this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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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.
Depends on altitude really. If you're higher up it's freezing meltwater, which might have a non-zero chance of containing disease carriers but it's probably extremely unlikely.
Of course. It's animals - including human ones - that introduce the parasites. No animals, no problem!
There's natural sources everywhere, literally filtered water pouring out of rocks. So much so that the overflow from water treatment plants gets pumped to the fountains, and troughs in the countryside for walkers to use
Stuff coming directy out of the ground is probably safe. I'd still avoid streams and rivers.
Nobody mentioned rivers or streams, High-Fructose-Syrup-Boy ๐
No need for that sort of insult. We're talking about water here for fuck's sake.
When in a trip to Europe when I was 16, my grandpa and I visited Switzerland for a week. We got e-bikes for our time there and would take them everywhere we went around the country (absolutely gorgeous countryside, with bike trails literally all over the place). One day we went up into the Alps to visit and check things out. Our plan was to ride from one town on one side of the mountain, ride up over the mountain, then catch a train ride home.
I rode on ahead because I was impatient, ended up getting lost so I had to make that ride myself (and it took literally all day). At one point I stopped to take a break and I saw a large tub filled with water, which I assume(d) was for some animals or something. Well anyway I was tired and thirsty so I just went right up to the tub and dunked my face in for a drink. I could see bits of grass and whatnot floating in it but I didn't care cause I was so thirsty.
I've been fine ever since.
That's a great story, and it sounds like an amazing trip.
It's not a "will", it's a "might". It's a game of Russian roulette; 5 times you might be fine, but is it worth it if the 6th isn't, and you spend the rest of the vacation puking and crapping your guts out?
For me, the question is: are there any such parisites in the Alps? Maybe not. Giardia in the new world is spread largely by beavers, as I understand it, and those don't exist (much) anymore in Europe.
I mean I absolutely wouldn't do it again lol. Nowadays I carry a water bottle with me anywhere I go
Good habit! I'd settle for even one of those filtering bottles; the biggest concern in streams is parasites, and those filters are fine for those. Cautious, not paranoid!
You can absolutely 100% safely drink water from the spout in a trough in a field in Switzerland or France. If it's not drinkable it's labelled "non potable". If there's no label it's fine
Not everywhere is the US
I wish you'd shared this anecdote sooner. Think of all the money that could have been saved on water treatment if people had only known that one time you drank from a semi questionable water source and didn't get sick.
There's nothing questionable about a water trough in Switzerland. It's safe unless otherwise labelled
NOT SAFE FOR DRINKING