water quality in Wales

[Joeri]

Hi folks,

I am going to walk offa's dyke and I was wondering what the quality of the water is in wales near the English border. I plan not to visit towns to often so if it is possible to get water from streams and rivers along the way it would be great.

Is it clean enough to filter it with a filter that gets out bacteria such as giardia, or is that not enough and should I boil it? or is it not drinkable at all?

hope to get some good advise...

Joeri

 

[Ogri the trog]

HI Joeri,
The water on the Welsh side is great, only spoilt by the english stuff mixing with it.......

Thats a spoof, if you have a filter that does all that you've mentioned, you should be OK. If the farmers are anything like the ones around here, they won't mind if you knock on their door to ask for a replenishment if you're passing anyway.
If you do refill from streams etc, make sure you do a good recce upstream for dissagreeable things in the water and take all sensible precautions, as I'm sure you would anyway.

ATB

Hope you enjoy the walk.

Ogri the trog

 

[Joeri]

ok, thanks for the info!

 

[Doc]

For info, Giardia is a single celled animal (protozoa) not a bacterium. Water filters will remove it easily.

I would definitely not drink untreated water, but water from an upland source that has been boiled or put through a water filter (like the pre-mac) should be fine.

Trail walker tested some streams in the Lake District. All had coliforms (faecal bacteria) above the recommended limits. I expect it is a similar story round Offa's Dyke.

 

[Dougster]

I used to live just down from Hay Bluff in the black mountains. There is so much civilisation (sheep, farming etc.) it's not worth drinking the water, you can't avoid the locals so you may as well ask for tap water and save lugging all the filters with you.

When you want a change there are some superb pubs on the route!!! Particularly the bar in the cellar of Llanthony Priory.

 

[WDBurns]

I walked Offa's Dyke a few years ago, nearly always an opportunity to ask for water. I did refill from taps at cattle troughs but boiled water well for tea (wild-camping).

 

[3bears]

HA!

I remember a couple of years back the the NW coast was brought to a standstill with cryptosporidium, that was from one of the reservoirs up in the hills becoming contaminated, be careful dude!

 

[WDBurns]

Also suffered with Foot & Mouth a good few years ago, all clear now.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Also suffered with Foot & Mouth a good few years ago, all clear now.

Not necessarily,
while the disease itself has long gone, the legacy of run-off water coming from areas where burried bodies of aminals laid for a few weeks (one of the less wise descissions made at the time) still affects wide areas, specifically around the military ranges of Mid Wales.

Ogri the trog

 

[DavidJT]

When you want a change there are some superb pubs on the route!!! Particularly the bar in the cellar of Llanthony Priory.

God that takes me back. Ive had a few great nights in there, but not been for yonks. A classic.

 

[xylaria]

I presume it will have sheep poop in it until proven other wise. I would boil or use tablets to remove bacteria. Springs are marked on OS maps, they won't be dry this time of year. There is plenty of streams and springs. The rain is reallyclean, and there is normally plenty of that.

 

[Broch]

There's no single answer for Offa's Dyke - the lowlands are heavily grazed and I wouldn't trust any water not to be contaminated (not polluted mind just not clean) so would filter and boil. In the uplands get as close to source as possible and it should be fine. I don't tend to treat that water in any way as it tastes fantastic straight from the ground and is spoilt by boiling. That's not advice! just telling you what I do - if you end up with Delhi Belly I deny everything

Very often the water from cattle trough taps is straight from the ground gravity fed from higher land - just 'cos it's from a tap it does not mean it's clean. Have a look in the odd farm storage tank and you'll be put off for life - dead rabbits, unidentifiable sludge and usually midge lava. I would often trust a high-up stream source before an outside farm tap.

Cheers,

Broch