Plant water revisited: Frog factor

[pict]

Yesterday I was able to take a day hike (forced march) to the top of a mountain that I have tried to reach twice before and failed. Third time's the charm, we made it to the top.

Anyway there is no water up ther except for heavy fog that lingers until about 9:00 am most days. This water colects in bromiliads (sp?) that grow amid the rocks. If I had a tube and a syringe I could have harvested a few liters easily.

The big question is this. In one of the larger plants was a brightly colored poisionous frog. Would harvesting the water from one of these plants be hazardous to your health? How would you know if poisonous frog water was palatable? Mac

 

[grommit]

How do you know there were not other frogs in other of the pools earlier?

How do you ever know if any static water does not contain organic poisons from any source?

I would assume that the organic poisons would be taken out by a good carbon filter, reverse osmosis or distilling, but I do not know for sure. I would hate to have to trust water found like this without an effective means of processing.

On the otherhand, if you have no processing method, and it is either drink or die, choose to live as long as you can.

 

[akabu]

Why don't you use bandana or T-shirt ect,[sponge] to collect before it pool's?You have to worry about Feces or dead animal matter , collect and strain ,then use water purifier.

 

[pict]

In this situation were got to the top of the mountain at about 10:30 am. The top of this mountain is usually in thick clouds until about 9:00 am then the fog lifts. This day was unusually clear and sunny up there. As it was the only water left up there was what had collected in the plants. I would estimate that each one contained between 100 to 400 ml of water that could have been syphoned off with a tube. We already had four liters of water and no tube so I didn't risk damaging any plants.

You couldn't drink this water without filtering and treating it. The frog was unexpected. Mac