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10 Best Lake Water Filters And Their Reviews For 2022

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Tim Rhodes

Owning a lakeside home or cottage is amazing, that’s why you need the best lake water filter.

You can draw water directly from the lake for home use.

Lake water can accumulate animal waste and pollution from boats and machinery it is important to use water filters for the lake.

With proper filtration, lake water can be drinkable and have a great taste.

Contents

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Last update on 2024-02-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

10 Best Lake Water Filters Rated And Reviewed

Here is the list of the top 10 lake water filters for 2021.

1. Chlorine Dioxide Drops & Pills

Aquamira - Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment Two Part Liquid (1 oz Droppers Bottles)

To clean the water and make it safe for drinking purposes chlorine dioxide is used in the form of both drops and pills, it is EPA (Environmental protection agency) registered water purifier.

Its purpose is to protect humans and the environment.

Its main office is situated in Washington, D.C.

These drops or pills neither have any kind of side effect nor do they have aftertaste significance.

It also does not change the color of water and also increases the taste.

These tablets are available in packets each packet consist of 30 tablets and each tablet is fully packed.

The tablet stored at a temperature of 60 and 86oF is much effective.

The heat, humidity, and moisture may decrease its effectiveness.

These tablets kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa from water (protozoa is found in an aquatic and moist environment).

These water purifying tablets are safe with very effective action.

These tablets or pills are lightweight and last longer.

A single tablet can purify one-liter water.

An unopened tablet can be used within 3 years.

How does it work?

When the chlorine dioxide tablet comes in contact with water it releases nascent oxygen which is the most powerful form of oxygen.

Nascent oxygen is a powerful oxidant and kills all the germs, bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

Municipal water treatment plants use chlorine dioxide to kill a variety of waterborne bacteria.

One of its advantages is that there is no waste of this product.

You can use as much chlorine dioxide as you need.

When we compare chlorine dioxide with other water treatment chemicals like iodine, we find that chlorine dioxide is a stronger oxidant than any other chemical because it has greater killing power.

Pros & Benefits:

  • There is no waste produced
  • Recommended by EPA
  • Long expiry date
  • Quick action against harmful substances

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


2. Sawyer Micro Water Filtration System

Sawyer Products Micro Squeeze Water Filtration System

You can drink safe and clean water from wherever you want using Sawyer Micro Squeeze.

It is a water filter that makes your water clean and safe.

It is small enough to fit in your palm and can be used for a lifetime.

With this product you are provided with a reusable drinking pouch, drinking straw, cleaning coupling, spare gasket, and a cleaning plunger.

You can attach it with a given drinking water pouch, ordinary water bottle, or you can attach the straw to drink directly from a stream, river, or lake.

It is capable of removing almost all the germs and bacteria from water.

The average cleaning capacity of water with Sawyer Micro is 99.99%.

It kills bacteria like salmonella, cholera, E-coli almost all type of protozoa up to 9.9999%.

It is one of the best and ideal products for outdoor activities like hiking, scouting, traveling, etc.

you can rely on it and can take it along with you.

This product is rated up to 10000 gallons.

It contains a large number of hollow fiber micro-tubes that are U-shaped and tiny enough to trap contaminants while allowing clean water to freely pass through with a great flow rate.

The pore size of this filter is 0.1 micron which makes harmful bacteria like protozoa, E-coli, salmonella, Giardia, etc impossible to pass through the filter.

All of the sawyer micro filters perfectly meet the removal rate of bacteria recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The sawyer Micro squeeze allows you a lot of ways to access the clean water you can put water from a lake, stream, river, or any water source into the reusable pouch.

You can also attach the filter with a water bottle if nothing is available you can attach it with a straw and drink directly from the water source.

Pros & Benefits:

  • It is a handy/ portable product
  • It is also recommended by EPA
  • Rated up to 10,000 gallons
  • A fast flow rate of water

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


3.

No products found.

SteriPen is a magic device that cleans your water instantly.

Its use has been proved to be safe and it kills 99.9% of the bacteria and germs which are responsible to produce waterborne disease.

It can kill all bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.

SteriPen uses ultraviolet rays to clean water.

