Question:
As I use the water, I will take a permanent market and write "RAW" or "NOT DRINKABLE" on the first one or two empty containers. Then I will write "MID" or "SEMI-PURE" on the next one or two containers. I will mark all of the other containers "PURE" or "CLEAN".

any comments?

Answer: Once back at the house I have 2 of those permanent bronze coffee filters that you can buy from Walmart for $5 each. I also have about 1,200 paper coffee filters in my emergency kit. I'll put a paper filter inside the bronze filter and transfer all of the RAW water into the SEMI-PURE containers. This first step will clear out most of the big silt, soot and gunk that reduces the life of your good camping water filter.

Then I'll take my PUR explorer with both the Iodine & Charcol filters attached and transfer the water into from the SEMI-PURE containers into the CLEAN containers. I'll never use the RAW and SEMI-CLEAN containers for anything other than what is marked on the container.

I figure using this method I would limit my lake-side exposure to around 10-15 minutes. Purifying the water at the lake side would take 50-60 minutes. (@1 liter/minute) It also is harder on the filter to deal directly with the lake water without the added filtering step.