In 1854 a Medical Scientist, Dr. John Snow, was able to isolate an outbreak of Cholera in London to a single public water supply on Broad Street.
Now Cholera is nasty and it comes out both ends. It’s not necessarily fatal (though it can be) if you treat the symptoms and replace the water and electrolytes you lose while you’re ghastly ill. Still, not the kind of experience I would call fun as I’ve been through the preparation for a lower Endoscopy more times than I care to remember.
Cholera is not the only thing you should be worried about. There’s also Giardia, Legionella, Norovirus, and Campylobacter. All exceedingly nasty. To say as some do that the nice, safe, tested stuff that comes from your municipal water company stinks of chlorine and flouride so I’m going to risk real sickness instead is sheer idiocy.
“It has a vaguely mild sweetness, a nice smooth mouth feel, nothing that overwhelms the flavor profile,” Kevin Freeman, a shift manager at San Francisco’s Rainbow Grocery, told the Times of his store’s au naturale H20. “Bottled water’s controversial. We’ve curtailed our water selection. But this is totally outside that whole realm.”
Don’t like the way your water tastes? Get a Brita.
Real survivalists like Les Stroud (the only one worth listening to in my opinion) never drink anything that hasn’t fallen from the sky (fresh snow, rain) or that they’ve thoroughly boiled and strained (learn to make a friction fire dolt or better yet carry around some waterproof matches). One thing I’ve seen him use that I thought an incredibly good concept is a Lifestraw. It’s basically a super Brita in a tube and should work in a cesspit though that wouldn’t be my first choice (it doesn’t make it taste better, it makes it safe).
They’re cheap, like $15 on Amazon. I picked up 2 to throw in my First Aid Kit (you want one of those too).
Look Raw Water drinkers, you’re Morons- Rubes. You’re getting ripped off by Con Artists just like the Anti-Vaxxers are. Grow up!
Science is real and Medical Science, while not perfect, works.