Surely you dont believe what your read in the ABC?

I just strain the big bits out through me teeth.

So out of touch macka!! Haven't you seen the amount of s h I t that people are depositing in creek beds etc?
Where do you think that ends up?

I am absolutely, maniacally pedantic with my water.

I'm surprised we're not back to typhoid/cholera days yet with the amount of human excreta that is EVERYWHERE you go.

If you see it boil it is safe to consume. If you have put a purifiing tablet in it likewise. 

I havent experimented with rev osmosis units but they are getting more user friendly I hear.

I only ever go sick once in my life where a lieing lazy POS Geologist picked up a load of water from the wrong dam. (Couldnt use a GPS aparently) and didnt think to chuck in a purfying tablet on the potable water drums.

Boys all got the squitters.   I quit when we got back to town. The last straw with that man. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

RV Dealers sell ceramic filters with silver powder in them. The last one I bought cost me almost $100 but the dalesman said use it for its recommended number of litres and then flush it out and reverse the filter (not sure how you work out how many litres you have used). I waited until the water flow through it slowed down, flushed it out (and the amount of sludge that came out of it was amazing (all scheme water from country and metro areas) and reversed it and got twice the length of time out of it.
About to use the 'van again after having it parked up unused for about a year, so went into BCF. They had silver particle filters for $39 - bought 3 of them - each should give me about 10K litres each.

We always boil our water anyway or use bottled water for drinking cold. If we're washing the ute or van, we simply disconnect the inline hose filter and let all the bugs loose on the two vehicles.

I double filter down to 1 micron into the van. Double consists of sediment then carbon cartridges.
Then, any drinking water is redone down to .5 of a micron. I then distill any drinking water when I have power and or boil for 10 minutes then run it through a brita filter countertop dispenser. That is all my cooking and vege washing water.
I am going to add to this a BEST filter when I get to a town. That will go between the first lot of 1 micron filters and the van.
As I said I am PEDANTIC on water. I drink so much of it, that I would get a triple hit of any normal person at least.
Other than pathogens, my big concern is the municipal treatment of water. It's despicable what they put in there. Do a bit of research and I'll guarantee you you'll be forever disturbed with ingesting it.
Distilling takes out 99.9% of nasties. It's then run through its own carbon filter too.
From my understanding the B E S T filter can only be used for the 5000L - not reused after flushing. The flushing is during the 5000L time. It doesn't have a time limit IF its within the 5000L. So....my own calculations I'm going to need a new one every 25 weeks on average. $200 a year. Not much when compared with the alternative. (For me there's my other cartridge costs and power - but I time my caravan park visits well for the power).

None of those feral peoples germs are going to get me!!

The best are the Revers Osmosis filters. They filter out even bacteria and viruses, as well as also DESALINATE the water. Result is water clean to almost DISTILLATION level. RO treated water (Desalinated Water) is sold hardware in shops for use in batteries, and other applications where the distilled water is called for, as cheaper to make alternative in the industry. It is, though, also great for use as a drinking water. It is since long time widely used in hospitals, and health care, and made on spot with RO water filter units supplied with alkalizing unit. Cheap and great solution making the water actually a Healing water, not only fit to drink straight as it comes out of the filter.

One can get RO filter quite cheap these days, 6 or 7 stage up to 200$A if done some shopping over internet, and such filter even extra treats water antibacterial, with the silver impregnated filtering unit included.

I bought only the basic, three stage RO unit cheap. Only around AU $136.95 plus (optional) $A22.13 extra for 2  years insurance, at ebay. It is a unit with with filtering capacity of 75 gallons per day (75 GD = 280 liters). This is quite possibly enough water for a family  of three or four to take a showers, and all drinking, cooking, and even some watering, for three days. If you are afraid to drink straight RO water, alkalize it by adding tiny amounts of the pure Soda Bicarbonate ( THE COOKING SODA) It will not affect the taste, and alkalizes the water to make it actually health improving water...

As far as the silver filter goes, I decided that adding a colloidal silver - that I am making myself out of that home filtered RO water -  to the filtered water containers makes it the best antibacterial quality water one can get. Making the colloidal silver is easy, and very cheap, ones you buy basic things you need to do it. Easy to get to know how to do it googling, " homemaking colloidal silver" or "diy colloidal silver".

I use it down here mainly for filtering water to water my few plants, as the water here is highly alkaline, but it is also just as highly rich in minerals and plants do not appreciate that very much. Now before going out for long trip, I decided to get another, smaller portable unit, with capacity of about 50 GPD, costing only $A 86.00. That ought to cover my need water just fine, and with a lot of extra, still. Smaller, so saving precious room in the caravan.