Fecal coliform

       A wiki link on the subject can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_coliform

            Some poster's stories

                        I presently get my water for all uses from 2 springs that flow year round, now for over a century that I know of (they flowed before then, too). The uses include both a clean water and a waste water septic system, all gravity powered.

                        Nobody has ever gotten sick from this setup in over a century. Basically, the springs do a wonderful job of filtering the rain and snow that comes from the sky. I even flush my toilets with fresh spring water. And the septic system setup makes me happy, too.

                        At my caretaker's wife's request, I did get the water checked at the local university by providing samples from various points in the system setup (circa 2003), and in all cases the spring water results were much better and safer than the local government water. Obviously, all this cost me money, but I am glad I did it.

                        I do have other 2 other springs which I also use, like for making electricity. And there are even more springs which presently just flow downstream.

                        I do have a GIS (Geographical Information System - basically a computer map) to ensure the clean water and waste water systems are in different "drains", so the waters should never meet where I live.

                        I have shopped for appropriate level water quality testers, and can't find one that satisfies my requirements and confidence. So right now I just will use the results method, like do I get sick or not from the system setup. Again I have a history of safe water use over a century, plus a university set of testing, too. But if times change and get hard as a result, I will stick by this method until alerted otherwise. I don't think that will happen.

                        Every year or so I do treat my water system with chlorine, but that seems like a future waste with possible adverse affects on the local terrain, too. After all, chlorine is a poison to humans and most other things around here.

                        Now the water does not have fluoride in it, so one must brush their teeth once a day or more often with a tooth paste that contains fluoride in it in order to help fight cavities. If times get hard, then daily brushing, even with baking soda, is a good minimum idea to practice. In other words, if we lose access to fluoride, don't quit brushing your teeth, anyway.

                        And if one loses their toothbrushes, there are lots of field expedients, including using their fingers, and even homemade toothpicks.

                        Last, and if in doubt where you live, remember you can usually boil the water you use for drinking and cooking to kill all the bad things. Now in some cases this resulting water might look "funny", but also in all likelihood, it is still "clean" water, like healthy enough to use for drinking and cooking. And one can always dig a hole (even building an outhouse over it) to keep us from getting sick from all the sewage diseases, like cholera and typhoid.