The Mt. Washington wilderness in Oregon has almost no water sources and several of these dry up as the summer progresses. The main source on the PCT is Coldwater Springs. At the time I am speaking of, it was more of a seep or a shallow well, dug to a depth of a few feet, with wooden walls around it, to facilitate access.

Long ago, I camped there near a party of Boy Scouts. In the evening I went to draw water from the well and several of the scouts (no adults nearby) were washing the food from their dinner dishes directly into the well, soaping them and rinsing the soap into the well, too!

I was only 17 years old at the time, but I gave them a good scolding, you bet! The scoutmaster came by later and apologized, but my friends and I were not in a very forgiving mood and were probably a bit short with him.