>>2693124A good middle ground is Aquamira. I agree that filtering can be a pain in the ass. With chemicals you mix them well before you add them. Generally I’ll mix them when I start my hike. That mixture will be used at the first refill (literally just refill a bottle and dump it in). At that same spot I’ll mix the batch for the next refill.
The water your treat isn’t the water you immediately begin drinking. Let’s say you have two bottles. You’re drinking from bottle 1, and it’s down to 20%. You get to a creek, dump out what’s remaining (or chug it), fill that bottle, dump in the Aquamira, then switch to bottle 2. You mix a new batch for the next refill (it takes 5 minutes to activate). By the time you’re done with the water in bottle 2, bottle one is safer.
It takes 30 minutes in very cold water to kill bacteria and viruses. Protozoa, the least common concern, takes 4 hours. That’s why it’s a middle ground. It works well for the most common conditions and mitigates time and hassle. It’s not 100% effective and not as simple as just drinking unfiltered creek water.