You can be quite sassy when it suits you . A quick look at the map is enough for me, here I was just giving out a clear explanation. No boreholes were sunk in getting my recent 3 litres. And plan ahead, pick up extra water when you’re low, not when you’re out. Then you don’t have to worry about being thirsty.
I’ll make an exception to my method for Taiwan ridge walks, water can be hard to come from up there on top of the mountains, and you might have to resort to drinking captured stagnant rainwater.
[quote=“Nuit”]I’m back, +3 more anecdotal litres .
It’s the reduction in risk that’s the key here. On Friday I took water from a National Park stream at 900m. The stream’s watershed extends above to a ridge at 2400m. No human activity. The map shows the stream source at about 1300m, so most rain falling into the watershed above that altitude is not surface flow, but sinks into the bedrock. It then percolates downwards, before emerging and running at surface for only a few hundred metres to the point where I captured it.
So I’d argue that microbial growth is unlikely under these conditions. if there is a dead animal wedged above you in the stream, that’s just highly darn unlucky, and not indicative of reckless behaviour. I’m not posturing here though, and am very open to serious discussion as to why the above approach might be flawed.[/quote]
How are you certain there is no human activity? And also why would humans be a factor and not deer which can exist at 50 per hectare in the high mountains?
Humans - extremely unlikely in a protected National Park with difficult access into the higher part of the watershed. Humans tend to be better at polluting their environment than deer. But good to see you on here - I was reading your Batonguan cross-island hike blog recently. What method were you all using for water purification there?
Perhaps no settlements but there can be a lot of backpackers (like yourself). I have never heard of a backpacker carrying his shit out in Taiwan.
Most likely you will not have any problems but I’m not a fan of most likely. I still don’t understand why you even bothered to ask the question if you are going to disagree with everyone that replies.
This is making me think if (running) water is as dangerous as it sounds reading this thread. I mean, that’s what all animals, including human beings, have been drinking forever. I understand that it has its potential risks, but… are they that terrible nowadays? (meaning if they are treatable). Are clean waters that dangerous?
It has good, very good reviews, and as it is soft plastic it’s easy to store and weighs nothing. The device can filter down to .2 microns: so most protozoa and bacteria though not viruses. I would drink Taiwan mountain water with this. It won’t take out the lead and mercury that leaches into the soil from the thousands of disused batteries discarded in the hills over the past century, but you can’t have everything.
[quote=“finley”]
Nuit: I get that you don’t want to carry too much, but it seems to me a water filter is as essential as a compass and a map, especially if you find yourself in trouble and have to survive on monkey piss or something.[/quote]
i once drank water in Xueshan’s black forest, right before entering the cirque… It was a tiny dripping stream right off a rock face… I know I wasn’t supposed to do it, but I was very thirsty on my return trip, and I remembered seeing it on my way up… so I drank from it…
I think nothing happened to me, but I would prefer to have water treatment equipments the next time I am in that situation…
[quote=“hansioux”]i once drank water in Xueshan’s black forest, right before entering the cirque… It was a tiny dripping stream right off a rock face… I know I wasn’t supposed to do it, but I was very thirsty on my return trip, and I remembered seeing it on my way up… so I drank from it…
I think nothing happened to me, but I would prefer to have water treatment equipments the next time I am in that situation…[/quote]
I’ve done the same thing, under similar circumstances. Which is why I plan to have a filter next time.
Well, it’s all fun and games until the monkey gets upset about being objectified …
[quote=“finley”][quote=“hansioux”]i once drank water in Xueshan’s black forest, right before entering the cirque… It was a tiny dripping stream right off a rock face… I know I wasn’t supposed to do it, but I was very thirsty on my return trip, and I remembered seeing it on my way up… so I drank from it…
I think nothing happened to me, but I would prefer to have water treatment equipments the next time I am in that situation…[/quote]
I’ve done the same thing, under similar circumstances. Which is why I plan to have a filter next time.
Well, it’s all fun and games until the monkey gets upset about being objectified …[/quote]
[quote=“kungfuken”]Not that I think a high-altitude mountain stream is necessarily a vector, but drinking unfiltered water is a great way to get hookworms or other intestinal parasites. This is why tea was invented, and why Chinese medicine considers cold water to be dangerous.
