I've got a katydyn hiking filter, a Berkey light gravity filter, a Berkey filtration sport bottle, a pressure canner for distillation, and two 50 gallon rain barrels connected to my down spouts, as well as a pond about a hundred yards from my front door. I guess you could count the stockpots for boiling as well and a couple gallons of bleach.
Potable Aqua tablets, bleach and a hand-pump hiking filter.
A camping buddy has one of the water-bottle filters - great little device! Tie some paracord to it, drop it in the stream, pull it out, and fill the canteens with the filtered water! No getting our feet wet.
I gotta order one or two.
I use Katadyn Micropur tablets in my small survival kits. But my favorite device is my Katadyn Combi filter. Works like the ceramic filters but has an additional carbon stage that cleans out pesticides, heavy metal, etc., and makes the water taste better. The Combi is less expensive than the high end ceramic only Katadyn pocket filter. Found this link for a good price:
They have all sorts of products for taking seawater to freshwater and removing contaminates. This might be handy depending on where you have to survive. Even fresh lake water needs treatment.
In the field/on the hoof, I'm using a MSR Waterworks EX Water Filter: small/light package to carry, very effective, large output capability, durable/long lasting, and it's simple to use, clean and repair. The unit works so well that it was issued to Marines on extended deployments where water supply replenishment may be delayed.
The MSR Waterworks EX is a little larger/heavier than the MSR Miniworks, and the added advantage to the larger version is that it has an extra filter for viruses.
For added sterilization of the water, we take along chlorine bleach.
As an added convenience, our water bottles, backpack bladders and large storage bladder have the same size opening as the outlet on the MSR Waterworks EX, for easy refill right from the filter to storage/use container.
We've also packed in our gear extra sediment, secondary and ceramic filters, as well as the maintenance kit, for extended use and in-field repairs if needed.
I'm with LivetoShoot. I have an MSR Waterworks EX in my kit, along with a repair kit. Yes, they are pricey (though not as much as the top of the line filter from Kataydin), but I figure if they are good enough for the Navy SEALs and the Corps, they're good enough for me. They are what goes into every Grab & Go kit I make for people.
If you are patient and you run in luck, you can find them on eBay, posted by people who tried the camping lifestyle and discovered their airbed bodies weren't compatible with sleeping bags and hard ground. They range from used once to never used, and generally go for half of retail. The repkits I get straight from MSR.
A buddy of mine who was a medic (retired now)deployed to the Sandbox a year and a half ago. While his unit was getting ready to ship out, I bought and mailed to him a Waterworks EX and a repkit, just to be sure he'd have one. When he got back, he told me he'd been glad to get it, because they were in short supply over there.
