[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Boneman

Well, I think this is a technical question, and for the life of me, I thought I'd asked it before, but cannot find it anywhere...

So, hero is trudging through the desert and comes across the well/oasis, only to find it's poisoned/ filthy, whatever. It's a well-worn trope, but my question is this: If you boil poisoned/filthy water and collect the steam, is that not distilled water? Okay to drink? Or does the poison come with it? (I only did General Science for O level...)

I would consider the condensed water vapour as distilled. Any impurities should be left as a residue after the water has been boiled away.