Free Drinking Water?

[WanderingCanuck]

Please permit me to rant just a bit on this one...

Before cities, there was clean water. Yes, there were always bacteria and parasites but that's solvable. What isn't, is the myriad of chemicals that are dumped into watercourses every day thus rendering it unfit for human consumption.

So, naturally clean water has been replaced with water cities and towns dump their sh*t into. The municipalities then suck it back out, chlorinate the hell out of it, and sell it back to the people so they can dump chemicals and sh*t in it again and continue the cycle.

I must be one of very few people that thinks there's a problem with this.

 

[Moxadox]

BTW, I got major sick after filling jugs from a spigot at a dump station. You know, the one that you're not officially supposed to drink from and is usually labeled "non-potable," but everyone including myself says it's fine. Well, that one time it was very seriously not fine....what are the chances of that happening again? Dunno, but I'm much more selective about my water sources now.

The Dire Wolfess

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Moxadox,
I have a little spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol that I can spritz a spigot prior to hooking up my hose and filling up. I haven't needed to get water from a dump station and hope not to ever have the need. I've had Vibrio cholorae and Shigella in my life and would really like to avoid another episode of a GI transmittable illness again.

Hint:
Don't eat raw seafood in the Philippines and don't let your kid sick with shigella puke in your face. The former was the sheer stupidity of a 17 year old girl (me) and the latter was just bad luck of being in the wrong place.
Ted

 

[Moxadox]

Oh Ted, what a nightmare! I'm sure you're waaaay careful about your water now. Actually, I sprayed the spigot down with bleach, but the source of contamination must have been inside. Thank goodness that's in the rear view mirror. And I've found better sources of water in that location, since.

The Dire Wolfess

 

[bullfrog]

Can you imagine the amount of prescription drugs and illegal drugs that get flushed down the drain. Drive by Moab Utah and look at the amount of radioactive tailings they have finally started removing and sealing under ground 50 miles away after 50 or so years of letting them leach into the Colorado River, it is literally the bank of the river that waters pretty much most of the southwest. Most "authorities" up untill a few years ago were under the opinion that " the solution to polution is dillution" and makes me wonder about any water source. Forty years ago I taught on the reservation in New Mexico where the creek from the uranium mill was coated yellow with deposits from the process a few miles up the mountain and the area well was several hundreds of feet deep due to lack of rain fall. The water out of the tap looked like tea and the smell was so bad I had to mix Tang drink mix in it to be able to brush my teeth without throwing up. I started buying bottled water then and have since. It may not be good for you either but it is definitely better than that stuff was!

 

[John61CT]

Nope, every right-thinking human agrees.

But we must live within our current reality, as she is.

Focus our energy on the things we **can** change.

 

[Weight]

John, you would be surprised at charges leveled against people using those keys. Being responsible for the security of their system, Water Utilities can take the issue very serious. Even for "one drink of clean water". Also many time the outside faucet is connected to the irrigation system. Like a private untreated well or even reclaimed water.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

If you are so concerned about drinking water quality get a Berkey water filter.  Or better yet a reverse osmosis system.

 

[lenny flank]

Before cities, there was clean water. 

Well, except that people died from diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Still do, in undeveloped countries.
That's why everyone from the King to the lowest peasant drank wine or beer throughout the Middle Ages. It was a lot safer than drinking the water.
Clean, safe drinking water is a 20th century invention. It barely existed before that.

 

[Dingfelder]

Please permit me to rant just a bit on this one...

Before cities, there was clean water.  Yes, there were always bacteria and parasites but that's solvable.  What isn't, is the myriad of chemicals that are dumped into watercourses every day thus rendering it unfit for human consumption.

So, naturally clean water has been replaced with water cities and towns dump their sh*t into.  The municipalities then suck it back out, chlorinate the hell out of it, and sell it back to the people so they can dump chemicals and sh*t in it again and continue the cycle.

I must be one of very few people that thinks there's a problem with this.

