Field Water Test Kit?

[Omega Man]

If given the option of treating water after a hard days worth of back country hiking, or not, I would obviously prefer not to feel the need to treat. I'm not a fan of that iodine taste in my drinking water, nor overly thrilled to break out the pump, it's a necessary hassle, however, with all the potential water born health hazards often found in rivers and lakes these days, the logical part of my brain, usurps my tired 45 year old muscles and I end up making the time to treat my water. However, if there was a way to test the water for contaminants first, there would possible be a chance that the water is safe enough to drink without treatment of any sort.

Question: Is there a field grade water test kit available for this purpose? If not, why not? It seems like it would be a natural fit for any wilderness survival kit, especially for the long distance backpacker.

[Cool AT Breeze]

just drink the water. Filter through your mustache

[Compass]

The tests the municiple water facilities use take 24 hours in a 98* F incubator to verify how much bacteria and if it is has ecoli by using a black light. Just pump or treat and relax. If you get sick then you will know it was something you ate.

[leaftye]

The number of tests you would have to do would be ridiculous. You would have to do several tests for different chemical contaminents, and even if a test is positive, it's unlikely that you'd know what chemical was found unless you do a battery of tests. As for bacteria and viruses...ugh.

Just get a gravity filter. Mine weighs 10.5 oz, works awfully quick and doesn't need refills or spare batteries. I love that it doubles as a water bucket too. The only downside is that I have to take care that the filter doesn't freeze. It won't catch chemicals, but the only way to catch chemicals is to add chemicals to make salt precipitates or to do something like fractional distillation, something that's too heavy and time consuming for any hiker to do.