Many of us cannot be certain of accessing clear and running water.

Some of us have Pre-Filters installed on our water purifiers/filters to "catch" most gross contaminants before they reach the main filter element.

All of these "in-line" pre-filters are small, and can require frequent cleaning, which is always a fuss when one least needs it.

Pre-filtering always extends the life of the main filter element.   Sometimes the main filter element can be cleaned; sometimes it must be replaced.

Sometimes a simple bandana can serve but can be a fuss to arrange.

This device Millbank Bag  dates back to at least WW II and seems effective as a Pre-filter.  Output can drip into virtually any water receptacle but suggest wide-mouth water containers are more suitable than narrow mouth vessels.  Or carry a small funnel.  After vessel is filled, either boil, filter/purify, or chemically treat the water as suits.

CAUTION: this device does NOT remove bacteria/viruses from the water.  It is a simple Pre-Filter.

Mark Young (a YouTube person) has reviewed this item HERE .  I recommend all his vids as being well-worth watching.

I have a question submitted to the maker about possibly cold-dyeing the white canvas to less "obtrusive" colors.  I suspect that this is possible and will report.

Disclaimer: no financial interest.

I really like these for very turbid water. These are for Grayl purifiers, and work perfectly to pre-filter out much of the larger debris and detritus.



I do have an original Millbank bag, tehy work as advertised. While you can use a bandana or coffee filter as a pre-filter. Another aspect is that doing a better job of pre-filtering will help extend the life or flowrate of your filter/purifier.

ROCK6

ROCK6's comment on coffee filters triggered a thought that I hadn't considered, if you need small amounts of water for medical needs...if your electricity is on, use your coffee maker to simply boil water...even my old Mr Coffee 4 cup is relatively fast... I use a nasal lavage squeeze bottle with 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 tsp canning and pickling salt during allergy season and my local supermarket is occasionally out of distilled water ( recommended  as municipal water treatment does not kill a certain parasite)

We normally fill a five gallon bucket and let it settle.

But I saw the bags a few years ago and will get one for every boat and fish-camp.


Where we go berry picking is slough/lake water with lots of silt and beavers.
Hauling water in by boat takes up space and is heavy.
Been looking a economic way of treating the water.

Good post, raf. A lot of people don't know about Milbank bags.

I don't see a reason why you couldn't dye a white Milbank bag using tea or coffee to at least take the edge off the bright white.

TYVM for kind comments.  Mfr replied to me and seemed interested; He'll reply more fully on 10 April.  Will advise.

For field water samples I used to have to have a filtered set of bottles.  I used a 12v air pump for suction below a micron filter.   Fill a top jar with two 4” filters and the suction in the glass jar below would draw the liquid through the filter.  Much faster than gravity.

MSG received from Millbank Bags:

"Hi, Your idea to dye some bags may be of interest to some people. At this time my wife and I are not going to have the time or space to do something like this. I really don't see as for yourself to just dye the canvas bag. After is has dried out put it in some cold water and then ruff the bag up. Twist it over and over for a few days. This will help open the fibers of canvas up so the bag will drain at a good rate. Canvas likes to tighten up when it gets wet. That is why canvas tents are water repellent, not waterproof. I hope this may help you in some way and may you enjoy all your outdoor adventures.

Ray
Millbank Bags USA"

Millbank Bags is having a sale:  Order 2 x large bags, get one free = 3 bags.  I'll dye the third bag green and test it against one of the undyed bags.  Will report here and to the Mfr.

Disclaimer: No financial interest.

I'll be looking into how to dye Millbank canvas bags without ruining them, what with hot water likely to shrink the cotton fabric.  Will report back at some point; don't hold your breath, lol.  OTOH, such shrinkage of the cotton fibers "might" provide a little better pre-filtration, while at the same time reducing water flow/output.

These simple and durable cotton canvas pre-filters are intended to quickly scoop water and to carry water away.  The Millbank bags reduce/eliminate gross contaminants.  IMHO there is every reason to use a subsequent much finer pre-filter in order to extend the life of one's main water filter.  As noted above, coffee filters work well, as an adjunct pre-filter as long as one can set up things right what with coffee filters being fragile paper.

In a sufficiently long SHTF situation, we will all be straining-out gross contaminants (Hence the Millbank bags) and boiling our water.  In that long-term scenario, our fancy water filters will have become useless for various reasons.  YMMV.

ost