What to know about the "raw water" trend

[workinclasszero]

What to know about the “raw water” trend
A new Silicon Valley craze could make people sick.
By Jen [e-mail] Jan 4, 2018, 3:50pm EST

Untreated, unfiltered “raw water” is apparently the hot new fad around Silicon Valley, or so says a recent New York Times trend piece.

People are eschewing tap and bottled water in favor of an icy cold glass of untreated spring water — so-called “raw” or “unprocessed” water — which proponents say has beneficial minerals that are removed from treated or filtered water, and doesn’t include chemicals in tap water, such as fluoride, or move through infrastructure such as lead pipes.

Some are paying a lot more for the luxury of drinking water that might not have fluoride but could still have chemicals from pesticides and dangerous bacteria.

Also animal poop.

The “raw water” trend — such as it is — fits into a larger movement that, first, embraces everything “natural” as healthy, and second, creates savvy entrepreneurs who find ways to make a lot of money from it.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/4/16846048/raw-water-trend-silicon-valley

[samnsara]

1. ummmmm so is my mtn spring well water 'raw'?

...cuz that's my everyday go to drinkin' water!

[SCantiGOP]

3. Nope

The water is very well filtered as it percolates through the soil into the water table.
Drinking surface water, except when necessary, is never a good idea.

[Drahthaardogs]

43. Sadly

I've seen dumb ass people put a well in at fifteen feet.

[SCantiGOP]

58. A friend of mine years ago would go off on 2-3 day wilderness hunting/camping trips

There are pills you can put into raw water to kill bacteria, and simple filters you can use or you can boil it. He knew that, but he had always enjoyed drinking out of fresh, clean flowing streams.
He said he stopped that when, having just had a long drink of cool water from a stream, he walked upstream around the next bend and saw an elk that had been dead for days and serving as a buffet for buzzards lying in the water.
Didn't hurt him, but he said it was weeks before he could convince himself that he was not feeling the onset on some deadly disease.

[bluecollar2]

93. my wells arent much deeper than that

The water table in South Florida isn't all that deep.


Signed:

Dumb ass person

[Drahthaardogs]

94. 15 feet of casing is considered by most states a minimum

If your screens are below that, it's okay.

If your total depth is 15 feet and your screens start at 5 or 10 ft bgs, you are essentially drinking surface water

[EX500rider]

100. My well on the coast in Fla is at about 550 ft....but it is artisian. (ie flows with no pump)

[workinclasszero]

4. You might want to start putting it in bottles and

get rich.

I'll be passing on untreated/unfiltered water myself though.

[brush]

28. I'll pass too. And I'll continue to get vaccinated so as not to pass on diseases...

like those who drink "raw" water will most likely get.

[Hortensis]

20. We have a whole marsh of raw water around here,

where the Floridian aquifer breaks the surface. Wonder if there's a market for dehydrated raw swamp water.

[Polly Hennessey]

102. My question, too. We have well-water

from the mountains. Been drinking it for years.

[HopeAgain]

2. There may be a lot of geniuses in Silicon Valley,

but some of them are just stupid.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. Perfect example Steve Jobs. He would be alive today if he listened to his doctors.

Instead, he went for juice cleanses, herbal tea and acupuncture.

[Ken Burch]

62. .0and subsisting on an all-fruit diet...

...which, he believed, would prevent his body from ever generating body odor, so he no longer needed to bathe...

[pnwmom]

66. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly. It's very unlikely he'd still be alive.

There were few good options.

While pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving from decade to decade, the disease is still considered largely incurable. According to the American Cancer Society, for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined, the one-year relative survival rate is 20%, and the five-year rate is 7%.

Prognosis - Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research
pancreatic.org/pancreatic-cancer/about-the-pancreas/prognosis/

[Hassin Bin Sober]

69. I think you and I have had this conversation before. In fact I'm sure of it.

Jobs had a pancreatic nueroendocrine tumor (PNET) - not adenocarcinoma. He had a type of cancer that is very slow growing and highly survivable with surgery. The tricky part is you should cut it out because it doesn't respond to chemo or radiation (or juice cleanses and enemas).

My partner and I just celebrated his 5 year mark cancer free after he had major surgery to remove his (PNET), the tail of his pancreas, his spleen and his gallbladder. The spleen goes because it shares a blood supply with the pancreas. The gallbladder goes because it will get irritated from the surgery.

