Drinking Water
It looks clear, so it must be OK to drink, right?
February 2011
Clear = clean? Not so much. It's the little bugs in the water that will make you think twice about drinking any clear water you see. Seeing a cool stream of clear water flowing out of the faucet looks safe enough, since that faucet is as nice or nicer than the one at home- so we must be diligent about insuring good water.
To do this on Bussie, we:
1. Use only potable (drinking quality) water supplies. This might be called a 'city water supply' 'tap water' or 'drinking water' supply depending on where you go. Just because the clerk at the gas station SAYS it's clean doesn't mean it's guaranteed. Use your spider sense about this. If it doesn't seem clean, don't fill your entire drinking water tank with it. Instead, have your spouse drink a glass, wait one hour and if they haven't run to the toilet holding their gut, go ahead and fill up. Ha ha! (That's not the best water test).
2. Disinfect EVERY water supply spigot and handle. Mix a bleach disinfectant in a spray bottle for this purpose alone. Remix it frequently- keep it fresh. Soray the parts of the hose bib and let it sit a minute, then rinse it, then hook up your hose.
3. Disinfect the fresh water system about every 2-3 months. 1/2 cup household bleach per 30 gallons of water, fill tank and fresh water pipes and faucets- then drive a few miles to mix it in and rinse the tank, then let it sit for 30-45 minutes. Drain all water, refill with fresh tap water and voila.
4. Final step: we filter every drop of drinking water through our Big Berkey water filter. We love that thing! Could take pond water and make drinking water.
To do this on Bussie, we:
1. Use only potable (drinking quality) water supplies. This might be called a 'city water supply' 'tap water' or 'drinking water' supply depending on where you go. Just because the clerk at the gas station SAYS it's clean doesn't mean it's guaranteed. Use your spider sense about this. If it doesn't seem clean, don't fill your entire drinking water tank with it. Instead, have your spouse drink a glass, wait one hour and if they haven't run to the toilet holding their gut, go ahead and fill up. Ha ha! (That's not the best water test).
2. Disinfect EVERY water supply spigot and handle. Mix a bleach disinfectant in a spray bottle for this purpose alone. Remix it frequently- keep it fresh. Soray the parts of the hose bib and let it sit a minute, then rinse it, then hook up your hose.
3. Disinfect the fresh water system about every 2-3 months. 1/2 cup household bleach per 30 gallons of water, fill tank and fresh water pipes and faucets- then drive a few miles to mix it in and rinse the tank, then let it sit for 30-45 minutes. Drain all water, refill with fresh tap water and voila.
4. Final step: we filter every drop of drinking water through our Big Berkey water filter. We love that thing! Could take pond water and make drinking water.
In the time we have been on the road, this system hasn't failed us yet. Could be a combination of chlorinated city tap water going in and keeping the bugs at bay, or the consistent practice of using filtered water from Big Berkey. We have yet to replace a filter on that great device (it's 11 years old) and it produces about 5-8 gallons a day for us.
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