Nasty looking water

[greengrass]

What are the exact rules for drinking water? Can you get ANY kind of water and boil it for a certain amount of time and it's okay to drink? Or should you avoid water that's a certain color?? I honestly don't know the right answer...

[Bumpkin]

I'm not sure about that either, but I would say if it's really icky looking I wouldn't touch it even if it was boiled first. My line of thinking is that if it's that dirty there may be sediment or whatnot in it that wouldn't boil out.

[Wild Bill]

If the water is dirty looking try to filter it out as best as you can, with a cotton T-shirt. That should get most of the dirt out. Boiling the water will kill any bacteria in the water, but make sure its boiling hot to ensure that you kill all the bacteria.

This is a survival technique used for situations where you are uncertain of how long you will be out in the wilderness and you have no other water available.

[jason]

Boiling water works great for killing pathogens and some volatile organic compounds. However it will not help with toxic metals or chemicals like lead, mercury, asbestos, pesticides, etc.. It may also concentrate any harmful contaminates that do not vaporize.

Before boiling, I would strain out any big items as mentioned. A t-shirt, or coffee filter would work to get the biggies out.

[drake]

If I pass by murky waters from the lake or river I wouldn't dare drink it because of its color. Boiling it to kill bacterias wouldn't do because it still doesn't change into clear water even if I use a white cloth as a filter it still does not mean that it's safe to drink.

[claire]

Have you thought about carrying the tablets with you that you can drop into the water? That might be a good approach. I think you can also purchase a uv life that will kill stuff.

[3ofusnow]

I would definitely take the purification tablets with me. You can get them at just about any sporting goods store and they are not very expensive.

[lovelife]

I have no idea either, but I think that the cotton tshirt as a filter is a great idea. I am thinking that if any water is boiled for a certain amount of time you are boiling out the impurities, so it would be fine to drink.

[Gopher]

I usually try to take some cheesecloth with me. Several layers do filter to a certain extent and then boiling makes it drinkable. If there are heavy metals in the water they will not filter or boil out. It is just undrinkable. The only way to find out is with testing.

[Lightfoot]

There are some germs that aren't killed by boiling the water. We just play it safe and bring our own water.