[pnwmom]

70. I'm very glad to hear about your partner.

My grandfather died of pancreatic cancer, so I have a personal interest in this, too.

[Hortensis]

25. Vast majority of devoted bottled water drinkers are stupid,

exception for those who have no other choice of course.

I remember when what seemed a fad hit communities across the nation during the Reagan era and stupidity became irresponsibility to the point of immorality. And stuck.

Our well-run California community was typical. We had good water (some people checked), but the kind who preferred to believe "government" equals "bad" switched to bottled water without ever marching on city hall, leaving hundreds of thousands of others, including children, to be poisoned by what was in their minds "bad" water. And many have been doing so ever since.

[Mariana]

47. When my daughter was in high school

all her friends refused to drink the local tap water because they thought it was "contaminated" and "polluted", and she believed them and wanted us to buy bottled water for her. I kept an aquarium at the time, so i asked her if the water was so toxic, why isn't it making the fish sick? C'mon, girl, think.

[Hortensis]

49. Oh, good mom! :) "C'mon, girl, think."

Our then-teen wasn't thrilled with us that I can recall, about that or anything, but his kids are growing up drinking tap water. (And giving him back some of his own as they approach puberty. )

Testing water isn't expensive. When we made an offer on the land we purchased here in the south, I sent its well water to a lab outside our country for analysis without needing to say where it was from. Though there's no industrial, there is some agriculture just a few miles up-watershed. It came back just as our county said, though.

[GulfCoast66]

103. I drink bottled water...

I fill up my bottles using tap water from my filtered fridge. Then carbonate it with my soda stream.

Sometimes I add lemon or lime. Sometimes Bourbon.

Never understood paying more for water than for gasoline.

Only time I pay for bottled water in when overseas.

[Hortensis]

111. Sounds good. :) But just connected a dot, I think:

(Water v gas prices made me think of demand.)

As fresh water resources become depleted, more and more regions are outlawing private wells and even moving to meter use of water from existing ones, notably including California with its severe water problems in most of the state.

Any connection between increasingly tighter access to "raw" water and this new fad for it? I'm guessing yes.

[WhiteTara]

6. Our water comes from a 765 foot deep well

and does contain minerals, mostly calcium and iron. We use a whole house filter and filter drinking water through the carbon filter in the kitchen. It tastes wonderful and so far, no problems.....I've lived off municipal water systems for almost my entire life and I love "raw" water.

[kcr]

12. They're talking about untreated surface water, like streams and ponds.

Not well water.

[WhiteTara]

17. eww. Just eww.

Thanks for the clarification. That is stupid.

[kcr]

19. Yep. They're marketing poopy water.

It's like someone's idea of a joke, but apparently, it's real. I hope they're exaggerating how much of a thing it is.

[WhiteTara]

22. it makes my stomach churn to think about it really.

[Drahthaardogs]

44. Is cholera extra?

Or is that included in the price?

[kcr]

46. It's an all inclusive package deal of natural goodness.

Yum!

[DBoon]

53. I bet many of them are anti-Vaxers

and of course have no immunity against cholera or other water borne diseases

[Major Nikon]

84. I grew up on well water

Even back then dad had our water checked periodically by a lab which is a pretty good idea.

[WhiteTara]

86. Yep, we do. Keeping filters changed

regularly is part of the drill too.

[Caliman73]

7. Umm nothing beats the taste of giardia!!

While I would much prefer not to drink water out of lead pipes and over chlorinated water, the whole "raw" movement is pretty ridiculous. People say, "Our ancestors survived on unfiltered food for generations" Yes, they did, DESPITE unfiltered food.

[tazkcmo]

10. Silly

Should also point out that our ancestors lived to the ripe old age of 25.

[workinclasszero]

14. Right LOL

I miss the good ole days of Cholera outbreaks. All natural for sure!

[tazkcmo]

16. Just great.

Now I'm hungry.

[genxlib]

37. Great

Now I can't get the Book of Mormon out of my head.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

23. "lived to the ripe old age of died in child birth."

Can't remember who said it on Twitter or what it was in response to, but I laughed a lot when I read it.

[Hekate]

110. That is a brilliant line, and I will steal it

[Caliman73]

30. Exactly!

I am not saying that you are one hundred percent going to get sick drinking spring water or drinking raw milk, but there is evidence showing that pasteurization, sanitation, and hygiene practices dramatically increased life expectancy and quality of life.

