this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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Asklemmy
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Water. At least here in Denmark. Bottled water is less regulated than tap water.
In parts of the Alps, the stuff coming out of the fountains in the town square is cleaner than the stuff that comes out of the tap lol ๐
In the states, you always filter or boil stream water, because animals shit it it, and you can pick up any number of nasty parisites and diseases. Tap water should at least be treated.
Is there no dysentary in the Alps? No giardiasis? Cryptosporidiosis?
I'd sooner drink tapwater short-term almost anywhere in a developed country than river water. The former may cause issues long term, but the later can make you life-threateningly ill in hours.
Are you talking about streams and rivers, and not ground water wells?
Yah, exclusively. Wells (stagnant water, whether above or under-ground) are problematic because they tend to breed bacteria, but any out-flowing ground-spring is probably fine. Deep wells, such as aquifers, are alse safe, I think, but you're unlively to encounter accessible ones of those in the wild.
I'm suspicious of even mountain springs, although they can be utterly delicious and safe; my issue is nhen you don't know what's upstream. There are lots of farmers in the Alps who let their sheep, goats, and cattle forage in the mountains. Which is perfectly fine, except that they poop, and that gets into running water, often after having sat out and having had plenty of time to build up bacterial populations, hosting parasitic worms and such. People also contribute, but less so. I'm not worried about drinking someone else's diluted pee, which is sterile in any case.
But, yeah, ground springs are fine, and those are far more common in the Alps than most of the ranges in North America.