ever drink any standing water?

[john keyes]

I almost drank some crystal clear water that was in an old rut

but I held out

is drinking "wild water" that bad?

I can understand if it is a matter of life and death and you have to, even drink muddy water

I was just wondering

[jlwilliams]

Drink standing water?  No.  Stand, drinking water?  All the time.

  Sorry, couldn't resist the play on words.

[efremtags]

standing water is no bad if you like severe diarrhea.

If you filter, its fine.

[nseries]

I did it once when I was a little kid.  Don't remember getting sick, but I do remember my father straitening me out afterward.

[Anduril]

did it in Utah once or twice.
strain the big chunks out with a bandana & BOIL.
..

[vacek]

The bigger problem on standing water is the micro-organisms.  Three types of which are potentially dangerous.

First there are the bacteria and virus that come from fecal contamination.  They can easily be taken care of by a small dose of chlorine (2 drops of bleach per quarter if the water is relatively clear).  They are potentially the most deadly (cholera for example) but least likely to be a problem.  Reason being is that if the water is clear and exposed to significant sunlight then the UV rays will kill off these microbes.  Most pathogenic bacteria and virus are puny (not robust) outside of a warm body without availability of their evolved food (bile salts and complex sugars).  In the environment (non-tropical) they tend not to last long. 

The second are the protozoan cysts like cryptosporidium and giardia (also the result of fecal contamination).  The dose of chlorine mentioned above probably will not be strong enough to kill them off depending on their development stage.  Larger doses may be effective but the water becomes somewhat offensive to drink.  In the boonies I always preferred boiling.

Regarding filtration.  The issue is not a direct toxicity due to the cloudiness (turbidity) of the water but the fact that the turbidity (mostly clay/silt and humus) reduces (1) penetration of the UV (2) reduces the effectiveness of the disinfectant by reacting with the chemical before it can disinfect.  Also the particles provide hiding places for the microbes which reduces the effect of the disinfection.  Good filtration does physically remove the protozoans.  A bandana doesn't really truly suffice here but is better than nothing, especially as a precursor to chlorination and/or UV exposure.

The original water treatment plants (many still in place in Europe) used a process called "Slow Filtration".  In this case the filter beds were made of fine sand that allowed the filtration of water at the rate of about 1 cubic foot of water per minute... through 1 cubic foot of sand... as long as about 1 yard of head was kept..  This was slow enough for a biological layer to form on the surface of the sand that literally digested the microbes....No chorination owas necessary for disinfection.  The 1 yard of depth was shallow enough for the UV light to past through the water, providing UV disinfection along with photosythetic energy to help the biological layer.  This was a great way to provide high quality water but is too slow for modern demand.

Point being.  Standing water that has settled and become clear and exposed to sunlight might be more safe than other emergency sources especially if there is not a lot of animal waste in contact.

[jrnsuz]

yes I have (fast mountain stream in Colorado) and I never will again. worst vomiting of my life. bad diarrhea from dysentery in the Philippines (slow learner) 

[INresponse]

I would avoid it, but thinking back to all the cruddy water  (lakes, ponds, canals, etc) I swam in as a kid, taking in gulps of water while playing and goofing around, I never got sick from any of it.  But I remember that drinking well water in northern Michigan would cause things to pass through rather quickly.  Every summer camping, regardless of the campground, well water would clean us out pretty good.

Not sure what this means, but I would still try to avoid drinking standing water. 

[vacek]

The primary reason you got the squirts from well water was the minerals that dissolve in the water as it leaches to the aquifer.  Most probably sulfate.  Well water tends to contain a higher mineral content than many surface waters.  (This is a rule of thumb, not absolute).

[INresponse]

The primary reason you got the squirts from well water was the minerals that dissolve in the water as it leaches to the aquifer.  Most probably sulfate.  Well water tends to contain a higher mineral content than many surface waters.  (This is a rule of thumb, not absolute).

I knew it was from the minerals in the well water, but not the specific one(s).   I know that swimming I didn't 'drink' more than a mouthfull or so of the gunky water, but I would think that would be enough of the little critters to mess up my innards.