SC - Is drinking water "period"

[Jeff Gedney]

Please folks, don't take chances with your water out there, especially when you 
are camping this summer.
Water may _tend_ flow in any direction, but the cappillary action of the soil, the 
nature of that soil and the depth of the water table make a huge difference.

I would point out that the CDC regularly reports waterborne illnesses arising from 
wastes contaminating campsite water supplies.

The regular occurrence of the "Pennsic Plague" is NOT dysentery, as some 
have stated in the past, it is a Virus, and a Damnably hardy one ("Norwalk-Type").  
Concentrations of Waterborne diseases in the watertable get worse when the 
water table is stressed by a sudden uptake in water usage, (such as occurs 
when a couple thousand active, hot, dirty, and thirsty people decend on a 
camp site), and more so, if barnyard and farm runoff collects in lakes and 
ponds, as the lowered table "pulls" water into the wells from the surface 
accumulations.

The Mortality and Morbitity Reports at the CDC report with distressing regularity 
the number of illness outbreaks which occur at Boy Scout camps, Army Camps, 
and national Parks in summer. These are almost always associated with 
unusually large crowds.

Also, the constant state of mild dehydration we can get into at summer 
events does lower resistance to such disease. A drink of slightly bad water 
when we are rested hydrated and healthy may not affect us withn more than 
an intestinal gurgle, but with a little dehydration, mild exhaustion, and sleep 
deprivation, that glass of water could be a gut-wrenching, 
"two-exits-no-waiting" experience.

A little bleach in the Rinse water will go a LONG way to helping prevent infection.
and paper plates can be used to line period platters, and then tossed. 

Common sense does not have to be expensive.

Brandu