Travel and Recreation
This page was archived in September 2013; see home page for current site status
At home, drinking water quality is up to the municipal water supplier or the homeowner. When you leave home for travel, camping, hiking, swimming, or other outdoor recreation, different drinking water issues may arise. Also see the Water Emergencies page. Information on Bottled Water is covered on a separate page. More detail about water-borne pathogens is on the Pathogens section of the Water Testing page.
Drinking Water Issues and Treatment Options
Portable Water Filters and Purifiers
Swimming and other Outdoor Recreation
Drinking Water Issues and Treatment Options
Cryptosporidium: A Waterborne Pathogen (CCE Water Treatment Notes #16, 2004)
Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water (U.S. EPA)
Drinking Water Away from Home (Health Canada)
Drinking Water In The Great Canadian Outdoors (Health Canada)
Boil Water Advisories and Boil Water Orders (Health Canada)
Travelers' Health - Risks from Food and Water (U.S. CDC)
Travelers' Health - Treatment of Water to Make it Safe for Drinking (U.S. CDC)
Travelers' Health - Prevention of Travelers' Diarrhea (U.S. CDC)
Preventing Diarrheal Disease in Developing Countries: Proven Household Water Treatment Options (CDC, 2008, on chlorination, solar disinfection, ceramic filtration, and a PUR product)
Preventing travellers' diarrhoea: How to make drinking-water safe (World Health Organization, 2005)
Emergency treatment of drinking water at point-of-use (WHO, 2005)
Portable Water Filters and Purifiers
Note - some of the links here are to commercial websites, so please take that into account. Links are provided to give an overview of products currently available, and not as an endorsement of any particular products, or rejection of any products not listed.
Camping and water treatment articles from REI
Personal water filters designed for developing countries - for biological pathogens, not chemical contaminants
LifeStraw, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal;
iStraw
Preventing Diarrheal Disease in Developing Countries: Proven Household Water Treatment Options (US CDC)
Swimming and other Outdoor Recreation
Contact information for county health departments in New York State
Take Steps for a Healthy Swimming Season (NYS Dept. of Health, 2007)
EPA BEACON Beach Closing Advisories
Outdoor Swimming (CCE Water Bulletin, 2005)
Cryptosporidium: A Waterborne Pathogen (CCE Water Treatment Notes #16, 2004)
Recreational Water Illnesses (U.S. CDC)
Crypto Fact Sheet for Swimmers (U.S. CDC)
Cryptosporidiosis Outbreaks Associated with Recreational Water Use -- Five States, 2006 (U.S. CDC, 2007)
Giardia Fact Sheet for Swimmers (U.S. CDC)
Blue-Green Algae (New York State Department of Health)
Pathogen Exposure through Recreational Water (USGS)
Recreational Water Quality (Health Canada)
Drinking Water In The Great Canadian Outdoors (Health Canada)
The presence of E. coli bacteria does not always indicate a sewage pollution source. Some E. coli are able to live in lakes year round. One study of this was recently published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (link to abstract, full text and .pdf also available).
Air Travel
Aircraft Drinking Water Rules (US EPA, updated October 2009 with new regulations)
Water Quality on Airplanes (CCE Water Bulletin, 2005)
Summary of EPA meeting on the topic, 2007
More data obtained from EPA from FOIA request by a news station (ABC News 7, San Franciso, 2008, see link at bottom to their reporting of EPA data)
Wastewater
The Influence of RV Chemicals in Marina or Campground Septic Tanks (CCE Water Bulletin, 2005) - also see the Septic Systems page