View Full Version : Problems with leech infested water...
Shooting Star
09-28-2010, 23:23
On my hike this past weekend, I was using a Katadyne Hiker Pro
to filter water from a 2 gallon sized pool in a slow moving stream.
About halfway through filling my bottles, I noticed that the pool
had about 20 leeches in it. Water clarity was good and there wasn't
much sediment. I finished filtering since water was scarce through
this section of trail. I figured that since the filter is 0.2 micron, it
should screen bacteria, and any other debris from the leeches. The
water tasted just fine. I looked online after I got back and apparently
leeches are not disease carriers, so I think the filtering protected
me.
Anyone ever done this before? Any problems afterward? I see
posts here about all the crappy water sources people use without
getting sick.
Thx for any advice.
Shooting Star
4eyedbuzzard
09-28-2010, 23:32
I'd imagine that the presence of leeches is actually good thing in terms of the purity of the water in regards to pollution. Leeches don't live long in "bad water". I doubt leech excrement, like that of all the other critters that live in the water (amphibians, crayfish, fish, etc) is a source of pathogens to be worried about. If it were most hikers would probably be sick/dead long ago. I doubt your filtering protected you from anything having to do with the leeches.
Still, I wonder if the presence of leeches is some sort of indicator. I'm sure they mean that the water is not terribly bad, but I am not sure that they mean that the water is terribly good either. Not sure. What do leeches normally feed on? I guess that is the question. I suppose there are different species.
http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/html/leeches.html
Food:
some species feed on blood, others eat detritus, decaying plant and animal debris; not an important food source for fish in most species.
Indicator Role:
abundance of leeches are generally considered indicators of very poor water quality, especially in running waters.
I like the leech water. It makes you strong and good for an xtra 5-6 miles per day. Also good in soup.;)
Here's to all the little leeches,
Sucking blood and making speeches.
Haemophagic, hermaphroditic,
but also Hirudotherapeutic.
4eyedbuzzard
09-29-2010, 07:22
I have to correct myself a bit. Leeches can be found in water that is avoided by or toxic to more pollution sensitive creatures such as certain species of flies. There's a lot of info out there on how biologists rate water systems for pollution based upon what fauna they observe. But the presence of leeches in and of itself isn't cause for alarm, they are a pretty common species, and as JAK noted there are many different types, most of which aren't parasitic on humans. Nor are they noted to be a common vector / transmitter of diseases. If you get one on you just carefully pull it off - don't traumatize it while it is still attached (it could vomit into the wound which could them cause infection).
Shooting Star
09-29-2010, 22:00
I like the leech water. It makes you strong and good for an xtra 5-6 miles per day. Also good in soup.;)
Maybe they taste like Calamari if you saute them in butter.
Interestingly enough, the Wesser Bald Shelter's water source is
a concrete sistern. Here I pumped/filtered water out of a pool
below that had a lot of leaf matter. Clarity was pretty good. But
the water had a strong tannin taste. Shows that anything
chemically bound into the water won't be stripped out by a
sub-micron filter.
Thx for all the info...
Shooting Star
Feral Bill
09-29-2010, 22:05
Here's to all the little leeches,
Sucking blood and making speeches.
Haemophagic, hermaphroditic,
but also Hirudotherapeutic.
excellent!
Wise Old Owl
09-29-2010, 23:43
uhh clams,snails, and helgammits are the indicators of good water - I ask about the leaches...
wcgornto
09-30-2010, 00:59
Here I pumped/filtered water out of a pool
below that had a lot of leaf matter. Clarity was pretty good. But
the water had a strong tannin taste. Shows that anything
chemically bound into the water won't be stripped out by a
sub-micron filter.
Thx for all the info...
Shooting Star
After drinking brown, tea colored water going SOBO through Maine last year, I was mildly amused at the NOBOs arriving on the scene expressing concern about the water quality because of its color ... having already completed 1900 miles without falling ill to lots of water from far more suspect sources than anything in Maine.
walkin' wally
09-30-2010, 07:02
Still, I wonder if the presence of leeches is some sort of indicator. I'm sure they mean that the water is not terribly bad, but I am not sure that they mean that the water is terribly good either. Not sure. What do leeches normally feed on? I guess that is the question. I suppose there are different species.
http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/html/leeches.html
Food:
some species feed on blood, others eat detritus, decaying plant and animal debris; not an important food source for fish in most species.
Indicator Role:
abundance of leeches are generally considered indicators of very poor water quality, especially in running waters.
Poor water quality? I highly doubt it. Rainbow Lake for instance has leeches under most of the rocks one would overturn just under water along the shore and that lake is one of the cleanest lakes in Maine along the trail. I've been swimming several times there and had no leeches on me. Most of them come out at night. So they are not eaten by fish.
The tea-water color comes from tannin that is dissolved in the water from decomposing tree bark etc. It is tannin that gives some fast running brooks a head of foam on the surface of the pools.
Cooper Brook in the Hundred Mile Wilderness has an abundant population on leeches but I have not heard on anyone getting sick there filtering water. I just wonder how much time the government people who write this stuff spend in the field.
daddytwosticks
09-30-2010, 07:27
In May I drank the Wesser Bald shelter water out of the cistern treated w/Aquamira...tasted and smelled moldy/mildewy, but I'm still here (sort of). :)
Well in fairness they did say "abundance" and "especially in running waters".
