[hkmurakami]

I remember talking to one of the rangers at Yosemite, near one of the natural lakes that eventually supply water to SF. I remember him saying that he tells visitors who go answer nature's call at the lake to think twice, since they're going to be drinking this very water soon.

[fnordfnordfnord]

What did he say about drinking fish shit? And the effluent of every other critter in the park?

[pyre]

I think that it has more to do with the idea that humans moving through that area would do much more damage (than the local animal population) if they were not discouraged in some way.

[fnordfnordfnord]

Rangers should discourage people from fouling the area, but the comparison made by the Ranger is nonsensical on a number of levels. Anyone who heard it might disregard it after recognizing how silly an argument it was.

[cdash]

Just as astronauts on the ISS drink their own piss, it is nothing but in our minds.

[pyre]

Drinking your own piss is different than drinking someone else's piss. :P

[mapt]

Urination is a relatively low-impact activity on a water supply. Defecation, on the other hand, tends to cause a decent variety of diarrheal illnesses unless the water treatment facility is quite good - something that may not be accurate for something designed for sterile snow runoff. The water here is not just being drunk, but going on fresh produce as well, so you can't rely on purely municipal filtering.