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Comment by ImTalking | Hacker News Reader

I was born in NZ but the family moved when I was 2. I recently got NZ citizenships by descent for my kids because I want to give them the option to move to there if all hell breaks out in the world. It's probably the last place on earth that one can still drink pure water right out of a lake. I choose not to move back there as an adult due to the isolation but if climate changes or wars happen then this isolation becomes a positive.

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>It's probably the last place on earth that one can still drink pure water right out of a lake

Dramatic much? I've done this many times from lakes in the Rocky Mountains in the US. I'm sure there are countless other places where it can be done as well.

Yeah, we do it in Sweden all the time.

We do? I don't think I've ever have.

Well, then we have at least two datapoints. ;)

When I've gone canoeing in Dalsland I've done it (not easy to bring a weeks worth of water with you...), no ill effects.

Yeah, maybe I should travel more.

Most lakes and streams at high altitude in the Sierras, Cascades, Rockies, etc are safe to drink. Once you're above the tree line you don't have to be worried about giardia because few animals live that high up.

Yeah, I grew up in New Zealand, and I kept hearing how we had the "most beautiful country in the world", so somehow I got the impression that no other country had beautiful nature like ours. That's completely untrue. There are countless places in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia where the nature is absolutely pristine and stunning. Canada actually feels very similar to New Zealand in some places.

There are certainly clear, cold lakes in the Rockies. However, I really wouldn't advise just drinking out of them without filtering or other water treatment. Yeah, you'll probably be fine but there's definitely Giardia and Cryptosporidium in a lot of water sources that look perfectly clean.

http://ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/1789 is the only significant study that I'm aware of. My interpretation is that risks are substantially over stated for true "back country" sources in the Sierras and likely most other places where you would find drainage areas without significant human impact. I still filter water almost all of the time but I worry less when I can't for one reason or another.

I don't really disagree. I expect that, as a practical matter, it's pretty safe to just drink water in a lot of remote places. That said, I also filter or use iodine even if I don't worry about medical facility cross-contamination procedures a lot of the time :-) It's not a lot of trouble and the consequences of getting an infection are unpleasant.

You'll need a citation for that. Otherwise it's just baseless speculation on par with saying you can drink from New Zealand lakes.

To pick a random set of citations: http://tahoetowhitney.org/content/sierra-nevada-backpacker-w...

There seems to be a fair amount of disagreement.

Look. I have no idea personally. However, conventional wisdom is that it's prudent to treat water. If I were dehydrated and had no treatment options, I'd certainly take my chances and drink apparently clear, clean water. (And have on occasion.) But I wouldn't just set off on the assumption it wasn't necessary either.

Have been drinking from NZ lakes and rivers for nearly 30 years and never had a problem. Did hear of a friend getting a bug about 15 years ago though.

I so wish this were still true, sadly unrestrained conversion of farms to dairy has resulted in many rivers not being swimable, much less drinkable. Sadly the government's recent solution to this problem has been to change the definition of "swimmable" to "makes you ill only 5% of the time"

Unfortunately New Zealand rivers are now very polluted due to the booming dairy industry and relaxed environmental policy. Most rivers are no longer swimmable, let alone drinkable. The clean, green image unfortunately doesn't always line up with reality.

I choose not to move back there as an adult due to the isolation but if climate changes or wars happen then this isolation becomes a positive.

If things get so bad you need a bolthole, how do you plan to get there?

There was another article on HN recently about billionaire preppers... But if the shit hits the fan and you don't also have a plan to take your Learjet's pilot's family with you, what makes you think he'll wait...

Most of our major lakes are badly polluted by dairy farming run off.

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