Drinking River water

tonybodhran

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone knows if it is safe to drink water from the rivers in the glendalough area in wicklow if you are out hiking??

Cheers.
Tony

Joey the lips

Interesting... I was thinking of this the other day.

Lu Tze

I'm no doctor or (experienced hiker for that matter!) but i wouldn't drink water from a river/stream anywhere. The only exception i would make is a mountain spring, if you found the source, and there was no evidence of livestock nearby.

smokin ace

i have drank water from a river a few times when out fishing and was to far from the shop or home to buy a drink and i was ok not saying i would do it every time i am fishing but a drink from the river is better than being parched for a drink and it would have to be fast flowing water before i would drink from it

Cookie_Monster

I would not drink the water in glendalough.
Lots of goats and deer higher in the valley contributing bits to it regularly

Joey the lips

Lu Tze wrote: »

I'm no doctor or (experienced hiker for that matter!) but i wouldn't drink water from a river/stream anywhere. The only exception i would make is a mountain spring, if you found the source, and there was no evidence of livestock nearby.

Hi Lu

The water around this area has been drank for years. The only worry with livestock is sheep and they tend to be further up in the hills. Thats why I am interested.#
What would worry me is that dublin has in recent years encroched into wicklow that I imagine there is large area's that are dumping grounds....which in turn could conteminate water.

fyi... The water flowing through larch hill just outside rathfarnham is actually from a spring and actually quite nice however as I said above I imagine it should be interesting to see if its pure.

Lu Tze

Joey the lips wrote: »

Hi Lu

The water around this area has been drank for years. The only worry with livestock is sheep and they tend to be further up in the hills. Thats why I am interested.#
What would worry me is that dublin has in recent years encroched into wicklow that I imagine there is large area's that are dumping grounds....which in turn could conteminate water.

fyi... The water flowing through larch hill just outside rathfarnham is actually from a spring and actually quite nice however as I said above I imagine it should be interesting to see if its pure.

I grew up on a farm and used to be out all day occasionally in the hills, would only ever drink from a spring (it helps when you know where they are though!). Animals can contaminate the water anywhere on the way down which is why i wouldn't under normal circumstances drink from a stream/river.

Been up that way myself around laragh/glendalough, wouldn't worry too much about dumping affecting it, run off from the forestry might be a concern though.

dogmatix

Funny that - I spotted a tourist getting down on his hands and knees to take a sip of the upper lake water last Saturday morning. And not 200 metres away where a group of wild goats. I suppose by the time the water gets into the lake it has been well diluted and mixed but even so i'd think twice about drinking fro anywhere other then a spring.

Most delicious natural water I have ever tasted was from a spring in the Sierra Nevadas in Spain in 1996.

Sitric

In the same vein, does anyone know of a portable filter, small and light enough to carry hiking? Not the bigger bag ones you'd bring camping.

Joey the lips

Sitric wrote: »

In the same vein, does anyone know of a portable filter, small and light enough to carry hiking? Not the bigger bag ones you'd bring camping.

Yip... a billycan and filter paper... Cheap as chips... Then boil the water... If anything has got by after that.....


Oh and always take water from the flow...never the settled water.

Lu Tze

dogmatix wrote: »

Most delicious natural water I have ever tasted was from a spring in the Sierra Nevadas in Spain in 1996.

Similar, drank from a spring on the side of our mountain after being out all day, its not been match since... though at home we have a spring piped down to the house which is also excellent

Sitric wrote: »

In the same vein, does anyone know of a portable filter, small and light enough to carry hiking? Not the bigger bag ones you'd bring camping.

I think you can get chlorine capsules which would kill all the bacteria which would be the main concern. You would still need to take a container with you.

Or if you want to do it on the cheap, look into super-chlorination with bleach

WHO would probably have it on their website somewhere (inof on super chlorination that is )

Sitric

Thanks guys,

I was wondering if there was something faster?

Both of those techniques mean having to stop, either to set up a stove or in the case of chlorine, usually you disinfect a larger volume? I guess you could disinfect a single water bottle?

I was wondering if there was a something like a flask sized filter? That could clean enough drinking water for one person straight away?

And yeah, spring water is amazing. I've been in the mountains in Norway a fair bit and the water is incredible.
In ireland I usually have always boiled if camping.

BeardyGit

These are exactly the type of product you're after....

http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-water-filters-ultralight-series-products/

Great Outdoors do them, and I'm sure there are loads more that can order or supply online/mail order.

Cookie_Monster

Would a platypus/camel back not be an easier solution overall?

You know the water is 100% ok and don't have to stop. Only requires a small bag, some of them literally just hold the container, lightweight and not bulky at all.

Sitric

Rovercraft, thanks that is what i was looking for.

Cookie Monster, you're right, some guys I run/hike with use camel backs and they are super, I just hate wearing a bag/back pack if I don't have to!

IPNA

I am a big fan of the Kelly Kettle made in Mayo. Quick to boil and light weight.

Another option is the inline filter for the camelbak. All you have to do is fill the camelbak reservoir with questionable water and sip. The filter makes it a little harder to suck on the tube but it works.

I have used this device in some shady third world countries with success.

Here is the website.

bionic.laura

The main risk is Leptospirosis which you can get from drinking water with livestock pee in it. There are other rarer and even nastier water borne infections.

It is a weird one I do occasionally drink river water in places I feel are clean. I probably shouldn't. If I was about to die of thirst I would but we should not get outselves int at situation.

Sitric

I've never heard of the Kelly Kettle, it looks like a genius idea. What volume of water does it hold? How quick does it boil?

bionic.laura

bionic.laura wrote: »

The main risk is Leptospirosis which you can get from drinking water with livestock pee in it. There are other rarer and even nastier water borne infections.

Every time I get tempted to drink water, I think of the rats swimming about in it and the livestock rotting just upstream and it puts me right off. Used to be paranoid about water, the thought of running out of the stuff would almost make me more thirsty. Haven't trekked in any baking climate mind, and rely on overfilling the platypus, and just got used to going everywhere with it on.

Fuinseog

Joey the lips wrote: »

Interesting... I was thinking of this the other day.

in wicklow i normally have enough with me, but I have drunken water in wiclow water. fast flowing is good. iodine tablets are good if you want to be safe.

Fuinseog

dogmatix wrote: »

Funny that - I spotted a tourist getting down on his hands and knees to take a sip of the upper lake water last Saturday morning. And not 200 metres away where a group of wild goats. I suppose by the time the water gets into the lake it has been well diluted and mixed but even so i'd think twice about drinking fro anywhere other then a spring.

Most delicious natural water I have ever tasted was from a spring in the Sierra Nevadas in Spain in 1996.

it depends on yourself and and what you are used to. i know some people who will catch a cold if they are looking into the fridge for more than a minute.

cavedave

Do you ever laugh at those bottled water adds that talk about how the water "comes from a glacier" then when you are near a glacier you get massive warnings. "make sure you boil filter and iodine the water. It comes from a Glacier you know"