I would guess that the pore size of the Brita pitcher (if it even has a membrane filter in it) is too large to effectively filter out bacteria. My MSR MiniWorks EX microfilter has a pore size of .2 microns.

My response is based on consulting with my husband (chemical engineer) and my friend (environmental engineer), both of whom have taken classes in wastewater treatment.