Safest H2O.....

[Zinjanthropos]

....to drink. After a discussion amongst friends re wellwater the question came up, what's safer to drink..... melted snow, melted river/Lake ice or from the well?

[Syne]

Probably running river or well, with the well having more filtration.

[C C]

....to drink. After a discussion amongst friends re wellwater the question came up, what's safer to drink..... melted snow, melted river/Lake ice or from the well?

Safe as in avoiding death that happens within a few hours, days, weeks? Or safe as in not contracting indigestion, a temporary illness, parasites, or accumulating small amounts of poisonous elements which might take years to actually expire from? Assuming the latter category...

No absolute rule of one source being ubiquitously and perpetually better than the others -- because of the contingent, differing, potential suppliers of contamination for local areas (sometimes also carried from elsewhere). So needless to say: Water brought to a boil, if it's "feral" and totally unprocessed and technology is primitive (obviously won't help for non-biological toxic stuff in high levels, unless prolonged boiling would break it down to an innocuous precursor).

Even clean-looking streams and bodies of water will have a degree of the usual fecal and dead animal matter traveling down from someplace to help provide and maintain unhealthy microorganisms and parasites. Doubtless that's often dismissed by trekkers in a frozen wasteland where flowing brooks experience their tentative version of springtime.  

Springs and wellwater were once extensively used without most families developing ailments from them. When good, having maybe no more arsenic (etc) than what store-bought rice has these days. But there's been significant underground pollution of aquifers and the like since then (again depending upon the location / region).

Major attempts are made to find fault with snow absorbing toxic industrial substances from the air (and possibly other type concerns). But back in a more pristine era it would surely be high on the list. Could still be in comparison with a glass of summertime pond water that the cattle have been wading in. As long as the yellow, red, and brown varieties of snow are avoided -- any color besides its natural appearance, really.

- - -

NK Dalton: "Pssst. Did you hear how that small percentage of *engine* girl avoided using the white word? Probably just to avoid veiled accusations from the Russian again about her accommodating or conspiring with racist cowboys." "Yeah, yeah. Setup. We're being played by Hawkins. Let's ease the #### quietly out of here while we still can." --The Cobbler's Nexus.  

~

[RainbowUnicorn]

....to drink. After a discussion amongst friends re wellwater the question came up, what's safer to drink..... melted snow, melted river/Lake ice or from the well?

Safe as in avoiding death that happens within a few hours, days, weeks? Or safe as in not contracting indigestion, a temporary illness, parasites, or accumulating small amounts of poisonous elements which might take years to actually expire from? Assuming the latter category...

No absolute rule of one source being ubiquitously and perpetually better than the others -- because of the contingent, differing, potential suppliers of contamination for local areas (sometimes also carried from elsewhere). So needless to say: Water brought to a boil, if it's "feral" and totally unprocessed and technology is primitive (obviously won't help for non-biological toxic stuff in high levels, unless prolonged boiling would break it down to an innocuous precursor).

Even clean-looking streams and bodies of water will have a degree of the usual fecal and dead animal matter traveling down from someplace to help provide and maintain unhealthy microorganisms and parasites. Doubtless that's often dismissed by trekkers in a frozen wasteland where flowing brooks experience their tentative version of springtime.  

Springs and wellwater were once extensively used without most families developing ailments from them. When good, having maybe no more arsenic (etc) than what store-bought rice has these days. But there's been significant underground pollution of aquifers and the like since then (again depending upon the location / region).

Major attempts are made to find fault with snow absorbing toxic industrial substances from the air (and possibly other type concerns). But back in a more pristine era it would surely be high on the list. Could still be in comparison with a glass of summertime pond water that the cattle have been wading in. As long as the yellow, red, and brown varieties of snow are avoided -- any color besides its natural appearance, really.

- - -

NK Dalton: "Pssst. Did you hear how that small percentage of *engine* girl avoided using the white word? Probably just to avoid veiled accusations from the Russian again about her accommodating or conspiring with racist cowboys." "Yeah, yeah. Setup. We're being played by Hawkins. Let's ease the #### quietly out of here while we still can." --The Cobbler's Nexus.  

~

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/06/bang...aced-water

April 6, 2016 12:55AM EDT

Bangladesh: 20 Million Drink Arsenic-Laced Water
20 Years After Discovery, Failing Government Response

(Dhaka, April 6, 2016) – The Bangladesh government is failing to adequately respond to naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water across large areas of rural Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Approximately 20 years after initially coming to international attention, an estimated 20 million people in Bangladesh – mostly rural poor – still drink water contaminated over the national standard.

An estimated 43,000 people die each year from arsenic-related illness in Bangladesh, according to one study. The government identifies people with arsenic-related illnesses primarily via skin lesions, although the vast majority of those with arsenic-related illnesses don’t develop them.

soo... you can probably triple that number easily.
thats 150,000 people dying every year from arsnic poisoning of their ground water supply, 2 years ago and the figure would go up with the water table going down(some researchers suggest).

[Zinjanthropos]

For certain cultures or those who have inhabited vastly different geographic areas , do they evolve immunities to.some water bourne germs that others can't.handle.