I would agree that leeches themselves are not a problem, but an "abundance" of leeches, "especially in running waters" where you would expect fewer than lakes, that to me would be some sort of an indicator of alot of decaying matter, and potentially alot of decaying fish and animal matter. So it would be some sort of a heads up, and I would boil my water for sure if I saw even just one leech, or other visible organisms. I generally boil my water anyway, unless the water is cold and from a stream that is reasonable sized and fast running. I think information from government or research biologist is certainly more credible than information from commercial sources. The only time it gets sketchy is when there might be politics involved, or the research is related to some commercial product. I would agree though, that perhaps the best sources of information would be from biologists that are also avid outdoorspeople, or avid outdoors people that are also biologists, or at least study biology on their own as a life-long learning thing.
I think it is all relative what we would consider to be poor water quality.
Does it mean safe enough to drink without treatment, or safe enough with some treatment?
4eyedbuzzard
09-30-2010, 08:48
I would boil my water for sure if I saw even just one leech, or other visible organisms.
As I'm pretty sure you'll agree, it's not the visible organisms that tend to be the most dangerous - we just have psychological adversions to them. Most all of the water we drink has a variety of flora/microorganisms in it, but most are benign, or the levels present aren't enough to cause illness. Life is a dirty business.
I do agree, but the large visible organisms can be very useful as indicators.
walkin' wally
09-30-2010, 16:07
If you are going to hike in Maine and you think there are leeches around you are going to be boiling a lot of water. Don't look too close.
Leeches are good for you. 50,000,000 Brook Trout can't be wrong! :D
Well I think that's right, you shouldn't have to look that close. If you look close enough and around enough you are most likely to find them all the time, which is pointless really, as an indicator. Where they are useful as an indicator is that where I get my water, mostly in the streams flowing into the Bay of Fundy, I rarely see them. I am sure they are there, but I don't look that closely. I just look for cold, clear, fast moving water. If it isn't as cold and clear and as fast moving, I am likely to look more closely. If I see a leech, or two, or three, where I don't normally see leeches, I consider that an indicator, of something. So I think about this observation, and I think about what this means, and what my options might be.
I don't see alot of leeches, but again, colder, clearer, faster water, I shouldn't have to.
When you see something outside of your normal experience, you take note. You look around more closely. You think about what it means. You consider your options. These are the the basic instincts of survival. Keen personal observation, and thoughtfulness. This is how water, and other parts of nature, should be "treated". Then after that you can boil or filter or do whatever it is you nomally do, but if you don't first make personal contact with nature, you're not really part of it, and that to me seems rather pointless. If you just go entirely by 'the book', and what other people do and say, your kind of missing out on the experience. Observe. Think. Learn directly from the source. Write your own book.
I'm not suggesting you need to make mistakes and get sick and die and learn everything entirely on your own. Just a little. Observe, think, make mistakes, get sick and die just a little each and every day, but also grow stronger and smarter, and live a real life, through the process. ;)
"Men, today we die a little."
- Emil Zatopek
Here's to all the little leeches,
Sucking blood and making speeches.
Haemophagic, Hermaphroditic,
but also Hirudotherapeutic.
Here's to Emil Zatopek,
Savage Runner, Noble Czech.
Died a little every day,
Leading men to live this way.
"Men, today we die a little."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTy2FdaP494
This one's cute:
His wife Dana Zátopková (born the same day as her husband) was an outstanding athlete in her own right in the javelin throw. She won the gold medal in the javelin in the 1952 Summer Olympics - only a few moments after Emil´s victory in the 5 km run - and the silver medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics. An example of the playful relationship between husband and wife came when Emil attempted to take some credit for his wife's Olympic victory at her press conference, claiming that it was his victory in the 5 km run that had "inspired" her. Dana's indignant response was, "Really? Okay, go inspire some other girl and see if she throws a javelin fifty meters!!"
wikipedia
walkin' wally
09-30-2010, 17:55
Well I think that's right, you shouldn't have to look that close. If you look close enough and around enough you are most likely to find them all the time, which is pointless really, as an indicator. Where they are useful as an indicator is that where I get my water, mostly in the streams flowing into the Bay of Fundy, I rarely see them. I am sure they are there, but I don't look that closely. I just look for cold, clear, fast moving water. If it isn't as cold and clear and as fast moving, I am likely to look more closely. If I see a leech, or two, or three, where I don't normally see leeches, I consider that an indicator, of something. So I think about this observation, and I think about what this means, and what my options might be.
I don't see alot of leeches, but again, colder, clearer, faster water, I shouldn't have to.
Well seeing you brought up that five letter word first I am going to go off topic a little and say I just spent a week in your beautiful province at FundyNational Park hiking. Among other places the extremely clear Broad River valley. Wow, such a beautiful park. Oh, Canada
Stayed in Alma. :sun
Sweet.
It's a nice little park ain't it. Should be extended right down the coast along the Fundy Footpath, and Fundy Trail Parkway. That would add about 30 to 40 more miles of undeveloped coastline. Locals are resisting it, even though they don't even own it. I don't get it. They want to be able to free to roam it, at least until it gets sold off and developed, rather than have it protected and shared by future generations. I think there is still a good chance it will eventually all become a big park though. Our economy is pertty stagnant. We still have that going for us. ;)