water
I’m an adult, I’ll make my own decisions, but since I can’t see germs and chemicals in water with my naked eye I’ll have to make my decision based on something other than speculation. That’s why I wanted to know if the water was safe for swimming. I love the water. It would be very hard for me to be paddling every hot day and not be able to jump in. Out west I swim in rivers, I just don’t know if eastern ones are clean.
River Race
That would be on the Missouri, not the Mississippi, right? Probably very similar to the mighty Miss. as it’s pretty silty by the time it reaches Mo. At least you don’t have those long, windswept reservoirs in the Dakotas to paddle through.
“health” of the Mississippi River
Mark Twain wrote that the Mississippi was (paraphrasing here…) “too thick to swim in, too thin to plow!” Having lived on the Miss. for several years, below Lake Pepin in Southern Minnesota, I can tell that people swim in it all the time…houseboating to sandbars, hanging out all weekend, scores of towns in which water could be obtained, too… However, some friends have paddle the entire route and complained of rashes on hands if they didn’t wear gloves…I’d count on local activities to see if anyone’s swimming…I think I’d leave the drinking of water to that which I knew was safe.