Prep briefing · 3 Nov 2026Met Office Weather Warnings: Yellow warning of fog affecting Northern IrelandToday's briefing
Civilian Survival
Handbook
Plan Pack · £6.99
Compare

Water filters compared: bottle, straw, tablets and whole-house (UK)

For a water outage, bottled water and tablets come first. A filter is a useful extra. Read what each maker says it removes.

About these links: they are plain links to ordinary retailer pages. We may earn from some links in future; we don't now. If that changes, links will be marked * and this note will say "Ad". We haven't tested these products and we don't rank them. Prices are the ones we read on the date shown and will change. How we make money

ProductTypePriceWhere
LifeStraw Personal Water FilterStraw filter£25.80
read 1 Nov 2026
Amazon UK
Shop
LifeStraw Peak Series Solo Personal Water FilterStraw filter£31.99
read 1 Nov 2026
Amazon UK
Shop
Lifesystems Water Filter Purifier Soft FlaskFilter and purifier, soft flask£29.99
read 1 Nov 2026
Lifesystems (UK brand store)
Shop
Lifesystems Water Filter Purifier BottleFilter and purifier, bottle£49.99
read 1 Nov 2026
Lifesystems (UK brand store)
Shop
Lifesystems Chlorine Water Purification TabletsChlorine tablets£3.99
read 1 Nov 2026
Lifesystems (UK brand store)
Shop
Lifesystems Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification TabletsChlorine dioxide tablets£10.99
read 1 Nov 2026
Lifesystems (UK brand store)
Shop

Whole-house filters cost about £365 to £1,554 from one UK seller (search summary). Gravity filters exist too; we haven't read prices for them.

Who it's for

Everyone: stored water first (3 litres per person per day), then tablets: cheap, small, long-lasting.

Go bags and walkers: a straw or bottle filter.

Long outages: a filter plus tablets. Read what each maker says it removes: a 'filter' and a 'purifier' are not the same claim.

How we judged

Type and price. We haven't tested what they remove; that is the maker's claim. Follow the label on tablets.

No star ratings: we haven't collected reviews, and we don't show anyone else's. No product can promise to keep you safe.

Next

Sources

  1. GOV.UK Be Ready: water supply interruptions (page, read 1 Nov 2026)
  2. CSH buy list: Lifesystems and Amazon UK listings (page, read 1 Nov 2026)

How we review: we read each source on the date shown, say what we did not check, and never show made-up ratings. Found a mistake? We fix it and log it in our corrections log.