New Fad: Raw Water

[Sparko]

I drank spring water too, and never got sick from that (from a nearby state park, when I was in upstate Ontario, the spring in Jericho Elisha made sweet....). As long as it's not contaminated with coliform bacteria, it should be fine. There was probably other bacteria in the water I drank. There is probably some truth to the idea that exposure to some level of bacteria boosts your immune system.

My grandpa had a well and it was good water but it had sulfur in it. Stank everything up and would stain clothes when washing. They found a different well but when tested, it was contaminated with animal feces. Not all spring water is pure.

They ended up putting a rock salt osmosis filter on the well to get most of the sulfur out.

I bet those people in the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia where they made them stop mining coal could get rich selling the Californians their raw well water for $30/gallon.

[Cow Poke]

We went to a ski camp in Michigan once, and their well water was REALLY bad with sulfur. Evidently, they were used to it, because they used it for cooking and everything. Spaghetti tasted like sulfur, tomato soup tasted like sulfur....

I was never so happy to get a Big Mac at a nearby MickyD.

[rogue06]

I grew up drinking that (untreated well water). As long as the source tests out, there's no problem with it.

Says someone residing in an actual sty

[Starlight]

My city has good aquifers so people here drink pure raw water out of the tap. I'm drinking some as I write this. We don't pay bills for water use either.

It's an ongoing source of debate whether water-bottling plants that operate here by putting tap water into bottles and then selling it round the country/world should have to pay for the water they're using.

[lao tzu]

Attachment 25903

Obviously a Lutheran well. She's a sprinkler.

[Teallaura]

Depends on the source - as long as the water isn't contaminated - and nothing is peeing upstream - it's fine.

However, since most younger people have had very little exposure to the bacteria normally in water, not sure this is going to go well. Your body needs exposure to germs to learn to fight them but when an immune system has been pretty well isolated, suddenly introducing bacteria can have a negative effect - the immune system gets swamped by what wouldn't have been a problem to a more robust immune system.

[One Bad Pig]

My city has good aquifers so people here drink pure raw water out of the tap. I'm drinking some as I write this. We don't pay bills for water use either.

Are you sure it's not treated in any way? I'm pretty sure it's always treated here, regardless of source. My tap water tastes awful, so I buy spring water to drink.

[Jedidiah]

After carefully reading all the posts in this thread I have decided that I will drink only cooked water.

[Starlight]

Are you sure it's not treated in any way?

Yes. On rare occasion it gets temporarily or partially chlorinated, but it isn't usually treated at all.

It's just a product of the city sitting on top of a river plain with really good underground aquifers. Most cities chlorinate their water here, mine is just conveniently located.

[Cow Poke]

Obviously a Lutheran well. She's a sprinkler.

I think she was a Methodist - and both camps are trying to convert her.