Raw water - has this been discussed here?

[BlsdMama]

It's straight up unfiltered and untreated from wherever. Usually a spring. I wondered that about RO myself, but in the article I read, it said that RO, distilled, filtered, etc. water is "dead." Apparently, water is only good for you if it turns green in a few weeks...

Sources differ. Surface water is a far cry from well water. Ours is unfiltered and untreated. Our well is 325 feet deep and no agricultural contaminants at all. Tastes fantastic. I’d really hate to be drinking city water.

[frogger]

Well, I guess I've drunk plenty of raw water. We had a shallow well right next to the lake when my children were little. We all swam multiple times a day and made no effort not to get the water in our mouths. Ditto swimming in the harbour. We drank from streams camping growing up, although we don't any more. Too many giardia stories floating around. We drink spring or well water without thinking twice, when we are visiting other places. I wouldn't get water to take home from a random unknown spring, since I don't know whether it is surface water off a field or from someplace deep, filtered by plenty of sand and peat.

 

Nan

I agree so many people freak about untreated water. I've drunk lots of untreated surface water in my life in areas that I know. I know a whole town that tests their spring every year and then uses it for personal use. If I hear that there have been cases of giardia though I go into high alert. No swimming, wading, rinsing your hands, much less drinking it. I've watched people carefully filter drinking water then wash their cup and utensils in untreated water. Or they won't drink the water but they'll swim in it. That kind of makes filtering your water pointless.

 

That being said I must laugh at the thought of BBQ flavored raw water.

[frogger]

I would probably feel different in an urban or agricultural area. :)

[creekland]

To me, it's all about the results of a water test.  When we found out our (shallow and old) well had oodles of e-coli and way too many nitrates (bad for young developing brains) it was a no brainer to get it UV zapped and use a fair amount of bottled water as our drinking source instead.  (UV zapped because those bugs are bad even for things like infections which can happen from showers and if we cleaned our hands with cold water, adding those bugs - alive - isn't terribly smart.)

 

Where I grew up, the well water was just fine.  It's the farming around us that affects our water table and our well is too shallow to filter it out well.

 

BUT... for those wanting raw water, be my guest!  That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger according to Nietzsche.  He's probably correct.  One just has to get over that first hurdle in the sentence.

[LucyStoner]

Well if you think about it, there was really nowhere to go from "artisan water" except to "raw water".

 

I'm with Texasmama on this. People will go to absurd lengths to scare themselves silly about made up problems. Our food and water supply ranks exceedingly high on the safety scale from a historical perspective.

[frogger]

Well if you think about it, there was really nowhere to go from "artisan water" except to "raw water".

 

I'm with Texasmama on this. People will go to absurd lengths to scare themselves silly about made up problems. Our food and water supply ranks exceedingly high on the safety scale from a historical perspective.

Well, mostly. There is Flint but in general yes, the safer we get the more people seem to have to come up with crazy stuff.

[Liz CA]

I have to wonder if I'm the only person that thinks Berkey filtered water tastes gross. Like I would rather drink my friend's filtered city water (which is also gross but slightly less so) than the Berkey water. I do find that my friend that uses one for their well water has a slightly more tolerable taste, but .... I don't, something about it. 

 

Maybe I'm just missing all the nitrates from my own water. ;)

 

 

You can try different "candles" for it if you don't care for the charcoal you can opt for the Doulton. It supposedly tastes a little different. I have bought Doulton but have not needed to install them yet so don't know yet if it's different for me.

[Liz CA]

That's one of the things it is about definitely.  One person in the article I read said that fluoride is a mind control drug.  Like, the government is controlling the minds of the American citizens through people drinking fluoridated water.

 

 

Explains why my mind runs wild since we have not had fluoridated water in decades.

[Carrie12345]

I drank water straight from a mountain spring more than once growing up. (Well, from containers that were used to collect it from the spring.)  It's definitely much less likely to be contaminated than a random stream or lake.  I'd call it as close to well water as you can get without being, well, well water!  My well water doesn't kill me because it's naturally filtered by the earth, and then just has it's basic well filter before it comes out of my sink.  Spring water GENERALLY is pretty earth filtered, too.

However, I test my well water periodically to make sure everything's as it's supposed to be.  I'm not about to trust spring water more than my own well!

 

Dh found a local spring, which is where we would get EMERGENCY water, but we have an emergency water filter that I would put it through.  And we'd get it from there because our lakes test positive for ecoli every single year, which makes me less inclined to trust the spring, even though it's upstream.

 

 

[MamaBearTeacher]

I'm confused. If I put a jug out in my suburban backyard and let it fill with rain or snow and no animals crawl inside and then I drink it without filtering it, will it make me sick?

[Soror]

this is us to except we don't have a sediment filter.   Everyone that comes to our house loves the taste of our water.  I also will point out my neighbors all have lived into their 80's 90s on untreated unfiltered well water.

 

treated water taste nasty imo.  I actually bring my own water  with me everywhere I go.  