There is a middle ground between over use of chemicals, and just picking crap up off the ground and ingesting it. Right?

[tblue37]

67. Health nut Franz Kafka died of TB from drinking raw, unpasteurized milk. nt

[NutmegYankee]

101. The raw milk think is another fad.

I kept hearing about how good it was, and how pasteurization destroys the flavor, so I got a bottle of raw milk and drank it alongside milk that is pasteurized from a local co-op. Tasted the same - It absolutely didn't taste any different. Needless to say, I'll take my pasteurized milk every day.

[NutmegYankee]

95. well, the average was low because of child mortality.

But people did live to similar ages as today. Even Psalm 90:10 bears that out - "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away."

The key today is far more of us make it.

[tazkcmo]

96. You mean the same book

That some people lived hundreds of years and the Earth was created in 6 days?

[NutmegYankee]

97. There was a reason I didn't refer to the Pentateuch

And instead selected a book of poetic songs. If that doesn't do it for you, the science of Anthropology, mainly skeleton study, and the historical writings of the Greeks and Romans show that they too lived to their 70s.

In fact, the natural Ancient Greek lifespan and current natural US lifespan are only a few years different.

[Major Nikon]

99. Ironically the biggest reason for that is they learned how to harvest uncontaminated water sources

[snooper2]

8. Guess that is why I don't get sick like everyone else around me LOL

grew up drinking right out from the creek behind our house for years and years.

We would go bike riding around the back roads. Get thirsty? Stop walk down under a bridge and drink right out where it is running clear over the rocks


I guess most people don't have that opportunity

Little fish poop never hurt anybody!

[Caliman73]

31. Yeah, same reason why most Mexicans don't get Montezuma's revenge

even drinking their municipal water that is treated. You build up a certain immunity to the bacteria in water. Doesn't mean that it should become standard practice

[ProudLib72]

9. Cholera Valley, CA

Just incredible

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Raw Water Trend can also be called Raw Sewage. This is as dumb as dog shit.

[bluestarone]

13. i read somewhere that the Bush's

purchased underground aquifers out there in California? Not sure about this. Also heard residents of Cal. can't even save rain water?

[Caliman73]

32. The Bush's purchased aquifers in many places.

South America in the Amazon Basin was the big one. It was in a documentary called Water Wars. Good film. Scary.

[Codeine]

45. It is perfectly legal to harvest rain water in CA.

In fact many municipalities encourage rain barrels as a means of water conservation. These sorts of inaccurate stories normally get ginned up by the far right.

[Major Nikon]

85. Like pretty much all conspiracy theorists, they take a nugget of truth and extrapolate gibberish

Some states, including California, have restrictions on how you can legally collect rainwater. Under some circumstances, it is illegal, but most aren't going to be affected by those restrictions.

[Kolesar]

51. The Saudis bought water rights and farms so they can have alfalfa

Their cows get alfalfa shipped over from America.
Meanwhile, agricultural workers wells run dry.

[jmowreader]

108. You hear a lot about Oregon's Gary Harrington

This is the guy who was "thrown in jail for 30 days" for the heinous crime of "collecting rainwater on his property."

And then you see what his "rainwater collection ponds" look like...



Yes, folks, that is a man-made lake. It's being held back with a 20-foot-high dam, it has been stocked with fish, and he filled it by diverting a stream into it.

[Bettie]

15. My doggies drink from puddles

maybe I should...nah, I like not being sick!

[haele]

63. So did mine. And she got Guiardia three times during her life.

We tried very hard not to let her drink from puddles unless we knew where the water came from, and even then, not a lot.

Haele

[Vinca]

18. Mmmmm . . . raccoon shit water. What could go wrong?

[dembotoz]

21. wonder what jimmy carter thinks of this...one of his great accomplishments is the removal so some

parasite from drinking water in africa by use of a filter

[Hekate]

109. Guinea Worm, a horrendous parasite that causes blindness and other crippling disabilities...

...and is spread through drinking water. God bless Jimmy and Roslyn Carter.

[Maeve]

24. But we like strong water!

As an historical interpreter for the 1800's, I researched water-borne diseases. It really isn't that difficult a concept...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

26. I hear Flint has great raw water.

Several birds, one stone.

