The clear blue cool waterfall of organisms
Very often, after a hard day of trekking, you will reach a “clear blue cool waterfall”… and then you think “Look! The water is so clean!”, you think you are “just like mountain men”, lets just drink to our hearts content!
If you are lucky, the next day, you will wake up with bright sunshine and with the most wonderful smile. If you are not, you won’t even wake up – because you realise you won’t even sleep! You will be in that squatting position all night! 
Water! Contrary to what is believed. When it comes to water, what you cannot see CAN hurt you.
According to what I have read, there are three types of “things” in water that may potentially cause you your nightmare!
- Cysts – these are hard shelled single micro-organisms that may cause a gastrointernal upset!
- Bacteria – you’ve heard about this in Dettol advertisements everyday. Potentially can cause fever and pneumonia
- Viruses – viruses are the smallest, least pervasive waterborne fauna. Viruses may cause hepatitis A and B (you can die from Hep B!), diarrhea, flue, fever and colds
In many cases, where the streams are near to a civilization, the main cause for these things to exist come from chemical pollutants and fertilizers… and this is a global problem – environmentalists have been arguing on this for ages, and yet, we know that somehow somewhere, someone will still be taking the easy way out and dumping all their waste into the river.
Back in relation to trekking. We really need to be aware of this – clear water does not mean clean water. Make sure you purify ALL your water before you consume it, however tempting it may be! Its better to be safe than sorry. You won’t want your holiday destroyed just because you refuse to purify your water, right?
Shall talk more about the methods of purifying water in the next post!
Tags: bacteria, cysts, river water
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:56 am
Visit sharlet
This was gross! And yet it’s also true. You know, on TV they always show in movies or ads people in very beautiful nature places drinking water from streams, waterfalls, etc… it’s rather misleading isn’t it? You shouldn’t actually assume that just because the stream looks clean and clear, it means it’s not polluted or doesn’t contain bacteria. Good post!
January 10th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Visit Nicholas Wong
Waters in streams are generally full of micro-organisms anyway.
Indigineous peoples often take water from wells or rivers without issue, as they have built a resistance to these organisms.
I happen to know, McRitchie and lower Pierce Reservoir water is safe for drinking in an emergency without boiling