Water Question?

silverharp

Normally I have only taken water from a running source and add a purification tab but what is the quality of the water like you tend to find near the tops of higher hills and mountains where it gets boggy and gets trapped into pools. Would you be ok adding double the tabs or would there be a lot of particles in it so would need to filter the debris out? would it taste reasonably ok and would it be safe?

If I knew I could use the water it would cut down on the amount I need to carry.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

silverharp wrote: »

Normally I have only taken water from a running source and add a purification tab but what is the quality of the water like you tend to find near the tops of higher hills and mountains where it gets boggy and gets trapped into pools. Would you be ok adding double the tabs or would there be a lot of particles in it so would need to filter the debris out? would it taste reasonably ok and would it be safe?

If I knew I could use the water it would cut down on the amount I need to carry.

I would steer well clear of stagnant water. No matter how thirsty you are.

You don't know what's in that water. If you're in an emergency, you'd want to filter it then boil it.

BarryD

Hmm.. I've often taken a sup out of rock pools higher up and lived to tell the tale! You know the sort, where water is held in the hollow of some boulder. If it's rained in past day or two, likely to be fresh enough. Wouldn't be quite so inclined to do same from bog pools but maybe there's no logic in that - if the bog pool is clear and undisturbed, probably as good as the other. You can get fancy pumps & filters but then you have to carry these.

Wouldn't be that gone on water purification tablets unless you have real doubts - might do you more harm that the natural germs found in hill streams in Ireland. Generally don't take water below any sign of human habitation for obvious reasons but I've always reckoned that once above any housing and given a reasonable flow in the stream, you're safe enough. Sure there could be something dead in the water just upstream of you, hopefully if it's that close, you'll smell it anyway If camping, I'd be inclined to boil the water for liquid refreshments.

silverharp

BarryD wrote: »

Hmm.. I've often taken a sup out of rock pools higher up and lived to tell the tale! You know the sort, where water is held in the hollow of some boulder. If it's rained in past day or two, likely to be fresh enough. Wouldn't be quite so inclined to do same from bog pools but maybe there's no logic in that - if the bog pool is clear and undisturbed, probably as good as the other. You can get fancy pumps & filters but then you have to carry these.

Wouldn't be that gone on water purification tablets unless you have real doubts - might do you more harm that the natural germs found in hill streams in Ireland. Generally don't take water below any sign of human habitation for obvious reasons but I've always reckoned that once above any housing and given a reasonable flow in the stream, you're safe enough. Sure there could be something dead in the water just upstream of you, hopefully if it's that close, you'll smell it anyway If camping, I'd be inclined to boil the water for liquid refreshments.

up until I saw that Bear Grylls seemed to be less worried about drinking his own pee than taking water from a stream I never added anything I got tabs that were supposed to have no taste but it still tastes like swimming pool water. For my next outing I'm taking some concentrate fruit drink to see if it masks the taste.
The boiling water might be an option, I don't now enough about filter systems yet to buy any.


As a follow up question, what do you need to do to water from a high mountain lake say Lough Ouler in the Wicklow mts?

BarryD

Swimming pool is a good analogy alright and they're not always the healthiest places!! Lough Ouler? Find a rock sticking out and collect some clear water, boil if you have a stove, otherwise drink it! I wouldn't have too many qualms about collecting water from the Lough Brook that issues from it and it'd be the same water..

Be interesting to hear from others here if they've ever felt ill after drinking from a mountain stream in Ireland. Bound to be the odd case but I doubt if it's very common or has very serious implications. Most healthy people (like hillwalkers!) can deal with a few bugs. In fact, it's sommon enough in upland areas to come across water pipes and so on where local farmhouses source water from a higher level source, which is taking drainage off the mountain.

This doesn't hold of course for lower level river water or canals etc. - where humans and farming activities impinge on water quality.

sheesh

with the purification tablets if there is alot of 'stuff' in the water you need to add more of filter the water as organic compounds will react with sterilizing agent thereby leaving less to kill any bacteria.

I wouldn't be drinking water straight from a pool some walker might have pissed into it some sheep could have done a big poo in it :eek: I would be filtering and dosing it or boiling it alot of the stuff that you can get from water probably will not turn up straight a way too.

Urine shmurine. I'll live with that thought.

It's the thought of a rotting sheep further up the slopes that just puts me right off. There was a lot of them around here in Kerry a few months back, after wintry weather they seem to appear in abundance as guess they get caught out in snow and ice and wet wool means they stay where they fall and no farmers can access the highest slopes to round them up. Would be much more circumspect on farmlands than in say the National Park. Apparently a dose of water that contains a rotting carcass can be very very nasty.