[Ken Burch]

64. Did you just come up with a "win-win" scenario for the Flint water crisis?

"Flint Water...The Flavor of the Upper Midwest. One sip and you'll be 'keeping shit REAL' ".

[xor]

27. I only drink swimming pool water. Far more healthier.

[Cirque du So-What]

29. I don't always drink raw water...

but when I do, I still lead others astray.

Years ago, some friends and I visited Multnomah Falls in Oregon and climbed to the top of the plateau. We hiked into the woods alongside the stream for a half-mile or so, and I got the bright idea of taking a drink. After all, I reasoned that it was freshly-melted glacier water. My friends cautioned against it, but my argument that the water contained a very small proportion of bear whiz won out. Everyone drank deeply. A couple of days later, the others came down with explosive diarrhea; the cause was determined to be cryptosporidium. Of course, Yours Truly skated without any illness whatsoever, to the chagrin of the others.

[tymorial]

33. This makes me so aggravated.

People who buy into these fads are the perfect example of confirmation bias. They only believe information which validates their preconceived notions that raw, natural, organic products are absolutely better for them. To hell with the fact that raw water could contain fecal coliforms, Legionella, and enteroviruses. They won't believe it. No, instead they will believe the celebrity spokesperson, the sponsored content, the supposed medical professional (quack) that will promote these products while taking a kickback.

It is infuriating and it is the same behavior/belief structure which causes people to become unnecessarily infected by viruses which are easily preventable.

[Retrograde]

34. I notice they're not tapping Silicon Valley sources

Most of the creeks here are dry much of the year. The one near me has some water in it after this week's rain, but it also has a lot of mud. I suppose you can filter the mud out, but I don't know about all the animal droppings (it's home to raccoons and skunks during the dry season), or whatever it picks up going through the homeless encampment upstream.

Further south, the streams up in the hills do have a high mineral content, and a lot of those minerals are mercury compounds - before the advent of electronics mercury mining was a lucrative industry (mercury was needed to process all that gold ore coming down from the mountains) and no one ever bothered to clean up the old mine tailings (and mercury occurs naturally in the creeks anyway, just in smaller doese).

No, this "raw water" has to be imported from far away, because it's apparently much better the more expensive it is and the bigger environmental footprint it has.

(BTW, most of Silicon Valley - by which I mean the original one in Santa Clara county, not that place at the tip of the Peninsula where all the jumped-up app builders (who wouldn't recognize a silicon chip if it came in a plate of nachos) hang out - has pretty blah water: it's well water replenished by the winter rains. Here in the northern part of the county we usually get Hetch Hetchy water - the same thing that comes out of the taps in San Francisco. Snowmelt runoff from the Sierras, caught in granite basins, and IMHO one of the best municipal water supplies anywhere).

[NightWatcher]

35. As long as it's gluten free and vegan friendly!!

[pnwmom]

68. People with Celiac and other gluten sensitivities just love having jokes made about it.

It's hard enough having to give up gluten -- which is in almost all processed foods and most medicines -- without being mocked for it.

[RobinA]

87. I Dont Think

anyone is mocking people who actually HAVE celiac, they are mocking the hundreds of thousands of people who suddenly developed a gluten sensitivity since stopping gluten became became all the rage. I would think people with celiac would be burned that these people too.

[pnwmom]

89. The people I know with Celiac are NOT burned by the people avoiding gluten for other reasons.

Why should anyone be? Thanks to the "fad," a lot more foods are labeled now -- which used to be one of the biggest nightmares. The 1% with Celiac weren't powerful enough to get food manufacturers to want to label, but the larger group now is.

Also, people with Celiac are aware that there are other people besides Celiacs who should not eat gluten. People with dermatitis herpetiformis, people with gluten-sensitive Crohn's, with elevated liver enzymes caused by gluten -- and others are all insulted by those who joke about gluten-free and insist that only people with Celiac are somehow deserving.

In my case, I don't have Celiac; I have ulcerative colitis that is gluten sensitive. But I often say I have Celiac just to avoid all the cracks about the gluten free fad. I wouldn't have gone on this diet unless the doctor had first put me through testing for cancer, parasites, and everything else he could think of that might be causing the bleeding. I was not happy when he did the blood tests and told me I had gluten sensitivity, because I had a friend with Celiac and I knew how hard the diet was. But the diet worked -- the bleeding stopped -- so now I'm one of the millions on the new fad diet.