Just addressing the chlorine angle of this, gardeners find it problematic to be sure, and I've long seen it recommended that people use showerheads designed to filter chlorine out.  Supposedly we can get quite a bit of our overall exposure to chlorine via the bath and shower.

I've never gotten that kind of showerhead, but would in the future.  And it's the whole cavalcade of things like this that makes me want to use filtered water for the rest of my life.

 

[Dingfelder]

Can you imagine the amount of prescription drugs and illegal drugs that get flushed down the drain.   Drive by Moab Utah and look at the amount of radioactive tailings they have finally started removing and sealing under ground 50 miles away after 50 or so years of letting them leach into the Colorado River, it is literally the bank of the river that waters pretty much most of the southwest.  Most "authorities" up untill a few years ago were under the opinion that " the solution to polution is dillution"  and makes me wonder about any water source.  Forty years ago I taught on the reservation in New Mexico where the creek from the uranium mill was coated yellow with deposits from the process a few miles up the mountain and the area well was several hundreds of feet deep due to lack of rain fall.  The water out of the tap looked like tea and the smell was so bad I had to mix Tang drink mix in it to be able to brush my teeth without throwing up.  I started buying bottled water then and have since.  It may not be good for you either but it is definitely better than that stuff was!

Yeah the southwest seems to be in perpetual drought.  I often read of reservoirs, lakes, and rivers being the lowest they've been in many years or even decades.  It's hard to dilute much when you're in a drought -- and the opposite of dilution being concentration is a scary thought.

 

[Dingfelder]

Well, except that people died from diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Still do, in undeveloped countries.
That's why everyone from the King to the lowest peasant drank wine or beer throughout the Middle Ages. It was a lot safer than drinking the water.
Clean, safe drinking water is a 20th century invention. It barely existed before that.

That's true.  One of the most significant advances in a population's longevity, I've read, is its having reliably clean water.  It can literally double.

Some ancient people did have clean water, but since germ theory was unknown, it was mostly an accident of circumstance.

One reason the British favored tea so much is that it was promoted as "safe."  It has mildly antiseptic properties and was of course heated.

 

[John61CT]

Well, except that people died from diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Still do, in undeveloped countries.
That's why everyone from the King to the lowest peasant drank wine or beer throughout the Middle Ages. It was a lot safer than drinking the water.
Clean, safe drinking water is a 20th century invention. It barely existed before that.

No all that (especially kings) was after the invention of cities.

Hunter gatherer, that was the Garden of Eden, pre-agriculture.

 

[lenny flank]

Cities date back as far as Uruk and Catal Huyuk. Safe clean drinking water dates back to the 1910s.

 

[John61CT]

Still around some places.

Both wells and springs are just fine, the latter still flows ice-cold year-round through a rock cistern in the mudroom of the 200+ y.o. house I grew up in.

Key actually, beyond away from any man-swarms, is no agriculture uphill.

 

[highdesertranger]

I would like to point out the southwest is in perpetual drought because it's desert. we have over populated the whole area now when we are short of water the news screams Armageddon. damn air conditioning and environmental groups ignoring the real issue. highdesertranger

 

[rm.w/aview]

You've reminded me of Edward Abbey... "There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid west so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be."

 

[highdesertranger]

Mr. Abbey was correct. in fact subconsciously my post above probably from reading his works. highdesertranger

 

[Moxadox]

"There are two ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning."
--Craig Childs, "The Secret Knowledge of Water"

Highly recommend this book to anyone who spends more than 10 minutes in any desert, anywhere, any time of year. It can save your life in more ways than one.

The Dire Wolfess

 

[bullfrog]

Major Powell after his trip down the Colorado river and the surrounding area stated in his offical report it would not be possible to substain any large population in the South West and this was after an unusually wet period of our history. No body listened and ironically they named one of the larger reseviors after him. I wonder if he will have the last laugh should it run dry in the future. It is predicted to go down to an elevation of 3573 feet which is 127 feet below full pool.