Drinking Creek Water in Developed Areas
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 6:38 pm
I'm planning on taking the family on a Skyline-to-sea backpacking trip this weekend. This is a 30 mile hike from the ridgeline of the Santa Cruz mountains (3000') down to the ocean north of Santa Cruz; as I've got the kids along we're breaking it into three ten mile segments, corresponding to the places on the trail where water is available and camping allowed. The trail passes through the backwoods areas of some state parks (Castle Rock and Big Basin), but passes near some roads and developed rural areas. The only water on the first 20 miles of the trail is piped water at a trail camp 10 miles into the hike, where we will be spending the night. I was thinking about backup plans in case piped water wasn't available but we didn't want to either hike 10 miles back to the trailhead or 10 miles to the next water. There are creeks that run along parts of the trail but I have no idea how safe it is to drink creek water from developed areas even if filtered and boiled and/or treated with iodine, considering the proximity to highways, farms, etc. I'm thinking here not of micro-organisms but of chemical contaminants from the road and or farms (e.g., detergents, contaminants from nearby roads, nitrates, etc.). Any water experts on the board? I'm more curious than anything - thinking also about what my options might be if the next big one were to hit the Bay Area and we were short on bottled water (there's a creek that runs from the coast range mountains down near our house).