Potable drinking water concerns?

[longrangehunterII]

I’m curious how many members have gone to Africa and experienced unsafe drinking water conditions? Or bathing in and/or brushing your teeth in contaminated water?

I left after a gentleman, a client said his hunting buddy had a pint of puss drained from his kidneys or liver? But after multiple attempts to clear up my illnesses and even driving an hour away to get safe drinking water after working for a well known Outfitter twenty years ago for not having a well, (bore hole as they call it) and only a pump in the river.

Has this issue changed over the years or is it still a problem?

 

[JimP]

On both of my hunts the outfitter supplied bottle water for drinking or brushing your teeth.

There water came out of a bore hole for the rest. I filled up the sink one night and took a look at it, it was as brown as could be, that might of been the reason for brown towels in the bath. They had a bath along with a shower and I couldn't even think of taking a bath in that water.

On my first trip we took a horseback ride into a remote village in Lesotho and our outfitter pointed out places to refill our water bottles, each spot was guarded by a old woman who naturally wanted a gratuity.

 

[fourfive8]

Who knows? Mexico, SE Asia, Africa, Giardia infested water in US, etc. Most outfitters supply bottled water for drinking. Use it sparingly for brushing your teeth - water is heavy and bulky for safari camps to supply in infinite quantities. For swimming in local rivers or taking a shower? I guess you’ll just have to live dangerously. I always take a small supply of Cipro. Ask your doc for a prescription.

 

[SZSA375]

Bottled water is routinely available in most locations. In places it is not and as a backup, I take a Grayl. I have filtered water with it many times. In today’s world, it’s about as good as you can get…especially when you consider the size.

 

[farmer_john]

I’m curious how many members have gone to Africa and experienced unsafe drinking water conditions? Or bathing in and/or brushing your teeth in contaminated water?

I left after a gentleman, a client said his hunting buddy had a pint of puss drained from his kidneys or liver? But after multiple attempts to clear up my illnesses and even driving an hour away to get safe drinking water after working for a well known Outfitter twenty years ago for not having a well, (bore hole as they call it) and only a pump in the river.

Has this issue changed over the years or is it still a problem?

Life straws a cheap thing to pack.

 

[mdwest]

Ive traveled most of the African continent.. from the more developed countries (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, etc) to the least developed (South Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Benin, etc..)...

Ive never had a problem finding a supply of bottled water or otherwise clean, potable water suitable for showering, brushing teeth, drinking, etc..

The worst solution Ive had to deal with, which honestly wasnt all that bad considering the circumstances was in Liberia where the hotel we stayed at (in Monrovia) had enough bottled water to provide for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, etc.. but couldnt get safe water piped into the hotel for showers and other personal hygeine.. so they put a 5 gallon plastic bucket in the shower along with some chinese knock off lysol type product and gave you very specific instructions that you were to run the shower for a couple of minutes to clear the pipes, then fill your bucket from the shower, and then drop in a small amount of the lysol stuff, stir with a stick they provided, and then let it sit for a couple of minutes before using the water to clean up..

That would have been around the 2005-2006 time frame.. I havent been back to Monrovia since.. but some guys I knew that were working there for the UN around 2010 said things had started improving concerning the water supply.. I'd think by now they would be much better.

Get out into the bush in many African countries, to include the more developed ones, and clean water supply can be a real issue.. but.. as long as you (or the outfitter) plan ahead.. I havent seen a place yet that I couldnt stock up on bottled water in the larger cities/towns and take it to the rural areas..

 

[Tex .416]

Learning how to treat water is easy and an important life skill. Here are a few simple options.

Several good quality water filters are offered for backpacking and camping that are light and easy to use. I like Katadyn filters and keep a couple in my truck along with water purification tablets.

Cadry stainless steel water bottles which can be put in fire coals to boil water in a pinch.

One way to make a simple filter is to cut off the bottom of a large plastic bottle. Fill it with charcoal from a fire packed tightly, turn it bottom up so water can come out of the spout. That acts like an activated carbon filter.

If one develops the runs, eating charcoal from the fire can help stop it or at least slow it down.