Why play with fire like that dude? There’s so many reasons why you shouldn’t do it, why bother trying to find one reason to do it? You could die if you’re unassisted and far enough away from civilization.[/quote]
… but drinking unfiltered water is a great way to get hookworms or other intestinal parasites. This is why beer was invented … fixed that for ya … tea was discovered accidentally when a tea leaf fell into a cup of hot water …
I don’t think that it’s the real reason … it has to do with ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ foods (some ying/yang thing).
But, I drink only cold or room temp water … and use hot water to shower, although a cold water shower does OK sometimes.
A testament to the power of filters. One day my friend Chris and I decided to walk across the mountains from Taipei to Daxi on the coast. On the second day, we were walking on the road in the watershed above Daxi and low on water. There were plenty of streams about but we could not access them passing as they were at the bottom of very steep gullies. Finally we saw a gully with a path down to the streambed. A tiny side stream flowed into the larger one and we figured that the former would be the better one to take water from. We filtered the water from a pool with a handpump filter and took a nice long drink before filling our containers to the brim and heading back to the main road.
A minute later we came round the corner, and found a chicken farm with coops perched above a shoot that slanted down directly into the water we had just taken our water from 100m downstream.
It wasn’t the happiest of moments as we poured our water out and wondered how long the parasites would take to act. Fortunately they didn’t. There were no adverse affects from consuming chicken shit water. Not that I recommend it or anything.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]A testament to the power of filters. One day my friend Chris and I decided to walk across the mountains from Taipei to Daxi on the coast. On the second day, we were walking on the road in the watershed above Daxi and low on water. There were plenty of streams about but we could not access them passing as they were at the bottom of very steep gullies. Finally we saw a gully with a path down to the streambed. A tiny side stream flowed into the larger one and we figured that the former would be the better one to take water from. We filtered the water from a pool with a handpump filter and took a nice long drink before filling our containers to the brim and heading back to the main road.
A minute later we came round the corner, and found a chicken farm with coops perched above a shoot that slanted down directly into the water we had just taken our water from 100m downstream.
It wasn’t the happiest of moments as we poured our water out and wondered how long the parasites would take to act. Fortunately they didn’t. There were no adverse affects from consuming chicken shit water. Not that I recommend it or anything.
Bottom line: always filter water if you can.[/quote]
You’re probably immune from all the chicken shit posts you’ve read on here over the years.
More like a testament to the power of the human gut - it takes a lot of microbials to bring it down.
Anyway, it’s a nice variation on the ‘dead deer upstream’ story.
[quote=“Nuit”]
So I’d argue that microbial growth is unlikely under these conditions. if there is a dead animal wedged above you in the stream, that’s just highly darn unlucky, and not indicative of reckless behaviour. I’m not posturing here though, and am very open to serious discussion as to why the above approach might be flawed.[/quote]
Drinking unverified water is reckless behaviour dude. “So I ended up hospitalised with dehydration, it’s just bad luck.”
That´s part of the fun
This is making me think if (running) water is as dangerous as it sounds reading this thread. I mean, that’s what all animals, including human beings, have been drinking forever. I understand that it has its potential risks, but… are they that terrible nowadays? (meaning if they are treatable). Are clean waters that dangerous?[/quote]
Death by dehydration caused by vomiting/diarrhoea is in the top ten causes of human death for the entirety of human history. It was probably in the top 3 until recently (since domestication of brewing yeast, but only in agricultural societies). In many parts of Africa lack of potable water is a super serious humanitarian crisis. Do a google search for ‘hookworms’ and ‘water-borne parasites’ if you don’t believe me. One particular nasty includes a microscopic worm that dwells in muddy water, which grows up to tens of centimetres long and dwells in the feet of its victims, and must be literally pulled from your flesh over many hours.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]
… but drinking unfiltered water is a great way to get hookworms or other intestinal parasites. This is why beer was invented … fixed that for ya … tea was discovered accidentally when a tea leaf fell into a cup of hot water …
I don’t think that it’s the real reason … it has to do with ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ foods (some ying/yang thing).
But, I drink only cold or room temp water … and use hot water to shower, although a cold water shower does OK sometimes.[/quote]
Hm, that’s a good point. I had assumed it had a utallitarian purpose and not just because “my qi!”.
. A quick look at the map is enough for me, here I was just giving out a clear explanation. No boreholes were sunk in getting my recent 3 litres. And plan ahead, pick up extra water when you’re low, not when you’re out. Then you don’t have to worry about being thirsty.
.
