I remember when we used to go to my friend’s camp up in Clarion PA back in high school. You had to bring bottled water-the local tap would give you amoebas.
Do you mean something else, Guin?
I have never heard of anyone having a case of amoebas.
I used to do the same thing, until I found an ice tray that makes ice tubes specifically designed for sticking in water bottles. It makes 27 of them (9 x 3), and they’re about 4 inches high. I got it at Bed, Bath & Beyond for a couple of bucks. Very handy. I don’t like my water too cold, so I just stick one or two in.
I also refill my store-bought bottles with local tap water, and all I drink is water, other than coffee or tea in the morning. I gave up soda about two years ago. Like you, the thought of drinking a whole glass of water was sheer torture. Now, it’s all I drink. Baltimore’s water is supposed to be very good, and I think it tastes just fine. I honestly can’t taste much difference between tap water and some of the bottled waters (Poland Spring, Dannon, etc.).
If I’m out and have finshed off the water I brought with me, and there’s no where to refill my bottle, I have no problem buying one, but yeah, the bottle has to be sturdy for refillings, and it has to fit in my car’s cupholder. I don’t like those enourmous bottles. I won’t buuy the most expensive stuff like Perrier (hate that!) or even Evian, but whatever’s cheapest.
kung fu lola, I’ve seen Volvic here. Can you not get it where you are?
Well, that’s how one of my professors described what happened to him when he got sick drinking local water down in Central America-he always says he had amoebas.
And my friend’s mom said there were amoebas or whatever you call them in the water, and that’s why you couldn’t drink it. I don’t know-I wasn’t too keen on trying to prove her right or wrong, if you’ll imagine.
A child swimming in a really nasty pool here had some single celled creatures enter his ear and kill him.
That sure as hell sounds like an urban legend…
One gets a case of amoebic dysentary is, I believe, how that’s usually put.
ah, that’s how I have heard it: dysentary.
I have never heard of 'the amoebas", hence my confussion.
AH! What a GREAT idea! I have to start doing this. DogDad loves iced lemon-water (and we can get the ReaLemon juice in the mega-bottles), and this would be a fantastic way to keep him in stock! Never thought of trying this.
Thanks for the idea!
NOW I gotta get more bottles, though. <mock grumble>
This would be more expected in a country that lacks regulation of water suppliers and the means to thoroughly treat the water, and if it were happneing in Pennsylvania, it’s defintely something that the DER (Department of Environmental Resources) should be made aware of.
Unsanitary water in a municipal supply is a very bad thing, and the DER usually will not tolerate it for long. This is something that can happen due to water main breaks or faulty equipment at the plant, but it’s not usually an ongoing problem. If they still believe the water’s unsafe, they should contact the DER or their county health deparment to find out how to bottle and where to send a sample for testing.
If the water came from a well on the property, the well owner is considered to be the ‘water supplier’ and in those cases testing should be carried out by a lab and the water treated on premises such that it is fit for drinking, which is what I had to do in my new house because there is a well. There are still sulfur reducing bacteria in the water, which makes it smell a bit funny and taste bad, but the water is deemed safe to drink because sulfur reducing bacteria apparently pose no health risk. All the other levels have been verified safe after purification in the house, but the water is still a bit high in contaminants to drink straight from the well. We Brita the water just to get rid of the taste, which we chose to do over installing a carbon filter on the softener system because we find we only need to filter the drinking water, so the extra expense of carbon filters for the rest of the water in the house wasn’t warranted.