Here is a link on how to use bleach to treat water.

How to Disinfect and Purify Drinking Water with Bleach | Clorox™

Need to know how to disinfect and purify drinking water with bleach? Find out how much bleach to add to drinking water to safely sanitize it.

www.clorox.com

 

[wesheltonj]

I have a MSR water filter, but have never had to use it in Africa. Bottled water everywhere.

 

[spike.t]

We provide bottled water for drinking and brushing teeth..the shower water is pumped from the river to a tank..so I tell people no singing in the shower keep your mouth shut

 

[Nyati]

Always found enough bottled water.

Beer is also a good substitute

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

We supply bottled water
We also have a reverse osmosis system to use water from borehole
And our water comes from a borehole which has been tested and is good for consumption as it is

 

[Ridge Runner]

All of the outfitters I have hunted with have had plenty of bottled water available both at the lodge and while out hunting. As a safety precaution using rain water and/or well water to supply water to the bathroom facilities they marked as non potable water.

In Zimbabwe it was a sort of bush camp, there was a sufficient supply of bottled water for the 12 days in camp. IIRC the bathroom facilities water were supplied by collected rain water. Since there was no mention nor seen of any filtration devices or equipment, even if there had been, I erred on the side of caution as being nonpotable water.

Water is a concern, so is the health and personal hygiene of the person/people preparing and cooking the meals.

 

[SETH RINGER]

NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT. MY EMOJI IS A PICT MY YOUNGEST SON TOOK OF ME WETTING MY LIPS FROM A STREAM IN NAMIBIA.

 

[Pondoro]

Reverse osmosis is brilliant..it will remove 99% of dissolved salts, heavy metals, bacteria and other organic substances..

Such units are now produced at small scale, ie for use from a borehole, rivers, etc.

 

[longrangehunterII]

Reverse osmosis is brilliant..it will remove 99% of dissolved salts, heavy metals, bacteria and other organic substances..

Such units are now produced at small scale, ie for use from a borehole, rivers, etc.

I had one in my home in the late eighties, and eventually installed one in my RV in 1996. Simple to install and use, but slow to process if one wanted large quantities.

I travel with a SteriPEN which even works with ice water, drinks etc. As well as a high end portable filtration device, plus tablets etc. if I’m having to treat water.

Unfortunately I was lied to about having potable drinking water, which was the very first question I asked before taking the job.

I brought Ciproflocacin with me as well, but when you’re living in the bush, retreating yourself multiple times doesn’t cut it and I finally called it quits!

I wasn’t aware of the water situation until after it rained for a few days and the river swelled and turned red. That’s when I was brushing my teeth and noticed the water coming from the faucet was reddish in color! So I fallowed the water line from the water tower down to the river only to see it where the water was coming from.

The outfitter only supplied me with a single 35 liter plastic drum to fetch well water from another outfitter miles away which made it impossible to keep on hand when clients were in camp let alone when it was just myself and a camp staff of 20 people.

Honestly, I thought it was total nonsense that there wasn’t a well drilled on site considering the vast amount of money already spent on this facility. Three diesel generators, the walk in cooler, and a permanent main dining area along with a huge kitchen and storage facility. Especially considering how expensive bottled water can be vs putting in a well.

Zimbabwe had more high end irrigation systems than any other country in Africa at the time, including some of the best infrastructure too. Made no sense to me, but then again you can’t fix stupidity.

Sure, maybe go without showing for a brief period, living there is an entirely different situation though.

 

[C.W. Richter]