We know that filtration is not the perfect method to kill all bacteria and viruses from water and if you have no time to boil water and then drink it or you don’t want to add different chemicals to purify your water, then SteriPen is the best option for you.

Different filtering techniques may take time but Steripen ultra can clean your water at a surprisingly fast speed.

A SteriPen takes about 90 seconds to clean 1-liter water and 48 seconds to clean half liter water.

It is a portable device, you can put it anywhere while traveling and you will barely notice even if you put it in your back pocket.

The reason why most people use SteriPen is its ease of use.

If you have an ordinary small mouth 1-liter bottle then SteriPen will become the most convenient and hassle-free water purifier for you.

Press the power button once to purify 1-liter water, place the ultra in that bottle, and flip upside down with a gentle shake to move the water around.

Don’t worry about the leakage because the rubber seal on the ultra won’t allow water to leak.

Once the ultra is inside the bottle the countdown will start and it will take 90 seconds to purify 1 liter and 48 seconds approximately to purify half liter water.

Once the countdown is finished you will see a smiley face showing your water has been treated and can drink.

Pros & Benefits:

  • It uses ultraviolet light
  • Timesaving filters, which provides you clean water instantly
  • It can perform 8,000 treatments
  • Automatically turns off when treatment is completed


4. Platypus GravityWorks

Platypus GravityWorks Group Camping Water Filter System, 4-Liter

It is the most convenient and easy way to clean the water.

In this method, 4 liters of water can be cleaned in an average time of 5 minutes.

It consists of two bags, one of which is 4 liters dirty water reservoir and the other is 4-liter dirty water reservoir, hollow fiber microfilter, hoses, shutoff clamp, and storage sack.

The water to be cleaned is taken in a dirty water reservoir and is hanged, the one end of the filter pipe is connected with a dirty water reservoir and another end is connected with a cleaned water reservoir.

Due to gravity the dirty water starts flowing through the pipe and enters into the filter, from where it gets clean, and then it is stored in a clean water reservoir.

This water is clean and safe enough to drink.

This high-quality water treatment method is good for group or family camping, outdoor activities, traveling, etc.

This product perfectly meets all the conditions set by the Environmental protection Agency and kills 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa e.g.

Giardia, E-coli, salmonella, cholera, etc.

You just have to fill the dirty water reservoir and hang it with the tree, no pumping work is required all of the work is done by gravity.

This filter will itself tell you that it is not good, how?

Simply when the water is not coming into the clean water reservoir it means something has been stuck in the filter and you have to purchase a new one for further filtration.

Overall performance and working of this product are good but a little bit of care should be made for its long term use.

If you see the water source is dirtier if there are sediments and small particles then first let those sediments and particles sit down or filter them with a cloth and then use platypus gravity works.

Pros & Benefits:

  • It is light and compact
  • No physical effort required i.e.pumping
  • Easily collected and dispensed
  • Effective against all harmful substances

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


5. MSR Trail Shot

MSR TrailShot Pocket-Sized Backcountry Water Filter

It is the pocket size, lightweight filter that you can use to clean the water.

You can directly drink the water or store it in a bottle.

It is one of the most convenient and easy to use filter, all you have to do is to put its pipe in the water source and keep pumping the filter with your hand, the clean filtered water will be evolving from life straw which would be safe enough to drink.

It is an ultra-light device of 5 ounces and best for trail runners, hikers, and mountain bikers.

The trial shot is effective enough to protect you from cryptosporidium, protozoa, bacteria and all the microorganisms.

However, it is unable to protect you from viruses so if you are at the place where water resources contain viruses then you should do chemical treatment with the water.

The speed of water depends upon you, the speed with which you pump the water.

The time to filter 1-liter water is 1 minute approximately but your progress in filtering water will become slower and slower because your hand will tire.

The trail shot is versatile because of its lightweight you can carry it along with your small backpacking trips.

Most of the hand pumps are expensive and their cost range from 90$ to 350$ but trail shot is only 50$ and handy also.

So, the conclusion made is this little filter can help you to get drinkable water from anywhere, MSR Trailsh is a good choice, it can be used easily but hand strength is required to pump a large volume of water.

