Is drinking water containing dirt harmful?

distro_dave

I noticed that if I collect water from a stream dense of small debris/thin mud, if I keep the water bottle close to the surface, while it takes a longer time to fill the bottle, the water is cleaner there. In that occasion, the water was not that muddy, but it was muddy enough not to look clear - it had a very light brownish colour - and to taste "groundy" as well, despite my care in collecting it on the top of the small stream (which made a...

Originally asked by Dakatine on Stack Exchange (outdoors) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

The terms to google on seem to be "turbidity," "total suspended solids," and "total dissolved solids." TSS refers to solids that can be eliminated by a filter, and TDS to solids that are in particles so small that they get through a filter. High TSS seems to be harmful to fish because it indirectly reduces the amount of oxygen: https://www.ndhealth.gov/WQ/SW/Z6_WQ_Standards/WQ_TSS.htm . (Note that on 12/1/18 that link is not accessible.) Re safety for human drinking: Turbidity itself is not a major health concern, but high turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. It also may indicate the presence of microbes[...] --...

Full answer by user2169: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/8616 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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