Campground water quality

[Neal]

I discussed this a bit during my recent 4 month RV trip about how quickly the house water filter was yucking up and discussing changing it out very 30 days or so. I also considered getting a clear filter housing so I could monitor it easily and know when to change a filter. I also ran a pre-filter at the spigot trying to capture rust and yuck before it even got to my RV's wet bay and house filter setup where I have a dual filter setup with sediment and carbon.

Upon returning home it's become even more concerning to me about water quality at campgrounds. Something simple as putting water in the dog bowl and realizing how clear it is here at home and it's not like that typically while traveling. The other indicator is my electric water kettle and how it's foggy weird looking in the coach yet perfectly clean here at home. I did not (knowingly) travel through any areas with hard water this trip but I have in the past and used the water softener.

It has just become evident to me that water quality in campgrounds is questionable. I'm not sure what standards they are held to compared to residential, if there is even such as thing? While I am not a germophobe and typically don't care if it's tap water or not and still don't but this calls into question what really is the quality of the water we're getting at campgrounds and how can we know as well as enforce some measure?

 

[sanda]

Campgrounds are bound by local and state laws by their location. Now inspection of their systems may not happen as often as it should.

 

[Rich W.]

For the most part it’s either a municipal water supply that the locals are drinking, or well water that just the campground uses. Municipal water is probably safe for the most part although sometimes not all that palatable. Well water can be much more questionable.

Since your last discussion on this my tank water is now double filtered and drinking water triple filtered (from the fridge dispenser). So I’m confident enough about it. But I always start with a full tank from home (my well water) because I know its good.

Also wouldnt hurt to “purify“ the water in the tank periodically as well as rotating out water that’s been sitting. We pay a lot of attention to keeping our waste tanks as clean as possible, but generally just fill and use our “fresh” water.

 

[redbaron]

Mineral content varies greatly. This affects the clarity of water, but not the safety

 

[Magua]

Our water is triple filtered also. With that being said, my first layer of defense is my sediment filter. At my sister’s house, which is well water with a lot of iron, the sediment filter has to be changed every month if not sooner. Same as some campgrounds that I have visited. I do use a water softener and with all the additional filters, I’m satisfied that what I drink is good. Besides, I have survived drinking out of a water hose the first 15 years of my life.

 

[Jim]

The water at our park come from an aquifer 550' down. We had it tested the day we finalized the well and we used to test it every month, until that proved to be a redundant exercise.

Now we test it every 6 months but again, that seems to be a redundant exercise as well.

No pun intended . . .

 

[Gizmo]

I guess I'm a water snob because the taste of campground water is sometimes its just plain terrible. We purchase one of these filters and maintain our coach filter and fridge filter. After fout months of usage, the coach filter was still clean and white. Since we bought it we now use water straight from the facet. They do have one that you suppose to be able to pull lake water from the lake and be safe to drink.

Blu Tech R3 - Elite Series - 0.2 Micron 3-Stage RV Water Filter System

SUPERIOR FILTRATION: The Blu Tech R3 is a 3-stage RV/Campground water filter system with the 0.2 Micron High Flow Filter*, the Granular Activated Carbon Coconut Shell “TASTY” Filter, and the Sediment “LONGEVITY” Filter. The R3 is engineered and built in the USA! Smaller micron size means greater...

goblutech.com

 

[LMHS]

Hard water is every where. It just varies as to the hardness.

Water Hardness Map of the United States – H2O Distributors

Water Hardness Map of the United States, Water Hardness Table of Classifications and links to more information about water softening and effects.

www.h2odistributors.com

I prefer to use a 0.5 micro filter (like a Whirlpool DB2, GE FXUVC, FXULC or Culligan D40 that reduces Mercury, Lead, Cysts and Asbestos) in a generic 10 inch "whole house" housing after my permanent spin down sediment filter (typically goes on a well pump). For drinking/cooking I buy RO water for 25¢ per gallon. Even the current dog only drinks RO water. Decided to do that decades ago after our then dog and cat drank water at a campground that we figured out had giardia cysts in the water.

