damn... I knew that looked odd.

...More...

Watched the show last night...Um. No don't do what he does. Case in point:

He's in the desert (Moab?) and in a slot canyon* which is blocked by debris -- then, saying never do this, swims under the debris, hoping to get to the other side, air and not to get caught.

Listen, I know its TV, therefore serves as entertainment, but he keeps taking chances when, in reality, you need to be very, very
( very) cautious when in a survival situation. No jumping off cliffs, no whitewater, no dozens of other things he does.

And shouldn't you carry --at least-- water and a hat in the desert?

TRO

Him not carrying any water may be the most realistic part of the show. He is supposed to be stranded and we don't always have the stuff we are supposed to, and in his case he forgot his brain the most important tool we should have.

Have just seen another episode last night of Born Survivor Bear Grylls (same as Man V Wild). He was in Mexico's Copper Canyon this time - he was eating rocks and dirt this time - what can I say... It's getting embarrasing!!

"...he was eating rocks and dirt this time..."

And some people complain about the extra weight of carrying WATER!

He forgot his brain? Did he ever have one?

Sue

I've gotta agree with you. I have lowered myself to watching his show twice now, and both times he got sick from drinking water (why is this, I used to drink out of river/streams all the time with no ill effect?). In addition, he rappeled down a waterfall, using vines, in the middle of the falling water, instead of alongside of the water, and beat on his knife with a rock, instead of a piece of wood, to baton thru a tree. Silly of me to waste my time once again...

I have a question for those of you with more smarts than I have.

When did all of the waterborn critters (giardiasis for example) come into being? I drank steam water by the gallons as a kid, never got sick. I have never read/heard about the mountain men, and the pioneers in general, getting sick from drinking stream/river water, and that is all they had, unless they had dug a well. Seems to me that if critters were in the water then, and all they had to drink was that water, they would have been so sick that many would have died of dehydration. Other critters must have been pooping in the water back then, so why don't we ever hear about such illnesses from that era???

These organisms have been around for millions of years.

Two things to keep in mind, people around the world are infected with these organisms, and in many cases have developed a tolerance/balance with the parasite as well as bacteria and viruses. Keep in mind a successful parasite, does not kill its host as it depends upon it continued existence for it’s own survival. In some case these organisms are almost commensal in nature (non-pathogenic or non-disease causing) as long as the person/animal is in reasonably good health. It is often when the human/animal becomes infected by other organisms, becomes malnourished or it’s immune system is not adequate (age: too young/too old, other causes), to maintain the balance, that these organisms multiply and in of themselves become health hazards.

The other issue is the increase in population and changes in land use (from natural to farms, towns, etc.) all of which will change the water table (redistribution) and quality of water. Also, (not a political commentary) as populations become mobile and immigrate or emigrate from various parts of the world, susceptible populations become exposed and subsequently pass on many of these infections.

Pete

As paramedicpete mentioned, I believe it simply has to do with resistance/tolerance. Back in the old days, all the water you drank came from the stream, well, or what-have-you. Many of them probably did get sick from the organisms a few times as a child. I’d imagine that after a few times of being sick, they would have developed a resistance to those particular organisms and therefore rarely got the same sickness again.

Now, if you compare that to today’s modern primary use EPA-controlled purified tap water and commercially-controlled purified bottled water, the chance to develop a resistance or tolerance to “nature’s flavoring” is nonexistent.

In fact, I imagine the same situation describes why water from other countries rarely agrees with us, too.

Makes sense to me. I knew that there would be someone here with the smarts to figure it out for me. Thanks to both of you...