P. J. Alling wrote:
There are many places in the world where waters are naturally
contaminated with Tannins which turn the water the color of tea. The
Mississippi isn't polluted because it's muddy...
I'd like to interject a few words about water pollution.
I think of "pollution" as contamination of potable water by whatever
makes it NON-drinkable.
My thesaurus says pollution is:
"Made impure, especially by contaminating with man-made waste."
So much dirt (earth, clay, silt, minerals, whatever) is not good for you
in any large quantity. Some are harmsul even in very small quantities.
And who knows what that dirt holds so far as bacterial contaminants.
I can't speak to the presence of other contaminants like tannins and
other water colorants, but I'd suppose any plant acid like that could
not be particularly good for a human (or fish, or animal) to drink in
any quantity, either.
All of which goes to say that one needs a number of tests to determine
potability, not just visual clarity.
keith
