I was watching a guy use a SteriPen after dipping from the eastern end of the TC pond a couple weeks back. I asked him about all the floating green and brown bits of detritus and he said "Just suck the water through your teeth to filter it a bit," and then he smiled and I could see what he meant.
Sure was a neat trick to keep in mind...
And another quote from this thread:
<<The Steripen is not a foolproof system if you dunk your Nalgene bottle and hands into contaminated water. From the Steripen Adventurer User's Manual:
"...not intended to disinfect water above the surface of the water in the container, i.e., droplets of water suspended on the side of the glass."
"...not intended to disinfect surfaces of a drinking container, i.e. those that typically contact the mouth when drinking." >>
The steri-pen is limited to sterilizing CLEAR water. It kills the microbes that "can see the light" but it cannot kill ones lurking in crevices in the "floating brown and green bits." Unlike iodine or chlorine solutions that permeate junk in the water and can be dribbled over the bottle's lips and threads to kill microbes in those locations, the water treated with the steri-pen is just clean water with no "killing properties." So stirring the water with the pen is intended to expose all of the water to its light but again, will generally not get to critters in debris in the water.
But it is quick, handy and does not impart any tastes to water.
While the risks of getting giardia and other illnesses is supposedly small, I've had giardia a few times and did not appreciate it.
