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DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 29, 2005 - 05:07pm PT
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Fairly recent release, apologize if its old news
http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/dl_detail.lasso?id=8201
Data collected by experts from the UC Davis School of Medicine have revealed that except for some heavily used areas, streams and lakes in the high country of the Sierra Nevada are generally clean and fresh.
The good news for campers can be found in a pair of studies published in the latest issue of the quarterly medical journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. UC Davis physician Robert Derlet and pathology researcher James Carlson present data gathered from nearly 100 locations throughout the Sierra Nevada during the summer of 2003, including Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.
Their goal was to analyze wilderness water quality for the presence of harmful bacteria such as E. coli, which is typically an indicator of contamination from human or animal waste.
Running counter to popular belief, the two researchers downplay the risk of picking up giardia in backcountry drinking water. In the Sierra Nevada, E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria may pose a greater risk than giardia for causing waterborne illnesses in people.
"What's impressive is that more than half of our water sampling sites had no water quality problems whatsoever," said Derlet, a professor of emergency medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and an avid backpacker with 30 years of experience hiking in California's high Sierra. "People still should use water filters or purification techniques like boiling drinking water in the backcountry. But our findings also are an indication of the outstanding job done by the National Park Service in its wilderness management."
Derlet has spent the past five years on water quality studies in the Sierra Nevada. From his recent sampling sites, only 17 had levels high enough to be directly linked to recreational use or the presence of livestock.
"For these two studies, we looked at nearly 100 streams and lakes over the 400-mile-long mountain range," observed Derlet, who has given presentations to wilderness rangers about infectious diseases and backcountry medicine.
"We've also analyzed water at many more Sierra Nevada lakes and streams this past summer with consistent results. It's not surprising that waterways below roads, popular trails and well-used cattle grazing areas often show the presence of harmful bacteria. However, it will probably take a number of years and some sustained funding to pinpoint the exact causes."
The UC Davis physician says his studies are only a snapshot in time, and that all streams and lakes tested in wilderness areas typically contain a certain amount of naturally occurring aquatic bacteria. Low levels of coliform bacteria actually can be part of the natural environment. If bacteria were not present in the water, it would jeopardize the balance of the aquatic ecosystem, including everything from frogs to fish.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Mar 29, 2005 - 05:31pm PT
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Once you've experienced girarda, there's no going back. Once is enough!!
Go ahead and drink it..go ahead, well do ya feel lucky punk....
giggles..chortle..gfaw...bwahahahahahah
but that's just me
cheers
Pat
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Mar 29, 2005 - 05:47pm PT
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How many cattle and humans are upstream of the water you drink?
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akclimber
Trad climber
Eagle River, AK
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Mar 29, 2005 - 06:34pm PT
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After 100' of flowing through sand, gravel, and rocks, the cattle and human influence is back to zilch anyway. I will continue to drink unfiltered water from streams but will filter lake water in the back country.
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Larry
Trad climber
Reno NV
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Mar 29, 2005 - 08:18pm PT
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Last May, due to malfunctioning technology and reluctance to beg or borrow, my partner and I drank lots of Merced River water right at the Little Yosemite campground. We were lucky, no ill effects.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Mar 30, 2005 - 02:16am PT
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Actually, although the specific information is new, but the basic information is not. The definitive article on the subject:
http://www.californiamountaineer.com/giardia.pdf
You will feel MUCH better after you read this article!
You will probably not want to filter water, as I have not for 45 years, and if you have ever had Giardia, you will realize where you actually got it (it was NOT from the water....)
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10b4me
Trad climber
On that V2 problem at the Happies
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Mar 30, 2005 - 12:33pm PT
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When:1980
Where: PCT near Lk Isabella. whatever it was I got out of that stream, the effects were not fun. I filter all Sierra water. Doesn't bother me to take the time to do it.
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Ouch!
climber
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Mar 30, 2005 - 02:20pm PT
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Some parasites you can pick up may not show up for years. Then one day you start posting goofy messages and it comes to you that a creature from a coon or bear's ass has penetrated your brain and is now directing your behavior. Watch for symptoms like wimpy posts about sore ankles and cooties and such. When the behavior expands to excessive boasting, a lobotomy is the only treatment that might restore you to a state higher than you were before. Or after.
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