There is also a pricey filter that claims to remove arsenic. I haven't tried it yet.

 

[RKins]

I always leave home with a full water tank. We use the tank for showers, washing dishes but not drinking. We drink bottled water.
I usually test the water from the spigot at a CG before hooking up my filter system to it. You can learn a lot by using a test strip.
Something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WNJJVKN/?tag=rvf01-20

Also using an inexpensive TDS meter will show you the amount of dissolved solids are in the water. You can't filter TDS out but it gives you an idea what you may be drinking
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073713G5F/?tag=rvf01-20

 

[FloridaSon]

Where I live, municipal water, after the initial testing to get a CO at the CG, is usually re-tested 'by complaint'. Other areas may be different. Even with treated municipal water hydrants are flowed by the water dept. annually to flush out some of the bad funk that can grow there (and make sure they work on that day).

Ask any firefighter what they can see when opening the hydrant. Other than that the weak point is where you connect your hose and how the previous guy used it.

On the other hand, I have not seen a thread here about someone getting sick from camp water.

 

[Dona40]

As a survivalist, this is my choice. Supposed to be able to run sea water through it.

Waterdrop - 400GPD G3 Reverse Osmosis Water Filter - White​

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/waterdrop-400gpd-g3-reverse-osmosis-water-filter-white/6459096.p?skuId=6459096

When the ordinary just won't do...

 

[LMHS]

There used to be an RV park in Franklin NC that would fail the Health Dept's water test two to six times per year and failed it for a few decades (giardia cysts). Part of what the park would have to do is post in the newspaper that they had failed the test and why they failed it. I'm sure that there were a lot of people who only spent a few nights that never saw it. By the time they were sick, they could have been a couple states away.

But then the High School also failed the water test a few times (giardia cysts).

 

[DKRITTER]

we have been camping for about 10 years in a RV and made a decision early in to not drink camp ground water. We used bottled water for years then got a Berkey Techno RV Berkey Link .
We use it at home and in the RV have not had any issues since getting it.

 

[team bradfield]

we have never drank CG water, when we started out, there is a small forest preserve nearby, the CG water was high in sulphates, made everything smell of rotten eggs. at home, we filled the camper with water and 2 jerry cans, got us through the weekend with the kids camping, we always have used bottled water for drinking and dog dishes

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Found this thread that prompted me to sign in.
I once thought that fluoride could be filtered out, but I was wrong! A bone char filter can nutrilize it though.
Water safety is a really big thing that should be considered. In the distant past I posted what I do, but I was mistaken, thinking fluoride was easily removed.
To recap, I have a touchy digestive track. Travelers revenge seems to get the best of me. It is not about what is growing in the water, rather the change in minerals that take a toll on me.
That said filters are useless for me. Sediment filters are what they are called, and remove nothing harmful. Carbon filters remove most poisons but this depends on chemical paring. Carbon block filters have the smallest micron passages. RO removes 95 percent of what is in the water, but also kills it.
Ozone kills 98 percent of organisms in the water but leaves the salts, it also removes 95 percent of the fluoride.

What I am saying is do what is comfortable to you. For whole house purification I recommend Ozone bubbling with Carbon block filters as a final stage.
This won't work for me because change in salts cause me problems, making removal of salts nessasary. Other than RO the other option is a distiller, both of these methods I use. I return energy/life to the RO water with frequency. You do what you will.

 

[sanda]

As a survivalist, this is my choice. Supposed to be able to run sea water through it.

Waterdrop - 400GPD G3 Reverse Osmosis Water Filter - White​

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/waterdrop-400gpd-g3-reverse-osmosis-water-filter-white/6459096.p?skuId=6459096

When the ordinary just won't do...

RO filtration seems to be the best all around unit but filter costs can be high. If used on just the kitchen sink costs shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Rich W.]

RO being reverse osmosis for the uninitiated. Its how “water makers” on ocean going vessels purify sea water for domestic use.