>Hey everybody,
>
>        Lots of great ideas for camping, but please remember: NEVER WASH OR
>BATHE IN A STREAM OR LAKE.  Not even with biodegradable soap.  All
>'biodegradable' means is that it will break down in soil in a relatively
>short time.  Any soap that you put in water can kill the living things in the
>water.  You know, like pouring soap down your lungs.  You should use
>biodegradable soap, it is better for the environment and you can dump it in
>the woods, just not near the water.
>
>        Think about it -- if the soap was really that biodegradable, it would
>degrade as soon as it hit your wash water, so it wouldn't clean your clothes.
>  It does stay active in the water and screws up lots of ecological functions.
>  Have pity on some wildlife and dump in the woods, not the lake.

I see people washing their dishes right in the stream/river all the
time. I, exasperatedly, explain to each, how the ideas is to take
water *out* of the river and wash them a ways inland. The waste water
filters through the soil back to the water table. If you put your
food waste (and worse!) directly into the water, folks downstream are
sure to get diarrhea.

Dave
--
Dave Carpenter

Whatever you wish for me,
May you have twice as much.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke