Drinking Water

[Glenn and Cathy]

I've been reading up on the fresh water tank and talking to other RVers and some advise not to drink the water in their tanks and others say it's OK.  What's the general consensus here?  For those that don't, what do you do for drinking water, especially in a boondocking situation?  Thanks.

[Kirk W]

I would ask you a question as part of my answer. Do you drink water from the tap at a stick house, hotel, motel, or restaurant? The water from your RV tank is no different. The only precaution that we have ever taken with the RV system is that I do sanitize the fresh water system (almost) every year. Annually is usually suggested but I have been known to go longer. We have been RVing now sinc 1972 and have always drank water from our freshwater tank. 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Kirk W

[Will B.]

Agree with Kirk.  It's water!  If you'd drink it from a hose (like when we were all kids), then it's fine.  Sanitizing the the tank is just like cleaning the iced tea pitcher.  At least once in a while, but shouldn't be brown, and you can't see what you're doing!  Heh.

[SWharton]

X2

[Zulu]

Not me. Been to too many campgrounds with questionable water. I filter my water tank through reverse osmosis for drinking water.

[dewilso]

Americans, the US ones in particular, have made their environment  so clean and bacteria free that their systems can tolerate nothing. Go drink out of the hose, maybe go swim in the creek & get water in your mouth…& other places. Then your definition of potable water becomes much broader.

[bigjim]

1 hour ago, Will B. said:

, but shouldn't be brown,

Color is not necessarily and indication of not being safe to drink but it sure makes you think.  Within about 60 miles from Livingston, Tx we caught rainwater off the roof in an above ground cistern.  Definitely not always clear. I am glad I did not know then what I know now about water sanitation.   I also don't like to dwell on some of the water I drank in Viet Nam.  The water at Camp Lejuene when I was there was clear and tasted fine but we found out years later that much of it was highly contaminated.

[Ray,IN]

I'm in complete agreement with Kirk. Learning how to take the simple steps to maintain the fresh water system makes it as safe as the fresh water system in a city house.

[sandsys]

We always drank water from our fresh water tank. Used it to wash dishes as well.

Linda Sand

[Zulu]

5 hours ago, Glenn and Cathy said:

I've been reading up on the fresh water tank and talking to other RVers and some advise not to drink the water in their tanks and others say it's OK.  What's the general consensus here?

 

The arguments For Tank Drinking seem to break down into two reasons:

REASON 1 -- "I've been drinking from our water tanks for XX years and I'm still standing."

4 hours ago, Kirk W said:

We have been RVing now since 1972 and have always drank water from our freshwater tank. 

Well, using that line of reasoning, I think I'll cancel my auto and health insurance because I'm accident free and feeling pretty healthy. Right.

 

REASON 2 -- "Man up! What doesn't hurt you only makes you stronger!"

2 hours ago, dewilso said:

Americans, the US ones in particular, have made their environment  so clean and bacteria free that their systems can tolerate nothing. Go drink out of the hose, maybe go swim in the creek & get water in your mouth…& other places. Then your definition of potable water becomes much broader.

Almost to a certainty, drinking out of a garden hose will be mentioned. As if this compares to drinking from a contaminated water source. People wax nostalgic explaining this reason . . . they'll talk about their younger days drinking from hoses, wells, streams, etc. You know, the days before the amounts of agricultural and manufacturing chemicals went through the roof.

 

Finally, will you be ok drinking from your RV's water tank? Probably.

However, most of us here are getting up there in years and our immune systems aren't what they used to be when we were drinking from hoses. So I don't drink directly from my water tank. I filter the bejeezus out of that water first because from my experience, campground water systems are not as good as municipal systems.

[Randyretired]

We are boondocking.  Where else but a tank can we get water?  Like many here we do take steps to sanitize the tanks we use but it may not be perfect.   On the other hand since there is almost no one else around we have less chance of catching covid.

[GlennWest]

Drinking forn a hose now. It connects to my camper and we drink form it

[Vette Racer]

While boondocking we carry 10 one gallon plastic drinking water bottles that we fill up at drinking water kiosks in the area for 25 cents a gallon or 5 gallon for a dollar. We use that for drinking, tea, and such.

[sandsys]

I generally feel municipal water is safe. But I refused to fill at my dad's house even though it tested as safe for drinking because of all the iron in their water. Then there's Flint, Michigan. All you can do is make your best choice and go with it. Just as we do with everything else in life.

Linda

[bigjim]

I would say most people are somewhat careful  about where they get the water to fill there tanks.  There is some water that is safe to drink but doesn't necessarily taste that good depending on where you get it like Linda said about the iron in the water. Where I am now is on a municipal system where the water  doesn't taste great so I tend to use the filtered reverse osmosis water for drinking and making coffee, tea, etc but I will drink it at times and cook with it in some instances.  It has a lot of calcieum even after treatment.

[fpmtngal]

I usually will buy reverse osmosis water for drinking when I’m boondocking for more than a week, my tanks are fairly large for a small trailer, but it’s still a small trailer.  I can go 2 weeks before I need to dump my waste tanks, but often dump earlier because my fresh tank doesn’t quite hold up to that 2 weeks unless I have more water somehow.  I use a couple of 2-1/2 gallon jugs for drinking and 3-5 1 gallon jugs to add to the fresh tank.  I can’t lift a 5 gallon jug high enough, and have had inconsistent results when I try to siphon.  I’d love to figure out a better way of adding water to my fresh tank.