[Retrograde]

105. We're mocking the marketing folks

who'll slap a "gluten free" label on anything that stands still long enough, even if it wouldn't have naturally had gluten in it. I saw gluten-free butter last week: my all-time favorite is gluten-free shampoo.

[pnwmom]

107. You don't understand. I appreciate the marketing folks, too.

There are laws defining what can have a gluten free label and what can't.

And some foods that SHOULD be gluten free are prepared on the same production lines as foods that aren't, and so are contaminated in the processing. So we need to know that even a food that should be naturally gluten free has remained that way through the processing. And so I appreciate the clear labels -- and the bigger, the better, so I don't have to waste time looking all over 6 sides of a box.

Also, there is a severe form of gluten sensitivity that affects the skin and is called dermatitis herpetiformis that causes severe itching and blistering. One of my uncles had it and it affected his whole body, including his scalp. He was on the diet but it's hard to avoid gluten completely (when he was alive labeling was much worse than now) and he had outbreaks sometimes. He would have been happy to use a shampoo that was gluten free, but he died before they produced any products like that.

[genxlib]

36. It should be noted

That "natural" as experienced by our ancestors is not the same as what we find in nature today.

Our modern world has introduced all kinds of pollutants into nature in even remote areas.

Even if you were on the trail with Lewis and Clark and were OK with drinking a little Bear pee, that is not the same as the water you would be getting today.

[LeftInTX]

38. I assume these are the anti-vaxxers

Would you like some parasites with your tetnus?

[workinclasszero]

55. Gotta be

Homeopathic believers too I bet.

[GulfCoast66]

104. And raw milk lovers.

[ProfessorGAC]

39. Um, You Can't Filter Out Dissolved Minerals

So, going through a filter does not remove minerals. It takes out undissolved hardness, some amount of iron oxides (again, undissolved) and even the undissolved stuff has to be large enough to get stopped by the filter which is likely 1 micron absolute.

Activated carbon cartridges remove organics, but not inorganic salts fully in solution.

To remove these other salts, one would need to run through a mixed bed resin to affect ion exchange, but most municipal water supplies don't do that on grand scale because - - - - THEY WANT TO KEEP THE MINERALS IN THE WATER!

So the very notion that this "raw" water is better because the minerals are all there is pseudoscientific nonsense.

[Drahthaardogs]

42. Yes you can, kind of

Ion exchange will do it, GAC won't.

You kind of said that but I put it succinctly 😀

[ProfessorGAC]

91. IE is not Filtration, Dog

It an adsorption mechanism, and filtration is, well, just filtration
That said, some carbon or IE systems are likely marketed as filters. So it could be confusing to lots of people

[a kennedy]

40. Curious, is the water that comes out of the water pipes in Flint Michigan

considered raw??? Ugh....... still sick over the mess in Michigan.

[Drahthaardogs]

41. Sometimes you wonder what exactly goes through people's minds

Raw water? Really! I hear they are paying $20/gallon

[Codeine]

48. We have enough Raw Milk idiots here

that I’m sure somebody will be along to defend “raw water”, because delicious fecal coliforms know no political boundaries.

[Major Nikon]

78. Sounds more like an idiotic analogy

People consume all sorts of food items that aren't cooked, many of which carry far more inherent risks than raw milk. There's all sorts of actual advantages to raw milk which isn't the case with so-called "raw water".

[Codeine]

79. Then by all means enjoy your nasty tit pus

and barnyard coliforms in your glass of liquid not biologically fit to pass human lips.

Got Listeria?

[Major Nikon]

83. Do you actually think you don't consume all of the pathogens you mentioned...

Simply because you don't drink raw milk? If so, you might want to better educate yourself. I suspect you've probably consumed something raw in the last month which contains a far greater risk of listeria than raw milk. If you want to live your life in constant irrational fear of pathogens, by all means cook everything you eat including all of your fresh fruits and vegetables. Meanwhile more rational people will be happily enjoying the advantages of consuming certain things raw in their diet.

[L. Coyote]

50. Great way to get sick. Drink distilled water only if you can afford to.

There is way to much lead in US water from pipes. Don't drink water at restaurants, public buildings, etc.

Doctors who prescribe medication that requires drinking more water need to warn their patients that their lead levels may rise unless they drink pure water.