I try to remember to bring mine too, dh hates it when we are out and run out of our own. Mine is super crazy hard though, even with sediment filters. Our well is about 350 ft deep, it cost a ton to drill but it was well worth it. Ours has been tested as well. Now, the local lake, there are lots of horror stories of things living in it, people get terrible bugs from it.

 

I drank water straight from a mountain spring more than once growing up. (Well, from containers that were used to collect it from the spring.)  It's definitely much less likely to be contaminated than a random stream or lake.  I'd call it as close to well water as you can get without being, well, well water!  My well water doesn't kill me because it's naturally filtered by the earth, and then just has it's basic well filter before it comes out of my sink.  Spring water GENERALLY is pretty earth filtered, too.

However, I test my well water periodically to make sure everything's as it's supposed to be.  I'm not about to trust spring water more than my own well!

 

Dh found a local spring, which is where we would get EMERGENCY water, but we have an emergency water filter that I would put it through.  And we'd get it from there because our lakes test positive for ecoli every single year, which makes me less inclined to trust the spring, even though it's upstream.

We have various filters too. I actually own a Berkey but my water is clean and delicious so I don't feel a need to use it. Our other filters are for backpacking/camping but it is nice to know we have some way of filtering water if need be. We have local creeks around here and not a ton of farm land as they have south of us (we live in the hills). We did all drink out of dh's grandparents old spring once, there was a dozen of us and none of us fell illl but that was just a one time thing.

Edited January 5, 2018 by soror

[Matryoshka]

Okay, well water or water from an underground spring does *not* turn green if you leave it to stand for a few days. As many have pointed out, that is usually earth filtered. That 'raw' water those hucksters are hawking sounds like it's coming from a pond or a slower moving river with algae problems.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Matryoshka

[regentrude]

Adding this, because some of you may not have seen the prices the company charges:

 

"SAN FRANCISCO — At Rainbow Grocery, a cooperative in this city’s Mission District, one brand of water is so popular that it’s often out of stock. But one recent evening, there was a glittering rack of it: glass orbs containing 2.5 gallons of what is billed as “raw water†— unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water, $36.99 each and $14.99 per refill, bottled and marketed by a small company called Live Water."

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/dining/raw-water-unfiltered.html?_r=0

[Lady Florida.]

Leave it to Americans to dismiss life saving technology other countries around the world would do anything to have. 

 

 

 

Yep. It's privilege at its ugliest.

[LucyStoner]

I worked on a forestry crew in a large national park and wilderness area one summer. Essentially a month long backpacking trip for a crew of high school students with a lot of manual labor. The dude who was dumb enough to *fill his water bottle from the river* without regards to the portable filtration system we used ended up having to hike out with one of the supervisors to the point where they could radio for a ranger pick up because he got so sick. Then the ranger took him by ATV to the actual trailhead.

 

Gosh, I haven't thought about that idiot in years. We all told him to STOP but he didn't listen.

[ErinE]

My child just went wading barefoot in a “raw†surface water pond and ended up with an infection that overnight caused her foot to be red, hot, and swollen. It required heavy antibiotics to treat. The cut where the water entered was barely visible. I can’t imagine what would have happened had she drunk it.

 

ETA: only someone that doesn’t live in a country that suffers from outbreaks caused by contaiminated water could contemplate drinking “raw†water.

Edited January 5, 2018 by ErinE

[regentrude]

I worked on a forestry crew in a large national park and wilderness area one summer. Essentially a month long backpacking trip for a crew of high school students with a lot of manual labor. The dude who was dumb enough to *fill his water bottle from the river* without regards to the portable filtration system we used ended up having to hike out with one of the supervisors to the point where they could radio for a ranger pick up because he got so sick. Then the ranger took him by ATV to the actual trailhead.

Gosh, I haven't thought about that idiot in years. We all told him to STOP but he didn't listen.

 

yep. Climbing buddy of mine got pretty sick when he drank water from a stagnant pond.  We had a stove and could have boiled it, but he was young and foolish.

[creekland]

I'm confused. If I put a jug out in my suburban backyard and let it fill with rain or snow and no animals crawl inside and then I drink it without filtering it, will it make me sick?

 

It's not likely to make you sick with something like e coli or similar as those are bugs that come from other critters.  When water evaporates to get into the air, it's pure water.  However, if there are contaminants in the air (car/factory exhaust or similar), that will get added to the water before you get it.  This is how we get acid rain. How "pure" your water will be depends upon what's in the air.  Those things are unlikely to make you sick right away.  Over time some can be harmful.

 

Well water is often a decent source because dirt is a pretty darn good filter.  This is why humans (mostly) survived just fine when digging wells and drinking from them.  Our particular well is too shallow to be decent - esp with farming right in the vicinity.  If we had a deeper well dug, it would probably work nicely, but we haven't done that.

 

In the past (& present & likely future) when folks have gotten ill from water, it's almost always been due to coming in contact with surface water (swimming and ingesting some, wading or swimming with open cuts, naively drinking from creeks/streams/ponds, etc).  These water sources can easily be contaminated by critter waste.  Doing so is not a guarantee of illness of course, but has been such a problem in the past that intelligent folks learned not to do it.  Even in Biblical days, they dug wells or tried to collect rainwater that they protected in cisterns.  Having just visited ruins dating back many centuries, it's impressive to see just how smart "ancient man" was when it came to water.

