Sierra Water Quality

“Check this link:
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/releases/other/waterqual1-2004.html”

“This bears out my belief that most cases of giardia are caused by poor personal hygiene, not contaminated water. I will continue to drink the water in the high-country untreated unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise. One of my favorite and most frequently visited spots is about 5 miles downstream from a known cattle grazing area. I have always drank the water untreated with no adverse effect. Of course, it always helps to maintain a tolerance to certain pathogens. (Do the Mexicans suffer from Montezuma's Revenge?)”

“To build up my immunity to E coli and giardia, I often drink out of the toilet. Public restrooms are the best. I just take my Sierra Cup with me whenever I go into a stall. BRING IT ON.”

“It certainly would be nice not carrying a water filter. My MSR weighs at least a pound. Even better, not having to filter water! What a pain. Buck you spend a lot of time up high. What do you do?”

“Oh, he's high alright!

Buck, yoo clazy guy!”

“I've drank untreated water in the Sierra only a couple of times when it was emerging right from a spring. I'll still filter otherwise. On solo trips I use my Aquamira water bottle filter, doesn't weigh but a couple of ounces.
last edited: 1/09/05 11:44:09 AM”

“The study is an intersting starting point, but the authors also mention this is a very general study of raw Sierra Nevada waters. I work in water pollution/water quality in Southern California and think you better go back to the articles and read the "Limitations" sections before thinking you can drink your fill with immunity:

1. The study only took samples ONCE from each water source. They didn't do ongoing studies at each location, which could show increased coliform bacteria counts through the spring-summer-fall hiking season as the water warms up.

2. As they note, E Coli is a general classification for a type of bacteria and they didn't try to ID which species of E Coli they found. Believe it or not, there are some helpful species of E Coli already in your digestive tract.

3. More important is to pay attention to the Coliform bacteria counts - they are a better indicator of fecal contamination than E.Coli.

4. The authors mention they didn't use the same methods/materials required of a public water system to test for coliform bacteria. If your city/community drinking water provider found these same contamination levels in the local water system, they would have to shut it down due to contamination!

5. The authors specifically mention they did not test for giardia, other protozoans, or viruses. All could still be in the waters.

Buck may be trying to build up immunity to water-bourne pathogens by drinking toilet water at home, but he's probably going through huge amounts of toilet paper in the process. I'll stick to using some kind of filtering or disinfecting device when I'm in the backcountry. And no, I won't give you a few sheets of my TP if I run accross you in the backcountry with a "sphincter firing on all cylinders"”

“I agree top dawg.
And as the article said, “People still should use water filters or purification techniques like boiling drinking water in the backcountry." they agree with you too.
I found the the article interesting because I've FELT for a long time that the Giardia problem was way over blowen.
PS. I do carry a filter.”

“Here is an older article that deals with the same thing.

http://yosemite.org/naturenotes/Giardia.htm

One conclusion of this paper is that you can indeed contract giardiasis on visits to the Sierra Nevada, but it won’t be from the water. So drink freely and confidently: Proper personal hygiene is far more important in avoiding giardiasis than treating the water.

Recall that San Francisco water can contain a concentration of 0.12 cysts per liter,24 a figure now seen to be higher than that measured anywhere in the Sierra. San Francisco city officials go to great lengths to assure their citizens that the water is safe to drink, and if true—as it most assuredly must be—this comparison alone is quite revealing.

In the...summers of 1988 through 1990. Water samples taken on 10 different dates at each of three locations exhibited Giardia cyst concentrations between 0 and 0.062 (average 0.009) per liter.”

“Tango:
Yep, seen that article before. I use the treatment type they mention as being the most effective, iodine. Makes the water taste like $%&@#, but I haven't gotten sick yet. That article also mentions the possibliity of consuming other types of organisms in raw water, which iodine also helps kill. I also use a coffee filter to "prefilter" the water.

As for the levels of giardia in San Francisco and Los Angeles drinking water, the article doesn't mention whether the reported values are from treated or raw water. I haven't looked at either City's website, but I would imagine they don't report a definate value (California public water systems are required to publish a summary report every March, but don't have to include definitive values for giardia or cryptospoidium). The city I work for doesn't report values but just that they test for and track both of 'em.

Drink it straight if you want to, but I like the extra security of treating my water before drinking.”

“I stopped carrying a filter about a year ago, but I do use Aqua Mira to purify most of my drinking water.”

“The point I got from all of the articles is that the water in the Sierra is not as bad as people have thought, but you should still filter, boil, or treat.”

“I still carry my filter for water that doesn't appeal to me, but I will often drink un-filtered if the source looks clean & uncontaminated.

Of course I'm one of those who believes you should allow your body to develop its' immunity, humans are designed to take care of these little problems.”