Hi all, been lurking here for a few months. Great stuff!

Just found an interesting article on www.latimes.com that contains tips on best sources of potable water in various backcountry situations, here

For instance, the articles quotes a physician who's spent years studying purity of streams and lakes in the High Sierras as saying the top couple of inches of lake water has less bacteria than streams since the UV rays zap germs and bacteria. Never occured to me! There's a great list of tips at the end if you don't want to wade through the articles.

He's not advocating tossing your purification tablets or pumps, but does posit that some wilderness water may be cleaner than you might initially think. Then again, I guess you don't need a masters in microbiology to figure it's riskier to drink downstream from the herd than upstream. Also helps if you have access to mountain streams above the treeline :-)

Greg