Water safety.

[Macka]

Hello to everyone, if you will do me the honour i could use some advice!

My boys and i are about to go campnig in a wood and i was wondering about water safety.
The wood (which is very rarely visited by anyone as it has very few dry spots as its very boggy) has a pond and a stream.
The pond used to hold fish, rudd and roach hybrids, but i'm not sur if cormerants have ate them.
The stream that feeds the pond is extremily slow running and is red in some areas, especially near where we intend to camp.
In the surrounding area there is a golf course, motor way and farmers fields.
I am mainly concearned with the risk of my kids and i drinking water that has been contaminated by pesticides and fertilisers. There are lots of big trees surrounding the pond and stream.
Is there any (Good, inexpensive U.K.) kits i could buy to test the conditions ?

I am very new at doing this sort of thing and safety is paramount as i am taking my boys.
I have tried to give as much info as possible but if you wish to ask me anything please do so.

Thank you all for your input...MACKA & KIDS.....

 

[MrEd]

i dont know, but dont drink from a pond always go for clear running water unless you really have no choice. if your really worried take bottled water with you for drinking, its a bit of a weight to lug tho

 

[Mesquite]

i dont know, but dont drink from a pond always go for clear running water unless you really have no choice. if your really worried take bottled water with you for drinking, its a bit of a weight to lug tho

As Ed said.... take your water with you to make sure of safety.

Oh, and welcome to the forum

 

[MrEd]

oh yeah welcome

 

[Macka]

Thanks, MrEd & Mesquite, that sounds like good advice.

The thing is we were going to go for a week, that's a lot of water to carry.

 

[SimonM]

I wouldn't drink from low land streams these days...too much industry and intensive farming putting so much into the wter courses make it too big a risk for me.

Options time:

• Is there an animal drinking trough nearby...if yes, find the ball float and push it down to let the water flow for a while then collect fresh from under the inlet hose.
  
• If near a canal, get hold of a British Waterways key for about a fiver. this gives access to toilets and water etc.
  
• Get hold of an all singing all dancing water filter set up...£100 plus IIRC, but check the specs.
  
• Finally, take water with you!

HTH,

Simon

 

[Mesquite]

When are you going to be staying there?

If it's a while yet pack some water in and cache it somewhere in the woods. Just make sure you wrap the bottles in black plastic bags to block the light.

 

[Macka]

Thanks SimonM, i'll take a look at some.

Mesquite - Thats a very good idea, maybee i could bury some !

 

[sapper1]

Mesquite,why would you want to block the light,ultra violet rays from sunlight are known to be an excellent killer of viruses and bacteria.

 

[Mesquite]

Mesquite,why would you want to block the light,ultra violet rays from sunlight are known to be an excellent killer of viruses and bacteria.

Ever seen algae growing in bottles left in the sunlight?

 

[maddave]

Ever seen algae growing in bottles left in the sunlight?

Yup and thats why military water bottles are predominantly black or dark green. Keeps water fresh longer.

If your up on the hill with no crops above you the water shouldn't contain pesticides etc and I'd say just boil it. Even the pond water should be OK boiled after filtering any debris out through a millbank bag or shemagh

 

[Miyagi]

Good advice so far... (now it's my turn).

As a squaddie (80's) we were told not to keep water in a container (all we had were our '58 water bottles) for 3 days as you ran the risk of typhus.

I don't know how accurate this was (making the contents of a 58 bottle lasting 3 days for one thing!), and have always wondered about those litre bottles of water etc., on supermarket shelves.

Where I live, there is an old disused quarry on Hopetoun Estate, with many streams running nearby. They all let out onto the Forth estuary, some are frothy (brown/white bubbles), some clear, and one is coloured orange due to the rock it flows through.

I don't have a millbank bag etc., etc., and always take bottled or potable water with me when out.

My question is; Is frothy water naturally occuring or the result of agricultural "additives" used on the field further upstream?

Cheers

Liam

 

[Shewie]

When are you going to be staying there?

If it's a while yet pack some water in and cache it somewhere in the woods. Just make sure you wrap the bottles in black plastic bags to block the light.

That's exactly what I've done a few times. Plus it's a good excuse to do a reccy and find your camp spot and firewood supply etc.
Check for other sources of fresh water as near to the site as possible and then it's possible to keep your supply topped up occasionally.
I've used the folding 15L container and like Steve says dropped it in a bin liner and stashed it somewhere or covered in leaves/branches etc.

Have a good trip and welcome to the forum

 

[apj1974]

I agree with the rest, take it with you if you can. Otherwise running water, filter and boil it and you should be ok from bacteria etc, the problem these days is chemicals /pesticides etc - however it depends on what the farming is like in the area, obviously pastoral involves less chemicals that arable.

Run off from M'ways and Golf courses not great though!

Just be sensible about where it is collected and try not to worry too much. I've drank plenty of water from streams and I'm still relatively normal!

one more thing - britta filters (etc) are pretty good (for their price) at removing chemicals etc, boil it afterwards and you have pretty clean water - you just need to find a convenient way of making it portable.

oh and :welcome1:

 

[MrEd]

i wouldnt have thought a shemagh would be fine enought to get small particulate out, best off getting a millbank bag from somewhere if your going the filter and boil route, millbank bags are excellent and take up nil space, oh and as for boiling you dont need to go mad and 'hold it at a rolling boil for 10 mins' or anything like that as its a waste of time and fuel. Once water gets up to the point of a rolling boil everything will be dead by then. think of milk, they dont boil that when pasturising!

 

[Macka]

Thanks everyone for your advice & warm welcome.

Shewie, how long did you leave your water for and was it ok?
My bottles will be 2-3 litre bottles not 15 litre. Pop bottles lol.

I am going doing a reccy tomorrow with my boys. so hope fully i'll have some fresh info and maybe pictures (can i down load them ?).

I am truely thankfull for all your help, all your advice will be taken on board to help my little 'lads n dads' trip go smoother and safer, so thanks.

P.S. the campsite is sunk like a dingle or valley.

 

[Shewie]

Thanks everyone for your advice & warm welcome.

Shewie, how long did you leave your water for and was it ok?
My bottles will be 2-3 litre bottles not 15 litre. Pop bottles lol.

I am going doing a reccy tomorrow with my boys. so hope fully i'll have some fresh info and maybe pictures (can i down load them ?).

I am truely thankfull for all your help, all your advice will be taken on board to help my little 'lads n dads' trip go smoother and safer, so thanks.

P.S. the campsite is sunk like a dingle or valley.

We've stashed water for up to five days before arriving at camp. Like you the alternatives weren't great so we didn't have much choice. The second time we did it was in January last year and the 15L container was completely frozen solid

If you want to put some pictures up on the forum you need to host them somewhere like photobucket. If you do a search for photobucket you should find a tutorial or two.
In a nutshell though, once you've uploaded them to p'bucket you just copy the "IMG" code from underneath your pictures in your album, and then just paste that code straight into the thread.

 

[Macka]

Thanks pal, will do !

 

[helixpteron]

Perhaps ask the local water authority and environmental health dept about water quality in the area, and about the location of any standpipes which may be reasonably near.

 

[FreddyFish]

I've used these water filter/purifiers and they are really good.

http://www.survivalschool.co.uk/water-preparation-products/first-need-water-purification-system.html