I’m not adverse to drinking the water from the tank, though I rarely do it.  I didn’t drink the water at the house I used to own all that much (it was high in a number of things, including fluoride and occasionally arsenic), preferring either reverse-osmosis or bottled water.  I’ve just continued that habit now that I’m full-time.  I do sanitize the tank once a year and use filters, so I don’t mind washing dishes etc. with the tank water.

[2gypsies]

We drank and cooked from our tank for 16 full-timing years and since it was used continuously we didn't sanitize the tank.  We did have a good filter coming into the RV and also another at the kitchen sink.  Got our filters here:

https://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/

They are most helpful over the phone if you have questions as to what you need.

We never had questionable water.  Filled up at the potable water at dump stations and various other places.

[Randyretired]

We have a 100 gallon water tank on our HDT and 100 gallon waste tank.  We macerate into the waste tank and retrieve water when we dump.  Now we are at our property and have a well and septic but no electricity.   I start a generator to fill the water tank from the well.  It is a high mountain well that has had some tests but tests for every conceivable contaminant is cost prohibitive.   So we drink the water and so far so good.  I have lived on well water for most of my life.

[bigjim]

7 minutes ago, Randyretired said:

and retrieve water when we dump

Not quite understanding this.

A lot of municipal water is treated well water.

[Randyretired]

1 hour ago, bigjim said:

Not quite understanding this.

A lot of municipal water is treated well water.

What I could have said more clearly is we macerate the 5er waste tanks into the HDT 100 gallon waste tank then when we dump the HDT we pick up 100 gallons of fresh water in the HDT fresh water tank to pump into the 5er.  We do this when we are boondocking.   However, now we are at our property and have drilled a well.  We don't have power so I start a generator to run the well to fill the 5er tanks.  We tested this well for some things but to completely test for every contaminant is cost prohibitive for us.

[Randyretired]

2 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

 I’d love to figure out a better way of adding water to my fresh tank.

We found a RV water pump on sale a few years back.  I attached a piece of hose for an intake and a hose  with a male hose fitting to the outlet.  For power it has leads with clips for a battery.  I can pump from small containers up to a 50 gallon barrel with the containers still in my truck.  I don't  lift water containers when full.  Our water inlet is 5' up.  The pump is also easily converted to pump from the permanently  mounted tanks on our HDT.  This pump serves as a reserve in case the 5er pump quits.

[bigjim]

OK Randy I get it now.  Just misread it the first time.

[JimK]

IMO it is important to keep your water system in good condition. 

That means sanitizing at the start of any trip or whenever the water has been stagnant for a few weeks.  If you do not sanitize, odors can develop from bacteria growing in the system.  Testing has shown that Legionella is a fairly common contaminant in RV water systems.  Development of Legionella disease is not common but it can be a very serious disease and it is not worth taking any chances.  Sanitizing means use of about 1/4 cup of household bleach for every 15 gallons of water.  Minimum soak time is 1 hour with most of us soaking for a couple of hours or more.  The biggest issue in sanitizing is often dealing with the hot water side of the system.  To make it easier some campers replace the standard drain plug with a valve to facilitate draining the tank.  

I am also careful in choice of water for filling the tank.  Water should come from a municipal water system or from a system which is periodically tested.  The water systems are tested in national parks and forests.  That may not be true for all campgrounds with their own water systems.  

Chlorine is another major issue.  Most municipal water systems will add a small amount of chlorine to maintain the clean water towers and supply lines.  That chlorine will help maintain RV water tanks.  Some campground or RV parks do not have chlorinated water.  It might be necessary to periodically sanitize the tank.  Some RV water filters remove chlorine.  IMO that is a poor practice.  The chlorine is there for a purpose and helps maintain the RV tank and system.  If you need to use a filter, consider using only a sediment/particulate filter.  Even with precautions, I use a Britta or other final filter for my drinking water.  If nothing else it can remove unwanted or unfamiliar taste.  

[LindaH]

16 hours ago, Vette Racer said:

While boondocking we carry 10 one gallon plastic drinking water bottles that we fill up at drinking water kiosks in the area for 25 cents a gallon or 5 gallon for a dollar. We use that for drinking, tea, and such.

X2.  We do not drink water out of our fresh water tank.

[Kirk W]

22 minutes ago, JimK said:

Chlorine is another major issue.  Most municipal water systems will add a small amount of chlorine to maintain the clean water towers and supply lines.  That chlorine will help maintain RV water tanks. 

If you use a charcoal filter, or most filters that do more than remove sediment, there will be very little chlorine in the water that leaves the filter. That is one of the reasons to periodically sanitize the system. Other than that, I very much agree with Jim. 

The fact is that the greatest risk that we take as RV travelers is driving around the highways. Do a bit of investigating and see how many people develop drinking water related problems, as compared to those killed & injured on the highways. 

Report: 64% of Bottled Water Is Tap Water, Costs 2000x More