How come natural sources of water (lakes, rivers, streams etc.) can sometimes be perfectly good for consumption, even better than your regular tap water, and sometimes can pose life threatening risks drinking from them directly? Can you tell the difference without tests?
In: Biology
Like some other have said, you usually can’t tell if water is “bad” without tests. You can’t see many chemicals, bacteria, parasites, etc. that may be in the water.
Boiling will kill pathogens, but won’t remove chemicals and can actually make the chemical more concentrated in the water.
Even crystal clear streams in the mountains are not technically safe to drink straight from the source. That’s why so many backpackers carry water filters to refill their bottles. But it’s all about risk. Some people don’t want to risk getting sick, so they filter/boil. Some think the risk is low enough that they’ll drink straight from the sources.
A possible exception to this is ground water. Ground water, pumped from a well, is typically free of pathogens, as the soil does a good job of filtering them out. But if the ground water has been contaminated by chemicals, then the water is still not safe to drink. I believe this is the case in the San Fernando Valley in LA. There’s a large aquifer under the valley, but it’s too contaminated with I think TCE and/or Perc to be used.
which body of natural water is better than regular tap water and what data do you have to prove that statement?
You can’t see pathogens in water. You can’t see bacteria, parasites, toxic chemicals in water. That’s why you need to run tests.
Boiling water kills bacteria and parasites but it doesn’t remove toxic chemicals.
Lakes, rivers and streams can contain bacteria, parasites and contamination from various sources. You really don’t know if anything is in that water without testing.
That crystal clear water could contain run-off from farms upstream or even have a bloated animal carcass somewhere decomposing.
You don’t know and are better off filtering it/boiling it to be safe.
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