is the water safe to drink in wicklow?

Fuinseog

presumably from steams where there is a steady flow and when in doubt throw in a iodine or chlorine tablet?

if doing the Wicklow way where can you get food after Laragh?
I know there is a hotel in Glendalough, but therefater seems to a desert.

Tabnabs

Most fast flowing streams high up are ok. look at it, is it clear? taste it, ok? then drink happily.

Don't drink water from below farmed area esp where animals are kept.

il gatto

Or near young forestry. They use slow release fertilizers when they're planting trees and it can leach slowly into watercourses (I've heard). Also, try and find the source. Best if it's coming out of a spring or rock face. You don't want to find a stream, take a long drink, and over the next brow find a sheep carcass lying in it. Bring lots and boil more if you have time.

Hugh_C

Yeah it's the dead sheep that'd worry me. I wouldnt risk it personally.

Alun

Sheep numbers on the higher hills in Wicklow are much lower than they used to be and you're more likely to see deer or even goats than large numbers of sheep these days.

Cookie_Monster

When I last did the WW we took from many streams and either boiled or added purification tablets to all of it, it was just easier in the long run.

as for after Glendalough: its a bit barren alright. I remember Aughrim being the next stop on our route

Use biox aqua drops. The after taste isn't pleasant but not bad. My only problem is that the bottles contain no best before date, not sure do they last forever or am in danger of half killing myself some time...

il gatto

Deleted User wrote: »

Use biox aqua drops. The after taste isn't pleasant but not bad. My only problem is that the bottles contain no best before date, not sure do they last forever or am in danger of half killing myself some time...

Sure, as long as it's only half, what the hey?:D

Gillo

Most if the purification tablets / mixes will last years so no need to worry. If you buy the liked of iodine tablets, it's worth buying them in a set of neutralising tablets also, they help get rid of the taste and make it easier to consume.

Whitehawk

Its fine to drink as long as its from somewhere where the water is moving fast not from so back end tiny pond :P after that dont worry ive taken water and then found 20 mins up the river a dead sheep and been fine and would and still do it
just think its all diluted!

il gatto

Whitehawk wrote: »

Its fine to drink as long as its from somewhere where the water is moving fast not from so back end tiny pond :P after that dont worry ive taken water and then found 20 mins up the river a dead sheep and been fine and would and still do it
just think its all diluted!

Diluted post mortem intestinal evacuations? No thanks:D

Cookie_Monster

Whitehawk wrote: »

Its fine to drink as long as its from somewhere where the water is moving fast not from so back end tiny pond :P after that dont worry ive taken water and then found 20 mins up the river a dead sheep and been fine and would and still do it
just think its all diluted!

Thats the thing though 99/100 times you'll get away with that fine. The other 1 time you be in tatters or worse. It's just not a risk worth taking, there could be ****, dead animals, farm runoff, people taking a piss etc in the stream / river.

Donny5

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Thats thing thing though 99/100 times you'll get away with that fine. The other 1 time you be in tatters or worse. It's just not a risk worth taking, there could be ****, dead animals, farm runoff, people taking a piss etc in the stream / river.

To be honest, faeces, urine, decomposing carcasses or anything like that wouldn't bother me. You might get ill, and have a bad few days, but you can puritab it and be very confident it'll be okay. Farm, forestry and industrial runoff would be a much bigger concern for me.

IPNA

Don't drink any water where you have not followed the stream to the original source. Fast moving water does NOT mean that it is safe to drink.
Boil everything!

Here in South Kerry I can drink from one stream. I have followed it all the way up the mountain and found where it seeps out of the ground. I will then only drink that water there at the source.

There are too many ways for water to get contaminated. True, you would only get sick for a few days or up to a couple of weeks but why risk it?

Donny5

IPNA wrote: »

Don't drink any water where you have not followed the stream to the original source. Fast moving water does NOT mean that it is safe to drink.
Boil everything!

Here in South Kerry I can drink from one stream. I have followed it all the way up the mountain and found where it seeps out of the ground. I will then only drink that water there at the source.

There are too many ways for water to get contaminated. True, you would only get sick for a few days or up to a couple of weeks but why risk it?

Just puritab it and you'll kill the vast majority of the nasties. The only thing is that puritabs don't filter out chemical or heavy metals, so you still have to be wary of farm or industrial run-off, but not animal waste.