BarryD

There's no harm in playing safe and being wary but I ask again, have you ever felt ill after drinking from a mountain stream? Is it an overstated risk?

I was ill once as a result of river water, well assume that's what it was - but this was after paddling (& capsizing) on the Slaney. The river at that point having passed through towns of Tullow and Baltinglass. Likewise, I've heard of people not feeling the best after capsizing in the Liffey.

Strasser

A few of us in a group got quiet ill for a few days after drinking from a fast flowing stream once high up in Donegal, ironically enough in the poisoned glen near Errigal.

BarryD

That was an unfortunate co-incidence of name so! Pretty conclusive that this was cause if several people got ill afterwards.

beggars_bush

the whole town of Roscommon has a boil notice for the past 4 months due to dead animals dumped in the water supply

colblimp

You need to buy yourself one of these:

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/hydration/PA101.html

I've taken water from stagnant pools, brown running water, a stream just down from where a dead sheep was and all sorts of other weird and wonderful places and was never, ever ill! It's a superb bit of kit, I wouldn't leave without it!

silverharp

colblimp wrote: »

You need to buy yourself one of these:

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/hydration/PA101.html

I've taken water from stagnant pools, brown running water, a stream just down from where a dead sheep was and all sorts of other weird and wonderful places and was never, ever ill! It's a superb bit of kit, I wouldn't leave without it!

Sounds great, how long do the filters last or how do you know when they are starting to fail? do you get replacement filters?

colblimp

silverharp wrote: »

Sounds great, how long do the filters last or how do you know when they are starting to fail? do you get replacement filters?

Ah now, that's the one thing I don't know about. Put it like this, I bought mine in 2006-7 and the filter still works beautifully. I'm pretty sure that once the filter is done, it kind of blocks up and you can't get any water through the filter. Send an email to Bob and Rose at BPL, they'll know.

silverharp

colblimp wrote: »

Ah now, that's the one thing I don't know about. Put it like this, I bought mine in 2006-7 and the filter still works beautifully. I'm pretty sure that once the filter is done, it kind of blocks up and you can't get any water through the filter. Send an email to Bob and Rose at BPL, they'll know.

that 'l do if you can get more then a few years out of it, it sounds like it should be much cheaper per ltr compared to the tabs and better tasting too

colblimp

silverharp wrote: »

that 'l do if you can get more then a few years out of it, it sounds like it should be much cheaper per ltr compared to the tabs and better tasting too

It certainly owes me nothing so if and when the filter does stop working, I'll simply buy another bottle, or there might be a replacement filter available. The filter screws in and out so if you're getting water from a tap, the bottle can be used as a, er, bottle. When you need the filter again, just screw the filter back in.

As for taste, it's just like normal water, no problems at all.

loobylou

I've used a steri-pen whilst trekking in the Himalayas http://www.steripen.com/classic/
No ill effects but SERIOUSLY heavy on battery power.
On day walks in Irish hills I'd drink straight from a flowing stream, never had a problem yet.

concussion

silverharp wrote: »

up until I saw that Bear Grylls seemed to be less worried about drinking his own pee than taking water from a stream I never added anything I got tabs that were supposed to have no taste but it still tastes like swimming pool water. For my next outing I'm taking some concentrate fruit drink to see if it masks the taste.
The boiling water might be an option, I don't now enough about filter systems yet to buy any.


As a follow up question, what do you need to do to water from a high mountain lake say Lough Ouler in the Wicklow mts?

Make sure that you only add the fruit concentrate after the appropriate sterilization hold time ( ie 30 mins per pint in normal temperatures or whatever is stated for your particular tablets). As sheesh said, heavy contamination will reduce the effectiveness of the agent and this includes any sugars you are adding.

silverharp

concussion wrote: »

Make sure that you only add the fruit concentrate after the appropriate sterilization hold time ( ie 30 mins per pint in normal temperatures or whatever is stated for your particular tablets). As sheesh said, heavy contamination will reduce the effectiveness of the agent and this includes any sugars you are adding.

I used the tabs again last weekend but didnt notice the taste as I didn't touch the water for ~hour, might have rushed it last time as I was parched, good to know though.

Corbally

I've never gotten sick drinking fresh water but i did get a dose after a dip in the liffey. Steri tabs or the liquid drops are both cheap(sih) and light so I don't think the benefits of drinking straight from a stream outweigh the downsides of carrying the tabs

sheesh

do any of you lot ever watch 'monsters inside me' on discovery channel in fairness it is usually from a fairly tropical area that the infections come from but alot of the infections are asymtomatic for months and sometimes years after the infection.