You’ve just filled your canteen with “pure” mountain water. Don’t drink it yet. Just around the bend
upstream there could be a decomposing skunk or raccoon. You always dig your camp latrine at least 200
feet from a water source to prevent contamination. Does everybody else? Without the support of modern
medicine, wilderness survival depends on maintaining good health. It only takes one drop of
contaminated water to make you ill.
Purifying Drinking Water