'Have been in the (highly contaminated earlier on and now also low-level contaminated) water treatment business for going on 40 yrs. 'Never had a problem abroad, as (no matter what the locals tell you) I NEVER drank any non-bottled beverages, kept my mouth closed while showering, and although brushing teeth is also recommended using bottled water (i've cheated on that one a couple times using either borehole or other water that's first been boiled in a drum, and I use a peroxide-based toothpaste and do NOT swallow any of it.) Just because the locals bodies are equipped to deal with the area microbiota, that does not mean that your body IS. Also, small scale water treatment systems are only as good as their design and maintenance regimes (Almost nothing is 100% effective sans repetitious treatments.) Swimming in apparently clean (i.e. the flowing, clear blue Zambezi River and same for lakes formed by damming up flowing water bodies is fine-not recommended in stagnant pools/intermittantly flowing small rivers. Also keep your mouth closed while swimming and shower as soon as practicable afterwards. You can put ear plugs in or dowse each with hydrogen peroxide when back at camp. And always bring the strong recommended travel antibiotics (doxycycline, cipro, etc.) just in-case! All that said, the contaminants in Africa are largely acute, microbial and treatable. The ppm, ppb or ppt (pick your favorite organic industrial/ag chemical) level urbanites have been eating/drinking their entire lives is chronic and deadly. Consume lots of antioxidants (including wine!) Some simple European table habits can add years to your lives! The Industry will also graciously sell you the necessary medical O&M to keep you alive as long as possible. Be safe in Africa, but do NOT worry! Be far more concerned with what you're consuming on the homefront... *Was never thinking of work while in Africa, though did help some camps set up rudimentary water systems (from river pools or new boreholes,) but IF the airports allowed, I could've collected water samples for bacterial/spore analyses and reported back to PHs or landowners. It would've been a hassle, as it was in CN years back on a job. We wound up renting a car and driving back instead.)

 

[longrangehunterII]

All of the outfitters I have hunted with have had plenty of bottled water available both at the lodge and while out hunting. As a safety precaution using rain water and/or well water to supply water to the bathroom facilities they marked as non potable water.

In Zimbabwe it was a sort of bush camp, there was a sufficient supply of bottled water for the 12 days in camp. IIRC the bathroom facilities water were supplied by collected rain water. Since there was no mention nor seen of any filtration devices or equipment, even if there had been, I erred on the side of caution as being nonpotable water.

Water is a concern, so is the health and personal hygiene of the person/people preparing and cooking the meals.

There’s nothing wrong with showering with rain water. In fact that would be the preferred method vs River water, that contains hippo shit, catfish shit, baboon shit and whatever else is in it, mining upstream is really bad too. The health concerns for intestinal parasites, i.e. Bilharzia, Giardia, Cholera or Typhoid which I was inoculated for two years prior. None of those are associated with rain water, which is easy to treat for drinking vs the vast differences in river water.

 

[dhoover]

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.”​

― Benjamin Franklin

 

[Pondoro]

I had one in my home in the late eighties, and eventually installed one in my RV in 1996. Simple to install and use, but slow to process if one wanted large quantities.

I travel with a SteriPEN which even works with ice water, drinks etc. As well as a high end portable filtration device, plus tablets etc. if I’m having to treat water.

Unfortunately I was lied to about having potable drinking water, which was the very first question I asked before taking the job.

I brought Ciproflocacin with me as well, but when you’re living in the bush, retreating yourself multiple times doesn’t cut it and I finally called it quits!

I wasn’t aware of the water situation until after it rained for a few days and the river swelled and turned red. That’s when I was brushing my teeth and noticed the water coming from the faucet was reddish in color! So I fallowed the water line from the water tower down to the river only to see it where the water was coming from.

The outfitter only supplied me with a single 35 liter plastic drum to fetch well water from another outfitter miles away which made it impossible to keep on hand when clients were in camp let alone when it was just myself and a camp staff of 20 people.

Honestly, I thought it was total nonsense that there wasn’t a well drilled on site considering the vast amount of money already spent on this facility. Three diesel generators, the walk in cooler, and a permanent main dining area along with a huge kitchen and storage facility. Especially considering how expensive bottled water can be vs putting in a well.

Zimbabwe had more high end irrigation systems than any other country in Africa at the time, including some of the best infrastructure too. Made no sense to me, but then again you can’t fix stupidity.

Sure, maybe go without showing for a brief period, living there is an entirely different situation though.

I have only operated reverse osmosis on an industrial scale...I work on an oilrig where we make potable water from seawater...been doing this for 31 years, very safe and durable systems..

As long as you have 220V from a gen. there are small units available on the market for bush use..

 

[BRICKBURN]

Bottled water for internal use.