Don’t Drink the Water!

If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country – likely you have heard the warning: “Don’t drink the water!”. That is good advice for the sake of your intestinal health. However, you don’t have to be in Mexico or any other foreign country to benefit from that wisdom because the same applies if you are camping in the mountains. A beautiful babbling brook looks very refreshing and inviting, but can be deadly if you don’t know what’s in the water….

For those of us who can still remember drinking cold, clear water out of a running stream high up in the Colorado mountains, it seems frustrating to think that is no longer a safe thing to do. A very real danger exists in the water due to microbial bacteria including E. coli and giardiasis (GEE-are-DYE-uh-sis) a microscopic parasite which lives in the intestinal tract and is passed through feces. It lives for extended periods of time (even months) outside the body, becomes part of local water sources and will infect a person when ingested.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website, “The Giardia parasite lives in the intestine of infected humans or animals (e.g., cats, dogs, cattle, deer and beavers). Millions of germs can be released in a bowel movement of an infected human or animal. Giardia is found on surfaces or in soil, food, or water that has been contaminated with the feces from infected humans or animals. You can become infected after accidentally swallowing the parasite; you cannot become infected through contact with blood.” Drinking untreated water, or washing food in untreated water may lead to illness. Another parasite which has the same symptoms and is contracted in the exact same manner is Chryptosporidium and an estimated 300,000 cases each year are diagnosed in the United States alone. This disease can be found in every region of the world in untreated water, so always be cautious with your drinking water.

Symptoms of giardia or chryptosporidium infection include:

• Diarrhea
• Gas or flatulence
• Greasy stools that tend to float
• Stomach or abdominal cramps
• Upset stomach or nausea, vomiting

These symptoms may not appear immediately, but may take up to 7 or more days to manifest and may continue from one week up to six weeks, causing dehydration and weight loss. The most “at risk” individuals for intestinal problems may be infants, small children, pregnant women and the elderly. As with any rapid dehydration, loss of body fluids due to diarrhea can be especially dangerous to babies. Having diarrhea not only drains fluids from the body but also restricts liquids from being absorbed through the intestinal wall. So simply drinking fluids becomes ineffective – most of it passes straight through the body. However, having an oral re-hydration therapy (ORT) can be life-saving. There are prepared packages for oral re-hydration therapy available, but you can make your own solution easily and for pennies. Accuracy in measurement is very important as the absorption of fluids into the intestine is dramatically increased by the correct amount of sugar used in the mixture.

Mix: 1 level teaspoon table salt with eight level teaspoons sugar to one liter (5 cups at 200 ml each) of water. Give one half cup to one full cup of solution to the child after each diarrhea episode and then seek medical assistance to treat the cause of the problem.

To avoid contamination, simple proper hygiene is important. Washing hands well with soap and water, using bottled or uncontaminated water for washing raw foods, adding to food or drinking, as well as carefully cleaning areas which have had exposure to diapers, soiled clothing or feces are all good precautions. To help make local water safer – the CDC recommends the following:

• Heat water to rolling boil for at least one minute (at altitudes over 6,562 increase boiling time to 3 minutes)
• Use a water filter that has an absolute pore size of 1 micron or smaller
• Use a water filter that has been NSF rated for “cyst removal” (see the CDC guide to water filters )
• Chemically treat the water with chlorine or iodine according to specific recommendations by CDC or other water purification agencies.

Becoming more aware and cautious of your drinking water sources when on vacation will help you have a safer, more enjoyable time visiting new places. Have a wonderful time wading, swimming, fishing and recreating in our lakes, rivers and streams but don’t take a chance on drinking un-purified water while you visit.