I have been doing it for quite a while now though I filter it via brita. But I imagine if the chlorine in the water is not killing that mf, no brita is gonna stop it either.
That being said, I am not %100 sure about how deeply this is researched though. For instance what is the mechanism by which this fella gets in the brain? Does it need to pass thru the blood brain barrier or is there a shortcut? Does this more commonly occur in people with immunodeficiency problems? The news quotes for instance
“All 10 of the people in the CDC study had one or more conditions that weakened their immune systems, including cancer or HIV/AIDS.”
Seems like I may have been snorting brain eating amoebas into my nose wo knowing.
One PPM of chlorine is enough to kill most amoeba in about 10 mins.
If amoeba can survive in tap water where you are at, you probably shouldn’t drink the water without filtering and boiling it first anyway.
Also, get some multi-chemical water test strips as well. While those don’t tell the full story, they can be useful if deciding to have your water tested at a lab. (Test strips a decent enough at detecting chlorine, some metals, salts, etc. I don’t know if they exist, but detection of disolved gasses, like natural gas, would be a huge plus if you live in an area that has a lot of oil drilling.)
Everyone should spend at least a few bucks to know what they will be drinking at home on a regular basis, IMHO.
Some places are worse than others, from what I understand. Also, I haven’t had an issue with my brain being eaten after years of swimming in freshwater sources.
The above paper was about a place in Pakistan, so who knows what their water is like…
I have only had to take extra precautions in costal areas. When I was a kid, I remember some fairly strict warnings about amoebas in places like Florida and up the East Coast to North Carolina. Honestly, I don’t remember that many details since that was about 35 years ago. (Maybe it’s about water temperature or water chemistry, or something. Dunno.)
Reminiscing aside, all fresh water has risks for one reason or another. If you are ever lost, stranded or even on a super long hike everything becomes exponentially more dangerous anyway. (Small risks become massive risks, basically.)
If there is anything you never fuck around with in the wild, it’s a water source. Not only can it host a ton of things that can kill you or just make you sick, it also attracts other, bigger, critters. Nevermind that we need a fuck ton of water to drink ourselves and need to stay near water sources.
I’m more concerned about e coli levels than amoeba. But Lord only knows what gets into the South Saskatchewan River system and what grows vigorously once the water slows down in Lake Diefenbaker.
At least I’ve stopped swimming in the runoff sloughs in cattle pastures. (Kids are all kinds of stupid!)
I miss being a kid in the country, sometimes. The stupidity was never ending and the risk->reward function always paid massive dividends.
TBH, we had super clean water where I grew up and there were bigger risks than getting covered in cow shit, which did happen on occasion. (My best friend at the time got his hands on some blasting caps one weekend. We probably weren’t much older than 12 or 13 at the time…)
Sorry for the tangent. This conversation kicked up more nostalgia than I expected.
While those don’t tell the full story, they can be useful if deciding to have your water tested at a lab.
Everyone should spend at least a few bucks to know what they will be drinking at home on a regular basis, IMHO.
Lab testing is going to be a waste of money for most people not using well water, unless you have a strong reason to suspect something is up aside from test-strip reaults. Especially seeing as how the water chemistry is going to change at least twice per year when the water provider switches from chlorine to the chloramines and vice-versa. And pretty much all providers will give you a report of exactly what’s in the water on a monthly basis if you ask for it.
Lab results would be useful if you’re serious about homebrewing beer and don’t want to build up the water profile from scratch or really into baking, though. Just don’t do it in the early Spring/Fall, because that’s when the treatment chemicals switch and the results aren’t going to be representative of what the water is really like for that time of the year.
My stomach is super picky and I drink a ton of water. It doesn’t take much to mess me up.
Even perfectly clean water will trigger my acid reflux, but that is more of a mechanical issue with my stomach, from what I understand. The bigger moral of the story here is not to be a raging alcoholic for many consecutive years…
I even get monthly water reports automatically due to the number of lawsuits my town has had because of water quality. Needless to say, my trust level is not set at maximum even for third-party reports paid for by the city.
You ain’t wrong, but the redundancy makes me feel better.
IMHO, it shouldn’t need to be. With test strips, my only intent is to see if there is something drastically off kilter. pH tests are likely the most reliable of any of them. If tap water pH is wildly off, there is likely something else wrong.
Excluding some cases, just a taste of the tap water should tell you volumes more than what a test strip might.
You don’t have to use a neti pot or anything (and if you did you’d hopefully know to use distilled water), but do you NEVER get water up your nose in the shower? Bath? Do you want brain eating bacteria on your supposedly washed hands? On the counter you just wiped down? Running through your dishwasher? Coming out your hose and your sprinklers? The ice cubes in your fridge? Are you willing to bet your BRAIN on never having an accident? But I’m sure it’s all fine, as long as I keep it out of my nose. Wtf is wrong with some people… We just had a pandemic but basic hygiene is replaced with ignorance.
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