Not everyone has running water or a fridge, or the luxury of staying in a house


I've always bought cases of water at a time and cycled it through. Never hurts to have extra water on hand.. I usually have between 5-10 cases at any given moment.

My son once got 2nd degree burns in a kids play pool park. The big water drops on the skin act like magnifiers. The hospital almost called the cops on us like we tossed hot/boiling water on him.

When I was 20, I skiied A-Basin in CO (12,500 feet high) ONE RUN with a T shirt and shorts on (June spring skiing)
I was damn near 2nd degree burned from the reflection of the sun on the snow combined with the high altitude.

Yep, got that T-shirt. I looked like a tomato.

Also you can drink too much water:
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ ... xication#1

This is so close to physically unpossible as makes no difference. You may as well try to hold your breath to death, ain't happening.

Soldiers have died from this, so yes it is possible.

But you reallllly have to work at it, so...not a big worry. You don't have to work at getting dehydrated.

Not so.

drinking a gallon of water at once, if dehydrated, is enough to cause problems.

You'd have to keep that gallon down. Qualifies as hard work IMO. Different opinions, facts are facts, and as you note, it is possible.
I think we agree that one should avoid dehydration, while also not poisoning yourself.

The guys in my family seem to have the thirst of a camel, especially my uncle, who has probably spent more time in the woods than out of them throughout his life. I've hunted and hiked with him and the guy barely drinks any water whatsoever, and doesn't seem to have any issue.

So about ten years back, my dad, said uncle, and my dad's good friend went on an early fall scouting trip before elk season. They're sorting out their packs and my uncle basically makes them throw out their water to save weight, stating that he's been along this hike numerous times, and that there was a running creek that they would reach before the end of the first day. They would filter and fill up their bottles and bladders there.

They hike in, it turns out to be hotter than expected. Dad's friend has started to break out into a sweat and wants to reach the creek asap. They finally get there, and the creek is bone dry, not even enough trickle to collect and filter it.

They ended up turning back and heading back to their vehicles. Dad's friend begged to let him sit and rest, and take a nap. He just wanted to sleep. By the time they reached the vehicles in the dark they were carrying him by the legs and arms, he was totally delirious.

Once back at vehicles they mixed up packets of ORS and basically forced it into his mouth until he drank all of it and began to recover. He was basically within inches of death.

That was one of the last times my dad implicitly trusted my uncle's advice as well.

I always carry ORS packets and a Lifestraw in my day pack because of that event.

There was a firefighter in DC (iirc, could have been fairfax or alexandria) that died from dihydrogen monoxide poisoning after chugging water during a training run...

He didn't make it.

Always keep cans of dehydrated water with you...