Is it safe to drink water from open water sources like rivers since there are less likely to get polluted because in my area there are less industries to pollute this water. What is your opinion on drinking open water sources would they be a reliable one.

I wouldn't drink water from an open stream or river no matter where I am without treating it first. If an animal dies upstream from you, the disease from the corpse will contaminate the water. Any type of water purification will take care of this. Just get into the habit of treating all water and you will have no problems.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Its not at all safe to drink water from open sources, as long as they are not treated they are polluted in one way or the other, factories are not the only things that pollute water even a dried leaf can do the job of pollution.

No its not safe these days. Even if you use filtering techniques, its unsafe. Never drink any open source water unless you are in a mountain.

Some people may not have this option in an emergency. With proper filtration and boiling they should be able to have safe drinking water. Water purification products are made just for this reason.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Open source water can be drunk. But it depends on the environment and there should be no industry nearby to pollute the water.

If the open water source is flowing through farmland or through inhabited (suburban/urban) area then you should be careful. It is likely to have a certain amount of pesticides, detergents, etc. Take a look, is it an actual stream or just runoff.

If it is a stream look for critters--crawdads, little fishes, frogs, etc. Flip over a rock to look for the crawdads. If you see them, then it's probably fairly safe to drink if you have a good filter. (I use a Katadyn or a water filter straw.) Always fill your canteen through a filter if you can because some parasites/problems take up to 45 minutes to kill even with chlorine tablets, some (like guardia) may not die at all.

If it is truly a wilderness area, then streams are usually OK -- but still use your filter.

If you have a way to catch rain, like using your shelter, then that's a good thing, but it's not always possible. If you see stagnant water, look for life in it also.

If camping, I filter the water and boil for AT LEAST 2 minutes. Our area does have some stubborn parasites that are supposed to be killed after 1 minute . . . but two minutes isn't that big of a deal.