Pros & Benefits:

  • It is tested by EPA in the US
  • Lightweight easily fits in a pocket
  • Instant hydration
  • One hand phenomenon involved

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


6. MSR Guardian

MSR Guardian Water Purifier for Backcountry Use, Global Travel, and Emergency Preparedness

MSR Guardian is one of the best, commonly used, advanced and portable products that is used to clean lakes, streams, rivers, or any other source of water.

Its weight is nearly 17.3 ounces and this filter not only removes bacteria and protozoa but also viruses from your water source.

MSR guardian is everything you are looking for in a filter because it is faster, better, reliable, and can be used in both the backcountry as well as traveling to third world countries.

It is very easy to use and maintain because its filter is self-cleaning with each pump.

The only drawback is its larger size than other filters and a high price tag which is 350$.

This filter also removes particulates from the source water.

This filter can filter 2.5 liters of water in just 1 minute.

The pump is threaded so you can attach any wide-mouth bottle with it and with very little effort we can fill a bottle, its speed and ease make it the choice of many people.

The filter pore size is 0.02 microns, while many other filters have a pore size of 0.2 microns only.

It can filter bacteria and viruses but because of a lack of activated carbon, it fails to remove chemicals from water.

The MSR Guardian consists of two hoses, one is pre-filter and the other one is afloat, the first hose pulls the water into the purifier.

The second hose expels dirty water it also removes trapped impurities so that the flow rate should be high.

This filter is designed professionally and it is s quite durable.

It is strong enough to withstand a drop test of 6 feet and also bear the freezing temperature.

So it is concluded that MSR Guardian is the best product to purchase.

You can trust it.

Pros & Benefits:

  • Pore size is 0.02 microns
  • Very strong
  • It can bear freezing temperature
  • Best design and technology

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7. Katadyn Hiker Pro Clear

Katadyn Hiker Pro Transparent Water Filter, Lightweight, Compact Design for Personal or Small Group...

It’s a transparent water filter, this product comes in a compact design and its lightweight enable you to use it for personal or for small group camping.

It not only provides protection from bacteria and protozoa like giardia and cryptosporidium but its activated carbon present in the core of the filter improves the taste and reduces the chemicals from water.

This product is ultra-lightweight, the average weight is about 11oz, its transparent design lets you see them working.

This filter works perfectly in clear water while it does effort in silty stuff.

This is a reliable, portable, inexpensive hand pump that provides you with clean and safe water.

This filter is easy to use and handle, the quantity of water that is to be cleaned again depends upon you because you have to physically pump the water through the filter so withdrawing water physically takes a little bit of effort.

The average cleaning rate is measured to be 1 liter per two minutes.

This filter can work in any environment and doesn’t come in the category of filter life you can use it for a long time and with different cleaning methods, you can extend its life.

This filter does not allow particles that are more than 150 microns.

The kit comes with many gadgets like a filter, 2 hoses, prefilter, quick connect.

You can attach them and make a good setup.

Katadyn is a well-reputed company, it offers its customers a 2 years warranty.

You can replace any of its parts with a new one, so if any part breaks accidentally or lost in a hurry you can purchase a new one and fix it again.

The average price of this filter is 84.95$, this is a low cost if you compare it with its features.

Pros & Benefits:

  • Transparent housing, let you see how it works
  • Quick installation
  • Physical removal of particulates
  • Designed with an activated carbon core

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8.

No products found.

You can carry this product if you are camping, traveling, the filtering capacity of this product is around about 1,000 gallons i.e.

4,000 liters.

It comes with simple functionality and design so there is no battery or moving part so you don’t have to wait.

It is also not expensive, it is just like a thick straw.

LifeStraw is efficient enough to remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and germs and 99.9% protozoa parasites.

The size of a pore of the filter is 0.2 microns but it cannot harm viruses so if you are at the place where there are viruses are in their water source then you should purchase any other filter.

LifeStraw is perfectly fulfilling the standards of an environmental protection agency.

The weight of this filter is just 2oz and hence it is ultra-light to carry and portable not only this but has a high rate of flow for drinking from any water source.

You are not required to pump you just put one end in the water source and another end in your mouth and sucks the water so LifeStraw is unable to store water.

When you see a water source put it in that water in the first few seconds you will not get anything because the tube is being filled with water first then you will enjoy the decent flow of water due to its wide intake.

