[ImTalking]

I was born in NZ but the family moved when I was 2. I recently got NZ citizenships by descent for my kids because I want to give them the option to move to there if all hell breaks out in the world. It's probably the last place on earth that one can still drink pure water right out of a lake. I choose not to move back there as an adult due to the isolation but if climate changes or wars happen then this isolation becomes a positive.

[hueving]

>It's probably the last place on earth that one can still drink pure water right out of a lake

Dramatic much? I've done this many times from lakes in the Rocky Mountains in the US. I'm sure there are countless other places where it can be done as well.

[ghaff]

There are certainly clear, cold lakes in the Rockies. However, I really wouldn't advise just drinking out of them without filtering or other water treatment. Yeah, you'll probably be fine but there's definitely Giardia and Cryptosporidium in a lot of water sources that look perfectly clean.

[bjelkeman-again]

Yeah, we do it in Sweden all the time.

[ImTalking]

Yeah, maybe I should travel more.

[Taniwha]

I so wish this were still true, sadly unrestrained conversion of farms to dairy has resulted in many rivers not being swimable, much less drinkable. Sadly the government's recent solution to this problem has been to change the definition of "swimmable" to "makes you ill only 5% of the time"

[vosper]

Unfortunately New Zealand rivers are now very polluted due to the booming dairy industry and relaxed environmental policy. Most rivers are no longer swimmable, let alone drinkable. The clean, green image unfortunately doesn't always line up with reality.

[gaius]

I choose not to move back there as an adult due to the isolation but if climate changes or wars happen then this isolation becomes a positive.

If things get so bad you need a bolthole, how do you plan to get there?

There was another article on HN recently about billionaire preppers... But if the shit hits the fan and you don't also have a plan to take your Learjet's pilot's family with you, what makes you think he'll wait...

[lacampbell]

Most of our major lakes are badly polluted by dairy farming run off.