Water water everywhere...but is it safe to drink?

[KatTai]

I'm always cautious to take plenty of water on walks for myself and the dog, half the time most of it comes back down with me (I don't drink much and there is usually water for Moss on the hills and of course the water up there tastes so much better to her than the disgusting tap stuff from a plastic bottle by all accounts). Where water is scarce, she drinks far more water than I do and I got fed up of taking juice for myself that I hardly drank and water for her that I decided I'd just get a couple of big bottles to fill with water for us to share. I'm often finding myself looking at the water in the steams thinking it looks better than the stuff that comes out of the tap! Now, I know it isn't an issue for Moss, but how safe is the water on the hills for people to drink? Is it better to use a filter thing or something else? Or would the risk of anything harmful be so low that it wouldn't be something to worry about? Especially if we go away camping, I don't want to have to carry extra water for an additional day if I can avoid it as it does add a lot of weight. I've read on a recent trip report that some drink the water as it is so it has got me wondering if on some walks I could save myself having to carry a full bottle water all the way and instead fill up the bottle(s) at a stream at a sensible point in the walk.

[Ben Nachie]

I have been drinking water straight from the hills for over 30 years and it has never done me any harm

My girlfriend however is funny about these things and always carries water. I recently bought her a Sawyer water bottle with a filter in it, and have started using it myself, just because it's there, and because it means I can drink from sources that I might have been wary of in the past, such as mossy trickles.

Our dog Lucy drinks pretty much anything, being a dog.

[Giant Stoneater]

In just under 30 years of hillwalking I have always drunk stream water and had no ill effects yet(touch wood),its just a case of being sensible,good flowing water,choose water away from well known wild camp sites(around bothies),choose water away from main paths.
Winter can be more of a problem where animals can succumb to bad weather and end up in streams,gullies which happened to us in Glenfinnan where we found 3 dead deer,one in the river and another 2 close to the river,apparently deer lose there natural waterproofing after a few days of heavy rain and then saps their energy.
If your still worried about the water you could always boil it for 3 minutes to kill any lurking parasites.

[Moriarty]

Define safe.

...as safe as treated water? No.

If you take from side streams not downstream from livestock pastures, camping areas, habitations? Fairly safe.

It doesn't come with an Authority backed guarantee if you take it off a hill....not even if you get lots of people to say they've done it for 20 years with no perceptible ill-effect.

......not that an Authority backed guarantee should be something to reassure you.

[Border Reiver]

Knowing what is safe to drink & what isn't comes with experience, just like knowing which rock in a stream will wobble when you stand on it or which snow will hold your weight and which won't. You just get to know over time. As regards carrying or not carrying water, I would never rely on finding good water in the Lake District or Yorkshire Dales, but if I was walking high in the Scottish mountains, I'd set off with maybe half a bottle (Sigg or similar) of water & be happy that I'd be able to re-fill on a regular basis. Water is safest if taken at or near the point where it comes out of the ground. I swear the sweetest water I've ever tasted was direct from the Wells of Dee where the Dee bubbles up out of the ground on the Braeriach plateau at 4,000ft.
In nearly 50 years of hillwalking I've never boiled or sterilised drinking water. I've even drunk water from a hollow in a boulder on Braeriach & come to no harm.

[Sgurr]

I have even drunk this. It was hooching with tadpoles, and had no perceptible inlet or outlet, but the temperature was near 30 degrees and so we had run out of water. We just bunged a couple of puritabs in it, left for 20 mins and hoped for the best. We are still alive (On the shoulder of Beinn Dearg Bheag)

[Robinho08]

I rarely carry water, particularly when wild camping. I've never had any issues drinking straight from the burn or even lochans.

My rule of thumb as along as it's away from farms or farm animals then it's good enough. More careful around bothies though and I carry a mini Sawyers filter just in case.

[prog99]

I went off drinking untreated burn water a few years after I picked up something that resulted in 6 weeks of not feeling 100%. This was from water taken from around 900m too. So not wanting another 6 weeks of "rapid weight loss" I take a watertogo filter bottle now (other filtration bottles are available).

The wells of dee is an interesting one, the reindeer herd like to hang around it in the summer.

As for the dog, they seem to have decent constitutions.

[rgallie]

I used to drink straight form the flowing rivers but drop a Chlorine Dioxide tab in it if i wasn't quite sure.
However then all you could taste was chlorine.

So I bought a sawyer mini filter and don't really worry about where i drink from and can get a bit of flavour of the area. On a fine hot day I resorted to using it on a stagnent pool up Ben Klibrek which had all sorts swimming in it...never did me any harm although it tasted how it looked.

[Gythral]

Sawyer mini filter is my solution to the water question, still tend to take the water I use from 'clean' sources but the weight (130g) is easily offset by only needing to start the day with 1 small water bottle full

[nathan79]

This is a question that always brings plenty of the "I've been drinking from muddy green puddles on the hills for 60 years and I'm fine" responses but listen take heed of Prog99's experience. That's the reality of what can happy if you take the risk and fortune isn't smiling on you.

Bottle-based hydration systems are compact, affortable and instant.
Chemical/UV treatment takes a little time, as do other filtration options but not an eternity.

I use a Sawyer option which is fairly instant. Much prefer that for overnighters rather than lugging in extra water.

[Graeme D]

I have always filled up from burns, taking the usual reasonable precautions in terms of height, distance from buildings, visible livestock e.t.c. and have never had any ill effects. In fact, of late when I have been doing familiar, well trodden DofE routes, I have not carried any water with me at all, just a cup which I have dipped into streams as I have passed.

[KatTai]

Thank you for the responses all! I think to be on the safe side I'll get myself a Sawyer Mini-Filter as they can go on regular bottles which is handy, but I don't think I'd be overly concerned if for whatever reason I need to drink direct My concern with the tablets is, as we share a water bottle, my dog won't drink it. While I've always found all the dogs we've had happy to drink out of the dirtiest muddiest most disgusting puddles, when it is a chemical smell to the water they tend not to drink it! In all honesty, it would probably put me off drinking as much as I might like to as well.