When is water safe to drink? There are always risks involved with drinking water straight from nature. Whether or not it’s flowing, the animals around, and what buildings are upstream, and your own immune system all play a role. At a minimum, I never drink from stagnant pools, unless it is fresh rain puddle on clean looking ground. Stagnant and scummy water often breed infection. Flowing water is often safer, but can still be contaminated. This creek flows straight out of the ground at multiple