Another "hose" discussion (campground water)

[bradw]

I see a lot of pointers on the forum that remind people when buying a hose to make sure you buy a white drinkable water hose. But I really wonder how many people actually make it a habit to drink water from campground wells. I am always a little leary drinking water from any old well. I'm sure that it is more than likely alright to drink, but I just have a slight fear about it. We filter the water and still I can't make myself drink just any cg water. SO, we drink bottled water.
Just wondering if you frequently drink it?

[RedHorse1]

We drink the CG water with no ill effects (yet). Our filter is a simple whole house type and removes the "chunks" from the water and little else I suspect.

[need-a-vacation]

We drink bottled water also, but what about cooking, washing dishes, brushing teeth, etc.... CG water is used for us at those times.... Though the white hose may or may not be a huge deal. I know I have gotten drinks from the "horrible" green hoses for years!!! But, yes, we do have all white hoses for the tt.

[rjackson]

we also drink the campground water with no ill effects, and we don't use any filter . and for the bottled water, never drink it

[SkyBound]

We bring our own potable water. Couple bucks for a couple gallons, no worries.

[Tunce the traveler]

Originally Posted by rjackson

we also drink the campground water with no ill effects, and we don't use ant filter . and for the bottled water, never drink it

From what I find accumulated on my screen before the filter there's no way that I wouldn't have a filter.

[Kim Gass]

We have a sand filter for our house so a sediment filter is a good idea. We are wholly anti bottled water. One of the reasons is that we share an aquifer with a major water bottling facility and they have said they have the right to use our water for their benefit and do not care if they bleed our well dry.
Have been using well wateralmost all my life( on well for some 50 years) . I see no need to change. There are products that do clean and purify drinking water. We use them when backcountry camping in the West and Arctic.

https://dayoneresponse.com/product/pg-packets-12-pack/

however for RV mechanisms its best to keep silt out in the first place.

[Camper_bob]

We use one of the whole house filters (Camco blue) and a white water hose. We also carry 5-7 gallons of "bottled" water. We get it from a vending machine outside our grocery store. It starts with municipal water and filters it various ways including reverse osmosis. Cost is $1 for 5 gallons, and we fill our own container (well worth it to me). We trade in the container once a year to get a clean one. We use this for drinking and cooking, and sometimes if the CG water is bad, even for brushing our teeth.

I'm fairly sensitive to water from different places, so for the cost and the effort, it's worth it to insure my comfort. I'm not above drinking the CG water, and will do so if I have to (assuming it's not obviously rank), but it's not hard to get "cheap" and consistent "bottled" water.

I also sanitize our on-board water system at the start of each season.

[CaptRon53]

We use the white water hose with the blue Camco in line filter. We also use a PUR water filter pitcher for drinking and cooking. We have been to several campgrounds where the double filtration was needed to get rid of the chlorine taste.

[tularockstar]

We do not drink the campsite water, but only use it to wash dishes and bathe with. We bring approximately four to five individual gallons of drinking water from our house for a typical 3-4 night trip. Then, if we need more, we'll refill them at Water and Ice store or at a reverse osmosis water kiosk.

Originally Posted by bradw

I see a lot of pointers on the forum that remind people when buying a hose to make sure you buy a white drinkable water hose. But I really wonder how many people actually make it a habit to drink water from campground wells. I am always a little leary drinking water from any old well. I'm sure that it is more than likely alright to drink, but I just have a slight fear about it. We filter the water and still I can't make myself drink just any cg water. SO, we drink bottled water.
Just wondering if you frequently drink it?

[CanucksVenturingSouth]

We NEVER drink campground water. Have always brought bottled spring water with us. Removed the inhouse water filter for the same reason. You just never know....

[North of 49°]

We use the blue inline filter, and a faucet mounted filter for drinking, but even so there's still the odd campground where the water clarity and taste still isn't to our liking, especially at campgrounds where there's lots of dissolved minerals in the water. I know for a fact that the CG staff sanitizes the system at the beginning of the season.

[Kim Gass]

Wow..i wonder where in the country is all the lousy campground water? I have only noticed sulfur in a couple of areas around Kingsland GA and Parsippany NJ.
Maybe we have iron stomachs. We have been drinking campground water for 65 years, but admittedly never in an RV park. Yes in National Parks and Forests and State Parks.

You gotta do what you think is best for you.. Now off to investigate sand filters. Well worth it if you have ever seen what happens to mechanicals with sand jamming them

That Camco filter seems odd. Our house system has a five micron filter to remove sediment. The Camco has a 100 micron filter. That is relative pebble size

Our backpacking filters remove Giardia with two micron pores but they are quite a bit more expensive..

So for you suspect of your water are you really get protection or do you use a gravity backpacking filter too sometimes?

[canadiankid]

I bring a 5 gallon culligan jug that I refill for 5$, I put a pump on the top and the kids and everyone can help themselves. One of the campgrounds we use a lot has an awful tasting water so we started doing this and now seems to work best for us.

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by bradw

I see a lot of pointers on the forum that remind people when buying a hose to make sure you buy a white drinkable water hose. But I really wonder how many people actually make it a habit to drink water from campground wells. I am always a little leary drinking water from any old well. I'm sure that it is more than likely alright to drink, but I just have a slight fear about it. We filter the water and still I can't make myself drink just any cg water. SO, we drink bottled water.
Just wondering if you frequently drink it?

The drinking water in state and federal campgrounds is periodically checked (by law) to be sure that it is safe to drink. I don't recall the interval, but I believe it is at least on a monthly basis.

I can't speak for private campgrounds. They should be checking it, but you never know, so no guarantees there.

We take water with us for making coffee and for cooking. We like our coffee to taste just as it does at home. And with well water at the campgrounds, you never know what you are going to get as far as taste and smell (which have nothing to do with the water's safety to drink). But we use campground water for showering and doing dishes.

[Murff]

Been drinking campground water for years and years and all is okay with me!(See accompanying picture of me and see if you don't agree:


Murff

[oldmanAZ]

My responses in bold:

Originally Posted by bradw

I see a lot of pointers on the forum that remind people when buying a hose to make sure you buy a white drinkable water hose. We use white hose for CG tap water. But I really wonder how many people actually make it a habit(?) to drink water from campground wells. We drink, shower, and cook with CG water after it passes through our 'whole house size' carbon block filter *
I am always a little leary drinking water from any old well. I'm sure that it is more than likely alright to drink, but I just have a slight fear about it. We filter the water What filter do you use? and still I can't make myself drink just any cg water. SO, we drink bottled water.
Just wondering if you frequently drink it?

* Specs: "The carbon block reduces fine sediment, chlorine taste and odor, and protozoan cysts. The nominal filtration rating of 0.5 micron with a flow rate of 4 gpm." Our experience is that it also removes sulfur taste and smell.
CG water varies A LOT. Without this filter, our coffee varied from good to almost undrinkable.

BTW, I also use a bleach solution to spray on the CG water connection and handle to reduce the chances of contaminating our fresh water system.

[Hohenwald48]

Just for comparison, a red blood cell is about 6 microns.

[cekkk]

There's well water and then there's well water. Ours up here in the mountains is the best stuff ever. Soft, cold and delicious. However, two miles south of us and a little lower elevation at 8400', it's disgusting. It can ruin the pumps on our tenders. Plus, we usually camp in southern AZ, where deven city tap water is awful. So we go for the reverse osmosis stuff at 15 to 25 cents/gallon for cooking, etc., and bottled "spring" water for drinking for us and the mutts.

[jloco]

camco blue filter connected to 'city water' inlet for dishes, showers, etc...
We drink bottled water.