But if the water is muddy or musky then you would have to do more effort to lift water in your mouth.

LifeStraw is convenient, simple to use, and is portable but many people avoid it because the only reason that it could not store water for later use.

You can store dirty water in a wide mouth bottle or a pouch and can directly drink from a bottle or water pouch when required.

Pros & Benefits:

  • Handy filter
  • Easy to handle
  • No complex setup
  • Ultra-lightweight


9.

No products found.

Grayl bottle is another good filter that provides you safe, clean drinking water from any fresh water source.

It is very easy to handle and best for travelers, hikers.

It is capable of removing waterborne pathogens like hepatitis A, norovirus, rotavirus.

It removes bacteria like E Coli, salmonella, cholera, protozoa i.e. giardia, cryptosporidium.

It is lightweight, its weight is about 11oz, the height of this bottle is 9.625.

It comes with 10 years warranty.

Its usage is easy you don’t have to pump the water, squeeze the water or wait for filtering, you just have to collect water from the source and press the button and you will have fresh water you can drink.

The bottle is not handy it is designed in such a way that it could fulfill the requirement of its user so the bottle Is large.

Using this filter you can filter about 750mL of water in just 20 seconds that’s why it is considered one of the best and fastest filtering products.

The only drawback of this filter is its heavier weight and bulkiness.

This filtering product can filter not only bacteria, protozoa, and particulates but also efficiently removes heavy metals i.e.

lead, cadmium, arsenic.

It also removes viruses and microplastics.

The great thing about this filter is its purification media it uses activated carbon combination and ion exchange technology and these two functions are capable of removing each virus, protozoa, bacteria, or ay another kind of impurity making water harmful.

It has a short water storage capacity and used just for personal use, not for family or group.

It can be concluded that if you don’t want to have compromised on the quality of water then this filter is the best option for you, you have to compromise on its limited storage and heavy size.

Pros & Benefits:

  • Comes with 10 years warranty
  • Uses activated carbon and ion exchange technology
  • Fastest filtration process
  • Can remove even heavy metals


10. Survivor Filter PRO

Survivor Filter Pro Hand-Pump Portable Water Filter - Lightweight Water Filter Camping, Backpacking,...

The best electric filter can be used with any plug.

It is tested that it can remove 99.999% of protozoa, 99.999% of virus, and 99.5 % mercury and 93% lead removal.

The source water first passes through a 0.1-micron filter, it is a sort of pre-filter and removes bacteria like algae, giardia, E-coli, protozoa, and cryptosporidium.

The prefilter can be reused for 100000liters.

After passing through the pre-filter it then passes through a carbon filter which is fixed inside the filter.

The carbon filter is so designed that it can remove heavy metals, chemicals, and pollutants.

Again this carbon filter can be reused up to 2000 liters.

After passing through the carbon filter finally the water passes from the internal ultrafilter.

Ultrafilter has pores of 0.01 micron that finally removes 99.999% of viruses and staph.

Again this filter can be reused up–to 100,000 liters.

This filter comes with many gadgets like an electric filter pro, a battery, a micro USB cable, a USB wall charger, an ultrafilter, carbon filter, an internal filter, an inlet hose, an outlet hose, a hose clip, a carrying case, a backwashing syringe, and a user manual guiding to make setup of all these.

All the parts are made up of plastic material therefore it may not be reliable but the plastic used is not the cheaper one but solid.

This filter is made technically and professionally but still, it is lightweight and has an average weight of about 227 grams.

You should have to be very y careful while using it otherwise it could be damaged.

So make sure that that you are pressing the handle vertically.

The filtration quality is best as there are three filtering sites in this filter so there is no chance of harmful substances passing through.

Pros & Benefits:

  • Meet EPA standards
  • Weights 227 grams only
  • Can filter up to 100,000 liters
  • Pore size is 0.01 microns

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


Final Thoughts

Each filter has its features which are designed for the ease of the user.

The user must assess his needs first and then he can purchase the filter he finds the best for his use.

Some filters are for specific areas and some are designed for international travelers, that’s why lake water filters are essential.

Keeping in mind your budget you can purchase the right one for you.

Which filter do you find most suitable?

Let us know in the comments below.

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