Drinking Rainwater with Tiny Bugs Swimming in It

[Sailor g]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

When the tropical waves pass over the Atlantic from Africa, many of them have heaps of Sahara dust. Rain takes this with it and there have been cases of cattle getting sick with disease from Africa this way.


A good "under the counter" filter for consumption water is the way to go imo.

When I was teaching in Las Vegas my class took air samples and found sand grains from the African Desert. It was amazing to know how far dust travels.

+2 on water filter. We used the Water Fixer (paper and UV filter and UV light) the entire time we cruised Mexico. Never a problem. We used it also when we got back to LA without UV to get nasty taste out!! LOL.

[Capt Phil]

Spent my younger years until about 12 living off the grid in the interior of British Columbia and we had a cistern for rainwater and creek we dammed up that we pumped water up into the cistern by hand when there was enough water in the dam. No one ever got sick until some visitors from the US stayed with us from some big city in the south. They fell ill I remember and had to go to town for treatment. We used a screen of some sort to get out the big pieces and periodically used something I think was more like a swimming pool drag to clean off scum from the top of the cistern. I recall being told not to disturb the bottom of the cistern for fear of stirring up a bunch of junk. I'm sure the health dept would have a cow and condemn our system but it work great for us. Mind you we were smart enough to place the outhouse downstream from the creek and had no power so it all seemed very natural to me. Today's city living folks have no clue and really need the protection of the government to survive IMHO... Phil

[rakedfront1]

Originally Posted by klmmicro

Have filled plenty of canteens with catchment from my rain fly up in the mountains without ever having any sickness from it. Did have a friend who was hospitalized after drinking stream water without boiling first. Strange thing, I drank the water about two feet away and never had an issue there either.

Your better immune system saved you from getting sick. And I think you built your better immune system by being exposed to the bugs in the world that you live in.....Now Mr. TechNav, Pharmacy Board Certified here is quick to tell you that we are all ignorants here for not following the 21st century medical and pharmacy practices and sterilize everything with the very same drugs and chemicals that they sells.......

My grandfather used to say that if water falls over 100 stones it is safe to drink it. I grew up running around in the woods, drinking rainwater and water from streams without boiling it and without filtration. I also knew from which streams not to drink water. I had a "wild instinct" that kept me healthy and I never got sick. We are so disconnected from the natural world we live in!!! Look at all the animals in this world, they do not boil, filter or sterilize water and they are more healthy than most humans.....

I much rather drink water that has live stuff growing in it rather than poison it with chloramine, chlorine and fluoride trying to keep it safe
to drink. I can do this because I have a strong immune system that I built by not using hand sanitizer, vaccines and all the other crap that medical experts are trying to sell us.

TechNav please spare me a reply, trying to educate me. Since you into throwing titles to support your point I can throw one back at you. I went through the same school of Pharmacy you did, except I quit the field because I was disgusted with the practices of pharmaceutical industry....

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Sailor g

When I was teaching in Las Vegas my class took air samples and found sand grains from the African Desert. It was amazing to know how far dust travels.

+2 on water filter. We used the Water Fixer (paper and UV filter and UV light) the entire time we cruised Mexico. Never a problem. We used it also when we got back to LA without UV to get nasty taste out!! LOL.

In Australia we have seen airborne examples of the intercontinental drift of plant pathogens. As an island we have been protected from many plant and animal diseases and pathogens over the years and thus quarantine may be seen sometimes as tight.

Only recently the disruptive effects of sugar cane smut has finally made its way to Australia by the intercontinental jetstreams. Unfortunately.

[Sailor g]

Originally Posted by downunder

Only recently the disruptive effects of sugar cane smut has finally made its way to Australia by the intercontinental jetstreams. Unfortunately.

We forget we are global. People talk about the air or water pollution in one place or another like the air stays there.
We have one air and one water. What happens in one place affects us all.

[mikeguyver]

"OMG! We'll all be killed"..............
"The sky is falling"......
"NOBODY GETS OUT ALIVE"......
"MY PENIS IS BIGGER THAN YOURS".......
"I'M A BLAH BLAH BLAH EXPERT AND YOU'RE AN IDIOT".......

The fact is, we've all lived this long doing whatever we are doing and it seems to work so far. Maybe some of us will get sick or die from bad water or get ran over by a bus on the way to buy more filters or chemicals. There are so many ways to go that we should maybe just sit in the corner and wait for death to come without having any life experience at all?.
Fire away ....

[rognvald]

To drink or not to drink . . . that is the question. Here's the info from the Center for Disease Control. It's your body, your choice.
Rainwater Collection - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

www.cdc.gov/.../dri...‎

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United States Centers for Disease Control and Preve...

Good luck and good drinking!

[fryewe]

Often had to scare the salamanders out of the spring so we could get a sip of cool water when we were kids running in the woods all day.

Most of the rural houses in the area had spring boxes and carried water for household use from their spring. A few houses had hand pumps and shallow wells but the spring water was always clearer and better.

No one got sick from their water supply in the twenty years I lived there.

[JPA Cate]

After Boatman61's experience with fouled water tanks on his recent Atlantic Delivery, I am seriously tempted to recommend to all buyers of previously owned boats that they flush their tanks, re-fill, and treat with chlorine bleach in the ratio 1 Tablespoon to 10 gallons, then use a charcoal filter to filter the chlorine flavor out of the water. We had to do this when we bought this boat, because there was weird stuff in the water, and since then, it has all been fine, without the need for continued treatment.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by mikeguyver

"MY PENIS IS BIGGER THAN YOURS".......
"I'M A BLAH BLAH BLAH EXPERT AND YOU'RE AN IDIOT".......

Prove it!

[Coops]

You want him to prove that you are an idiot?

Coops.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Coops

You want him to prove that you are an idiot?

Coops.

No, prove that he isn't one in spite of apparent evidence.

I have already confessed more than once that I'm an idiot (plus).

[Coops]

I don't have to confess. Everybody just knows somehow.

Coops.

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by Coops

I don't have to confess. Everybody just knows somehow.

Coops.

Yep Don, that ship sailed.

[liveaboardL]

A coffee filter seems to do OK for now, but, long term, I plan on getting some carbon to take out the aluminum, other heavy metals & raotopes that have no business in my drinking water, or my body.