 

Places that have potable water from natural aquifers (stuff coming from pipes open to the public that boardies have written about) is usually fine as that source is similar to a well.  It's been naturally filtered.  Chances are it gets tested by the local governing agency at least once or twice per year just to double check it.  In the US, water coming from pipes that is NOT potable (drinkable) is supposed to have warning signs or be identified by a color - such as purple for reclaimed water where we lived in FL - colors vary due to location and standards.

 

Water testing in labs are super easy to have done if one has any doubt about their water supply.

[creekland]

ps In many other countries water is considered NOT potable coming from a pipe unless marked as potable.  Be wary of where one is before assuming water from a faucet is safe drinking water.

 

pps  Anyone claiming humans in the old days did just fine drinking surface water has not studied history very well.  Yes, some lived, but some did not.  It was luck of the draw and probably some genetics.  Intelligent ancient man world-wide figured out safer alternatives.  I am not talking about modern history with our water treatment plants.  That's a mere extension of what ancient man started.

[Rachel]

Adding this, because some of you may not have seen the prices the company charges:

 

"SAN FRANCISCO — At Rainbow Grocery, a cooperative in this city’s Mission District, one brand of water is so popular that it’s often out of stock. But one recent evening, there was a glittering rack of it: glass orbs containing 2.5 gallons of what is billed as “raw water†— unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water, $36.99 each and $14.99 per refill, bottled and marketed by a small company called Live Water."

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/dining/raw-water-unfiltered.html?_r=0

Man, I missed an opportunity!

[Amy in NH]

{SNIP}

 

Places that have potable water from natural aquifers (stuff coming from pipes open to the public that boardies have written about) is usually fine as that source is similar to a well.  It's been naturally filtered.  Chances are it gets tested by the local governing agency at least once or twice per year just to double check it.  In the US, water coming from pipes that is NOT potable (drinkable) is supposed to have warning signs or be identified by a color - such as purple for reclaimed water where we lived in FL - colors vary due to location and standards.

 

Water testing in labs are super easy to have done if one has any doubt about their water supply.

 

I know our open spring isn't tested, because I called the state to find out who is responsible for it.  It's also not posted with any type of sign.

 

Basic water testing in NH is $80.

[creekland]

I know our open spring isn't tested, because I called the state to find out who is responsible for it.  It's also not posted with any type of sign.

 

Basic water testing in NH is $80.

 

"Supposed to be" vs "is" can certainly be a problem. Even places like Flint, MI show us that. 

 

If I wanted to drink from an untested open to the public source, I'd pay for the testing to be certain of what I was getting.  If anything came up seriously off in the test, I suspect I'd let the local TV reporter who investigates various things handle it.

 

YMMV  

[luuknam]

Quite a large % of people in rural Australia collect rainwater off their roof and store it in large water tanks. We do it. It is our only source of water for household use. We call it tank water. Some people call it rain water. 

 

 

When I lived in rural Thailand we drank the rainwater too. It was safer than the tap water, which was for showering and flushing the toilet etc. I would not drink bottled raw water though - that sounds dumb. 

[Reefgazer]

Some people in the USA have more money than brains (especially when they have easy access to potable water).

Edited January 8, 2018 by reefgazer

[luuknam]

The use of the word "RAW" is interesting.  It's kind of a reclaimed term? Similar to using the word intact to mean not circumcised. 

But it doesn't work for me, I'm just not there.  All water is raw. Boiled water is raw.  Cooked water is evaporated.

 

 

I think it's related to the raw foods movement. That said, when I hear "raw water" I think of raw sewage, and that does not make it sound appealing at all. Unlike raw foods, which makes me think of uncooked carrots and the like, which, well, I happen to prefer cooked carrots, but I don't think "ew!" when I think raw carrots. 

[Ravin]

That's one of the things it is about definitely.  One person in the article I read said that fluoride is a mind control drug.  Like, the government is controlling the minds of the American citizens through people drinking fluoridated water.

 

That conspiracy theory has been around a long time. I cite: Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

[Seasider]

When I was a kid, we used to visit my aunt and uncle who lived 100% off grid. They got their water from a pipe coming out of a hillside that ran from a natural spring. We used the communal tin cup hanging from the tree branch to drink the fresh, clear, cold water.

 

(We also used the outhouse, showered under an outdoor barrel of rain water, and used fire for evening lighting.)

Oh, we (my grandmere) also had a tin cup hanging from the spring-fed spicket!!! Good times.

[scoutingmom]

The use of the word "RAW" is interesting. It's kind of a reclaimed term? Similar to using the word intact to mean not circumcised.

But it doesn't work for me, I'm just not there. All water is raw. Boiled water is raw. Cooked water is evaporated.

No, boiled water is cooked, just like boiled potatoes are cooked. Boiling is the cooking method. :) Edited January 9, 2018 by scoutingmom