SC - Is drinking water "period"

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    I might add that boiling your water for at least 2 minutes will do the
trick without adding a nasty taste. There are also military grade water
filters on the market (not Brittas  or Instapure, they don't filter small
enough) that you can use, but they're pretty slow, IMO.
    And then, there's the ever popular bottled water, if you have more money
than me . . .

    Sieggy

>
> 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