Hi everyone,
Currently travelling with my girlfriend in Austria and we really love it here, people are nice and helpful and the views are amazing. Yesterday we made a hike near Hallstatt and we came across this water station. People who walk the trail told us its completely ok to drink from it (from the stream itself not from the pool). They said all around Austria hikes there are stations like this, they drank as well. Unfortunately few hours after we finished my girlfriend strted to vommit non stop and we had to take her to a hospital. My turn came later at the night vommiting and suffering.
My question is, how can you really know its safe to drink during hikes. On one hand the water in Austria are clean as they come. On the other hand, we are still recovering from a terrible experience. Is there a rule of thumb? Something to notice when come across this stations? Or just simply is better to avoid them.
Thank you!
by Psycofreudian
25 comments
Have been drinking from these all my life and never had a bad experience.
I am 99% sure that it was something you ate that day that caused your symptoms and not that water station…
You may aswell not be used to it from drinking fixed up water. These are safe to drink for our standards
As far as i know those sources should be safe . Are you sure that maybe Not a sun stroke hit you Both or did you eat the same things ? What did they doctors say i suppose you told Them the Story as it is .
All the best for you two – Hope you Are feeling better soon
If you used your hands to scoop water, you might both have had something on them that made you vomit. And as mentioned by others, it could also have been something you ate or heat exhaustion. I.e. did you drink enough, wore hats, kept to the shade …
I hope you both feel better soon!
Those fountains are usually fine if they come from a stream there is always the chance that something is in the water upstream. Sometime slurry gets washed in after a big rain. I had a extremely bad experience at the Königseer Ache I didn’t know if I should sit or kneel before the toilet.
I was never sick when I‘m drinking from it
They are all safe to drink from, it must be something you ate. Generally if the water is clear you can drink without problems, if it appears muddy you should be careful. But I hope you know this already!
The water that comes out of this is normally better than anywhere else, it could be that there was a dead animal in the water a bit higher up tho, than its not so good
It was probably the best water you guys ever had, problem is more likley food/-sun related
You might not be used to some of “our” normal bacteria found inside the water or your sickness might have another cause (heat, virus, food, etc.).
Generally flowing water on mountains is safe to drink if there are no obvious sources of contamination nearby (aggriculture, animal herds, heavy rainfall, etc.).
That’s the cleanest water you’ll ever get from nature.
When it comes to water those springs are probably as clean as it gets, never had any problems with them.
Pretty sure the water is not to blame here, you probably ate or drank something before that caused this, or you’re unable to handle untreated water.
With the heat those days it could also be a heat stroke.
Non drinking water has to be declared in Austria
In the mountains almost every stream of water is safe to drink (at least me and my friends never had problems). I even go as far as “oh there is some water coming out of this ground and there is no cow waste nearby? Let’s fill up my waterbottle.”
Maybe there is some dirt and some moss in there, but as I said, I never had any problems and the earthy taste of the water is very enjoyable for me.
To all the people saying it’s safe to drink:
Yes it can be safe to drink but if there is one condition off it can be contaminated. Something upstream can happen and water gets dirty. It rained the last days here and there so maybe some dirty water spilled into the stream.
Maybe a tourist made his business into the stream. We will never know!
I tend to use a waterfilter for any outdoor watersource. You can get them very cheaply over the internet.
Norovirus can spread like crazy everywhere, imo this is the most probable.
But I also know someone where the whole hiking group drank (what they thought was) spring water and got ill. On the way back they found a cow herd shitting upstream.
I am not aware of regulations for those springs, but the public consideres them as safe I guess. I never had a bad experience with the water, and I visit the mountains almost every weekend. But i don’t know if there are people who maintain/clean the pipes if necessary.
Rule of thumb is – as you said – to only drink from the water that is flowing, cleanly opaque without a bad smell.
Whatever caused your illness, I wish you a great recovery and much fun in austria
Water like that is pretty much always safe. The spring straight out the mountain is most likely just a few meters above.
Something that can be a reason is: this water is absolutly ice cold. My dad told me to drink too much straight away but let it warm in a bottle a little bit.
But i suppose its more something you ate or a virus. (Noro-virus is a biatch)
The water quality is high class in Austria.
These springs are usually clean from chemical contamination and the nitrate content is low since above is only forest. Mineral content varies depending on bedrock. There might be livestock somewhere on the meadows above but only a few and far away so the bacteria should be low or already degraded. The wood isn’t the best option to have as a chute but since the temperature is low, constant flow and there are few nutrients it should be fine.
You could always be unlucky and there is a rotting carcass above but that is quite rare and you would smell it.
Since other people drank it (and the hospital didn’t have several similar patients) I assume the water is fine. The stomach gets stronger or more resilient with more exposure to germs but that only applies if you constantly drink from that source and Austrians usually drink tap water, not from these sources.
Did the hospital tell you something if your symptoms indicate something?
If its food poisoning the hospital should forward it to the authorities and you could as well. Then they check it and warn future hikers.
At some springs or wells it is written “no drinking water” “kein trinkwasser”. There you should not drink! (it could be safe though and it’s just for insurance reasons)
That’s the cleanest water you’ll drink in your life buddy
It should be safe and people here drink it. However, depending on where you come from your gut might not be used to “our” mix of bacteria. Not a doctor, but I once had horrible diarrhea for two weeks because I drank allegedly great spring water from a well like all the locals did in the Caucasus.
never ever had any problems with drinking “wild” water. Water-Quality in Austria is realy good, you can drink it without any problems, as long as you are not in a city.
We also have whole Lakes with “drinking Water Quality” like the “Weißensee”.
> people are nice and helpful
Are you sure that you are *really* in Austria?