Waterborne Diseases

[kev]

If you were to drink this water, what kind of waterborne diseases would you expose yourself to? The pictures were taken at Dam B in East Texas. Keep in mind that this is a very rural area where lots of people have septic tanks.

YouTube - Waterborne Diseases

[Tugger]

No I would not drink the water as I can think of a few I can come up with....

1) Ecoli
2) Guardia
3) Amoebiasis
4) Cyclosporiasis

The last one I knew but I couldn't remember and had to look up, both Amoebiasis and Cyclosporiasis are waterborne diseases that come into play when treated and untreated sewage enter a water supply

[Backwoods Bum]

Crypto, from crap. But just about anything could be in there.

Boil the hell out of it.

Most people don't seem to be aware that NO FILTER eliminates viruses. PURIFIERS do, but most people don't use them. SteriPen does, but a lot of people don't want to rely on an electronic device for something as important as water. Boiling will kill everything. What sucks is you are left with hot water for a couple hours at least.

BTW, Crypto is a bacteria, not a virus. A good .2 micron filter will eliminate it.

The Bum

[WY11J2]

I recently became aware of a solar cooker called the "Cookit" that can pasteurize some polluted water in about 2 hours. I made one from foil-covered cardboard, placed a quart of cool tap water in a 1-gallon coffee pot, placed that in an oven bag and in the "Cookit." In one hour, the water temperature was 100 degrees - on a 43-degree day with a mild breeze. If you do a Google check on the "Cookit," also look up the WAPI (Water Purification Index) to learn how long to keep the water in the "Cookit." This made a believer out of me, and I intend to experiment some more.

[nagalfar]

Originally Posted by WY11J2

I recently became aware of a solar cooker called the "Cookit" that can pasteurize some polluted water in about 2 hours. I made one from foil-covered cardboard, placed a quart of cool tap water in a 1-gallon coffee pot, placed that in an oven bag and in the "Cookit." In one hour, the water temperature was 100 degrees - on a 43-degree day with a mild breeze. If you do a Google check on the "Cookit," also look up the WAPI (Water Purification Index) to learn how long to keep the water in the "Cookit." This made a believer out of me, and I intend to experiment some more.

I have been using a WAPI for about a year.. and it is priceless in terms of time and wood saved.. not to mention I know it works..

[olddude]

probably a list as long as your arm , it would be hard to tell but nothing i would want to drink,

[wolfman jim]

What about the fish would they be safe to eat?

[TMcArthur]

Heavens. E. coli and giardia, cryptosporidium, amoebic dysentery, microsporidiosis, cholera, typhoid, hordes of various parasites, even polio - and who knows what else. Fortunately there are lots of good ways to kill off the beasties. Lessee, there's' micropore filtration, iodine, heat treatment, UV treatment. Chlorine is a last resort as some cysts are known to be resistant at levels I'd be willing to drink.

Turns out you don't really need to boil everything. Any time at all at 180 degrees F kills off the pathogens. And when you cook poultry pork or ground beef, which can contain many of the same beasties, you don't need to get the center to boiling point, We've been told to boil everything in the field because most of us don't carry cooking thermometers and timers but it isn't really necessary. The Pasteurization process only gets up to about 160 degrees for 30 seconds or 145 degrees for 30 minutes.

The SODIS (solar disinfectant) method of purifying water with nothing but clear plastic soda bottles and sunlight looks very interesting. Uses a combination of heating and UVA from sunlight. Found it in the Wikipedia article on Solar water disinfection. Filter out the solids from the water. (A funnel and some filter paper will do the trick.) Fill the bottle 3/4 full. Shake well to oxygenate the water. Leave out in bright mid day sun for 6 hours or for 2 full days of cloudy weather.