Introduction to Water Safety
Water is a vital resource and a significant geographical feature in the wilderness. As a resource, we require water to remain hydrated, especially when performing intensive physical activities such as hiking, climbing, and rock scrambling. In addition, water is necessary for hygiene, cooking, and making coffee or tea for our extended trips into the wilderness. As a geographical feature water comes in many forms including lakes, rivers, swamps, waterfalls, and even the ocean. Interacting with any of the bodies of water have inherent risks, but understanding the risks and having the proper mindset, skill set, and gear set will help ensure a safe and enjoyable experience.
Some of the Topics we will be exploring in this course include:
-Potential health hazards in wild drinking water
-Potential Health Hazards when swimming or submerged in water
-Retail Filtration Systems
-Creating emergency filtration systems
-Seasonal changes to bodies of water
-Moving water hazards
-Aquatic wildlife hazards
This is a fairly broad topic and one that I feel very strongly about for a few reasons. First off, I have been impacted firsthand by drinking bad water in the wilderness, and I can assure you it is definitely not something you want to do! The second reason I truly love this topic is that I spent many years studying wild water sources and the potential health hazards that they can contain while I was doing my undergraduate and graduate studies. I learned a great deal, and I found that there are plenty of misconceptions and myths as to what is effective at preventing water born illnesses and wanted to help dispel those!
Thank you for checking out the Water Safety Course, I truly hope that everyone from a novice to an experienced outdoors person will walk away from this course having learned something!
Black Flag Survival 