[Major Nikon]

81. Nonsense

Drinking distilled water is a lousy idea regardless of whether you can afford it or not. The human body isn't designed to drink "pure" water and if that's all you drink you are putting yourself at far greater risk.

High lead levels are a problem only in a small minority of water supplies and can be easily remedied at home with very simple and cheap methods of filtration.

[democratisphere]

52. Smoking weed and drinking raw water.

What a life!

[Codeine]

72. I tried to smoke the raw water

but it kept getting mixed up with the bong water.

[democratisphere]

75. No wonder. The bong water turned into bog water.

[Paladin]

54. Absolute stupidity.

If you choose to drink untreated spring water, you deserve any afflictions you develop.

[Ken Burch]

56. How long before they all end up contracting "locally-sourced" dysentary?

[workinclasszero]

59. LOL :D

All natural though!

[Ken Burch]

106. There'd be a remake of OFFICE SPACE where Lundberg would keep saying

Last edited Sun Jan 7, 2018, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

"I need you to come in this weekend and mop the waste off the floors, 'k?...about 9 am, both days...that'd be great".

[Codeine]

76. Ha!

This thread is too good!

[Kaleva]

57. Getting the shits will be the next new hot trend

[Codeine]

73. Organic, fair trade diarrhea only.

We have standards here, sir.

[brooklynite]

60. I'm assuming "Raw Water" has microorganisms in it...is there a vegan alternative?

[Codeine]

71. I just run mine through a cheesecloth

a couple times. That should catch ‘em.

[haele]

61. Err...there's a reason why most developed cultures stopped drinking "raw water"...

Especially in locations where there started to be intense agricultural, dense populations, light manufacturing, and resource extraction (i.e., mining, lumber mills...)

The groundwater - including artesian well water and spring water - started becoming polluted and stayed polluted for a long, long time.

Even fresh spring water should undergo some form of straining before it's drunk.

Unless I know exactly where this "raw water" is coming from - like, to the GPS location measured in the "foot" settings - I'm not going to drink it. And I'm certainly not going to purchase it - even if it's advertised as coming from the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir or Lake Tahoe - or some other "Fresh Mountain Spring Water".
If it's transported to me in any method - even a bucket from upstream - I want it filtered and/or boiled before I drink it.

Haele

[Blue_true]

65. Part of the craze may be due to the notion that our "pure" food and water makes us

less able to ward off viruses and disease. I don't think the notion is valid, but lots of people adhere to it.

[Major Nikon]

74. Just filter your water with a used gym sock and you'll be fine

[Hassin Bin Sober]

82. Well there is a little bit of truth to that.

For instance. Debilitating polio infections happened because people weren't exposed to the virus at very young age.

[RobinA]

88. I Researched Polio

once on a whim and I was quite surprised by what I learned. My uncle had polio and was significantly impaired as a result, although he accommodated quite well. I had heard from my parents about quarantines and all. Turns out, most of the population was actually exposed to polio in those days and didn’t get sick or got a mild illness they probably went by with little fanfare. It was only a small percentage of those exposed who actually got so ill. I had no idea.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

90. My mom, ever since I could remember, always had a problem with falling.

When she was in her 40s, 50s, 60s.

She eventually had to wear braces on her ankles. Finally one doctor said "I would bet my medical license you had polio as a kid"

It explained a lot. Never diagnosed.

What I read is pre 1900s EVERYBODY got it as an infant. It wasn't untill we cleaned up the sewage kids didn't get it until later when it did more damage.

It was mainly a middle class problem during the bad outbreaks too. Poor people were more likely to have been exposed at a younger age There was even a myth black people were immune.

[Takket]

77. this "trend" is just going to lead to whatever water sources aren't already owned by

corporations being claimed and trampled on.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

80. Delicious micro-organisms

Such as giardia.

[Lee-Lee]

92. Growing up my friend had to drink a tablespoon of raw river water a day

Her parents were from India and had intentions of returning there to live later they went back several times a year.

Her mom started making her and her brother drink small amount of water direct from the river daily in order to build their immune systems to the kind of things found in the river, so that when they went to India they wouldn’t get sick from the water there.

She said it worked and was common practice among the Indian community in the area. No clue if it did actually work or they just got lucky on trips to India and assumed it did.

[struggle4progress]

112. "It's more natural than that reconstituted freeze-dried water you've been drinking!"