Page 1 of 1
Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 3:23 pm
by chumley
From AZCentral (
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0ysvSnRjG)
A northern Arizona hiker who drank water from a cow tank was recovering Tuesday after apparently suffering from a stomach ailment, authorities said.
Two men were hiking in the Coconino County Forest's Wet Beaver Wilderness this past weekend when they ran out of water, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.
The men hiked the Apache Maid Trail on Friday, camped out overnight, then continued to hike Saturday.
With no water by Saturday night, the pair found water in tanks used by livestock. It was the only source of water they could find, so they tried to purify it using filters, officials said.
On Sunday morning, when one of the hikers woke up sick, the Sheriff's Office was called. The sick hiker was treated onboard a helicopter and both were taken to a hospital.
Parasites in the cow tank water could have possibly infected the hiker, officials said.
So many possible comments here. But I'll leave them to others.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 3:29 pm
by BobP
I filtered water from those cow tanks...it was pretty yucky but I didn't get sick.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 3:30 pm
by wallyfrack
Bob told them it was only 13 miles RT.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 3:36 pm
by BobP
@wallyfrack
:guilty:
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 3:42 pm
by PaleoRob
chumley wrote:From AZCentral (
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0ysvSnRjG)
A northern Arizona hiker who drank water from a cow tank was recovering Tuesday after apparently suffering from a stomach ailment, authorities said.
Two men were hiking in the Coconino County Forest's Wet Beaver Wilderness this past weekend when they ran out of water, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.
The men hiked the Apache Maid Trail on Friday, camped out overnight, then continued to hike Saturday.
With no water by Saturday night, the pair found water in tanks used by livestock. It was the only source of water they could find, so they tried to purify it using filters, officials said.
On Sunday morning, when one of the hikers woke up sick, the Sheriff's Office was called. The sick hiker was treated onboard a helicopter and both were taken to a hospital.
Parasites in the cow tank water could have possibly infected the hiker, officials said.
So many possible comments here. But I'll leave them to others.
I've bathed in cow tanks before, and never gotten sick, but never drank from them.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 4:27 pm
by Jim
Not a very good filter. I wonder how old it was?
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 4:41 pm
by te_wa
too litle info to make a guess. they say filtered and purify in the same sentence... a purifier is something usually defined as able to remove viruses.
anyway, this is prolly just another case of pumpkin to mouth where bad hygeine and poor washing habits are blamed on a water source.
fwiw, dirty hand to mouth contact is the number one cause of illness in the backcountry.
to avoid tummy turning, i use dr. bronners castile soap, and hand sanitizer before i cook or eat. and, i have drank from untreated sources numerous times.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 4:47 pm
by paulhubbard
It could depend on the specific source, too. Some pools that are called "tanks" are a lot cleaner than others, or was it a water trough fed by a [steel] tank? - But none of the pond type "tanks" are clean enough that I would even think about drinking water from them, even with filtration.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 4:49 pm
by Sredfield
I used a First Need Purifyer on some pretty skanky water from stock tanks in active use this spring, no problems.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 5:04 pm
by BobP
@paulhubbard
The Apache Maid trail has 3 cow tanks that are real close to the trail....and several that are further away. They are pretty nasty. If you go off trail there are better sources but they are further away.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 6:07 pm
by kevinweitzel75
They are called cow tanks for a reason. I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 6:34 pm
by Jim
kevinweitzel75 wrote: I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.
I drink milk from a bottle, but I agree and would not drink directly from a cow.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 6:53 pm
by PaleoRob
kevinweitzel75 wrote:They are called cow tanks for a reason. I have spent some time punching cows and I would never drink from one.
I heard that if you punch cows in the kidneys, you can fill those ponds up quick.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 7:45 pm
by big_load
te-wa wrote:dirty hand to mouth contact is the number one cause of illness in the backcountry.
That's right. I've filtered water from plenty of cow tanks. There isn't much chance of illness if the filter was used properly, unless it had been damaged by freezing or something else. However, like many others, I'd only drink that stuff raw under emergency circumstances.
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 7:58 pm
by joebartels
te-wa wrote:this is prolly just another case of pumpkin to mouth where bad hygeine and poor washing habits are blamed on a water source
HAZ law only allows me to agree with te-wa three times a year, this is one of those times
Re: Hiker sickened after drinking from cow tank
Posted: Sep 07 2010 9:01 pm
by kevinweitzel75
PageRob wrote:I heard that if you punch cows in the kidneys, you can fill those ponds up quick.