Where NOT To Get Your Drinking Water

Posted by Camp Trainer on Jan 21, 2009 in Adventures, Tips and Strategies • No comments • 254 views

credit: Jagger

Some tips to take note of where NOT to get your Drinking Water:

Go well away from the shoreline to get drinking water. If you’re camping at a spot frequented by man or animals, go upstream of the source to get water. On lakes, go aminium of 150 feet from shore, and the farther (and deeper) the better.

Tip: Place a rock in your largest cooking pot and lower it deep into the lake with a long rope. Work the bucket up and down like a yo-yo to guarantee good exchange of water. Water taken 20 feet or more below the lake surface is apt to be most trustworthy.

Avoid water that has a greenish color. The green tinge indicates the presence of algae, which attracts micro-organisms. Tan colored water, however is usually safe. Invariably, this color suggests natural runoff of tannic acid from adjacent conifer stands (quite common throughout the upper Midwest).

Take your drinking water from fast-moving areas, avoid backwaters, stagnant areas, and eddies, which are breeding places for micro-organisms.

Never drink any water that has been contaminated by wastes from a paper mill. Instead, secure your water from incoming streams or springs.

Don’t take water near beaver dams or lodges. Beaver are the favored hosts of Giardia lamblia, a small protozoan that may cause severe discomfort. Giardia enters a water supply through the feces of the host. Its cyst can survive up to 2 months in 46-degree Fahrenheit water, and up to 1 month in 70-degree water!The infection carried by the organism is called giardiasis, characterized by severe diarrhea, cramps, nausea and vomiting. Incubation time is 1 - 2 weeks, though some people have gone as long as 2 months without getting sick.If untreated, the disease may go on for years!

Giardiasis is usually diagnosed by stool examination, which is not always reliable. Most physicians just don’t have enough experience with the disease to correctly diagnose it.As a result, many victims suffer for months before they get the help they need. Not everyone who is exposed to giardia parasite comes down with the disease. Most people are simply carriers.

Contrary to popular belief, clear water tumbling over sunny rocks may not be safe to drink. While ultraviolet light does kill microorganisms, flowing water mixes them and increases the chance they’ll get in your drinking water. Better to take your drinking water from a deep sunlit pool nearby.

Take water from small tributaries that flow into a stream. The closer to the source of the tributary, the better.

Water from a still, deep pool should be taken near the surface and as far from shore as possible. Harmful microbes tend to lurk just below the surface of calm water, out of reach of sunlight.

Treatment for giardiasis and cryptosporodiosis: Mentronidazole (Flagyl) and furazolidone (Furoxone) are the recommended prescription drugs for treating giardiasis. It’s a good idea to carrya supply on long trips. There is no treatment for cryptosporodiosis, whose symptoms are similar to giardiasis. Cryptosporpdiosis usually runs its course in 1 - 2 weeks.