I was on my hike today thinking about potential situations if I were to ever get lost. Water would obviously be a priority, but I’m in California where it’s very dry. Where I hike, many of the hills have cows grazing throughout very large expanses of hills. Where there are cows, there’s got to be water, but the small standing ponds and sometimes water troughs they get their water from are typically contaminated by their urine. I always take my pack with me on my hike, with different options for water purification. I have a water filter (currently a BeFree), tincture iodine, and could boil water if necessary. Would these options prevent illness for smaller water sources that have cow urine (and others) in a survival situation? If so, what would be the best option to clean the water?