Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

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raven
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Re: Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

Post by raven » August 11th, 2014, 10:37 pm

And it depends on the well. Probably most dowsed wells, of which there are many in the US, are near enough to the surface to have surface sources. Also wishing wells, but they were probably among the dowsed or near a creek or in a Disney film.
Last edited by raven on August 11th, 2014, 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

raven
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

Post by raven » August 11th, 2014, 10:48 pm

To drink the pure waters of the hills or not. It depends; I like the flavor of wild water.. If there is a trail or a well-peopled area above, or I'm at a lake which may collect from an area with hikers or campers, I purify or filter. I trust most snow melt for at least I am protected by a large dilution factor if there isn't a popular route above.

A friend, much traveled in hills, who has been drinking wild water nearly always for over 40 years (starting with her Dad and Mom as a toddler or shortly after) got Giardia in Portland. First waterborne sickness. Silly thing; she still doesn't filter in restaurants.

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Koda
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Re: Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

Post by Koda » August 12th, 2014, 7:48 am

adamschneider wrote:
Koda wrote:Well water is technically ground water and spring water is technically surface water.
Depends on the spring. In Central Oregon there are a lot of springs that come out from between layers of lava flows, and there's nothing surficial about them.
I will agree that that kind of spring is totally safe to drink from in most cases. Its still surface water the second it comes out but it is at the source that is naturally protected from the immediate geography. There is a spring like that outside of Moab Utah that flows like a garden hose right out from the slickrock cliff wall. We all filled our hydration bladders untreated from that.

Many source springs I’ve encountered come out of the ground where there is a risk of contaminants from rain runoff adding to the springwater and animal use. It’s the source, but a higher risk of pollutants.
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Born2BBrad
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Re: Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

Post by Born2BBrad » August 14th, 2014, 6:37 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone. As someone who has gotten a confirmed, debilitating case of giardia from drinking out of a stream, I think I'll err on the side of caution.
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BurnsideBob
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Re: Is it safe to drink spring and melt water?

Post by BurnsideBob » August 17th, 2014, 8:30 am

In a word, no. Without testing neither spring or melt water can be deemed absolutely safe.

Spring water may be contaminated by heavy metals and other substances leached from the formations the water flows thru. The volcanic formations of the Pacific NW should be low in such contaminates, but mineralized areas, particularly with a history of mining, may be suspect, some definitely toxic.

Melt water can be contaminated by micro-organisms, accumulated air pollution, animal waste, etc. In the Sierra Nevada, for example, there was concern about "acid flush"--the sudden Spring release of snow melt water acidified by air pollution--disrupting the ecology of high alpine lakes. The colored snow you see late season is from high populations of algae living in the snow. The algae, in turn, support snow worms and other organisms. The melt water will contain these biotypes.

A comprehensive list of water contaminants of all types, with the usual sources of contamination, is available here:

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/#List
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