Water?

Jay-Jay · Veteran Member

Water?

Happywanderer · The Master

I always fill the water tank up at one of the replies before leaving or fill at some of the places which have good drinking water eg Girgarre.
I understand a lot of Info centres will allow you to fill upat ttheir taps.
I also carry 4 x10 litre waterbottles, if they get low I will top them up at the next spot that has drinking water.
When I get to my free camp I have enough water to keep me going.
Also if at a place like a river or a lake take a bucket down to fill up, great for washing clothes or dishes. Saves the water you have brought in for drinking, cooking etc.

brian · Guru

We carry 180 litres of wash water and 90 litres of drinking water in our onboard tanks.

If the 90 litres is used only for drinking then is will last us for months, but we will refill when we are sure of the supply and always through a silver nitrate and carbon filter.

Our wash water we fill at every opportunity as we don't know when we will get the next one.

Many towns have facilities for this, or we have found rural school tanks to be a good source.

If camping near a river or lake, we don't put it in our tanks, but we often use that water for showering.

We fill a couple of solar showers if the temperature is going to be productive or we heat some on the fire, transfer it to a bucket and then use a 12v shower in the onboard cubicle.

It's enlightening to see how little water you can comfortably manage with when conditions dictate such action.

Mr B2 · Senior Member

My Coach has 88 gallons on board in my Tank,

I fill my Tanks at home, I have plenty of water,

But if I am in the high country, I will pump it out of the river or creek straight into my Tanks,

Its pure clean Freshwater, Above the Farming Discharges, And the Govt hasnt put Chemicals in it,

12 volt water pump and a water hose, Simple, $30-00 includes hose, Approx,

Two Litre Milk Bottles filled with water in the Fridge, Drink that,

Years ago, A group of us were working our way up the Queensland Coast, My Wife and two kids were only allowed to drink from the Insulated 5 gallon container I carried,

I only topped it up at each town we came too, So we got used to the new water, Slowly, We never got sick,

But all my mates and their G/F's were sick for 3 days approx after arriving in each town, Its just the different water,

Jenzarl · Senior Member

Mr B2 I have heard that this water it has to be boiled before consumption. Apparently the streams all have some sort of parasite in them.

I have to add that I have been unable to check the truth of this one, has anyone else heard this or am I barking up the wrong tree

whitey2 · Veteran Member

We have two tanks under van (not sure on size, 150-180 L?) and a 55 under the ute, if in a no water area it's amazing how frugal u can be on water saving ways! We fill up where ever is drinkable water ( info centres, servo's) we also have a pump to draw water from dams etc to shower wash etc .

Happywanderer · The Master

There are two towns I know of where you can't use the town water.
Biggenden in Qld has disgusting water. When our tank ran dry I would have to buy bottled water from the local foodworks.
Minyip, I was there last week, the locals were filling up from a mobile water tank as the pipes had never been repaired after some previous damage.
I was able to fill up 2 bottles with drinking water while there.

Happywanderer · The Master

Double up. Delete does not work.

-- Edited by Happywanderer on Friday 17th of January 2014 02:13:54 PM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

In Central Aus most water is from bores and tastes like it. Its supposed to be safe to drink but we didn't like it. One of the best places to fill up is Coober Pedy as they have a good filter system there, and theres a charge of about $2.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

brian wrote:
We carry 180 litres of wash water and 90 litres of drinking water in our onboard tanks.
If the 90 litres is used only for drinking then is will last us for months, but we will refill when we are sure of the supply and always through a silver nitrate and carbon filter.
Our wash water we fill at every opportunity as we don't know when we will get the next one.
Many towns have facilities for this, or we have found rural school tanks to be a good source.
If camping near a river or lake, we don't put it in our tanks, but we often use that water for showering.
We fill a couple of solar showers if the temperature is going to be productive or we heat some on the fire, transfer it to a bucket and then use a 12v shower in the onboard cubicle.
It's enlightening to see how little water you can comfortably manage with when conditions dictate such action.

Brian, we do the solar water bags with water from lake or creek, and use 12v shower in the interior shower cubicle - works a treat.

We always carry 20 - 30 l of good drinking water - just in case.

Gerty - Coober Pedy water is good - it was 30l fo $2 when we were there mid 2013.

sufil · Guru

We top up our tanks at every opportunity, will happily pay for water. Always carry 20 litres of drinking only water in the van or truck. As others have said you learn to modify your usage with sponge baths, 1 minute showers etc. Wash the dishes once a day Lets face it most of us aren't that dirty at the end of the day and so only require a freshen up.(Get wet, tap off, suds up ,tap on and rinse,( quite easy once you get into the rhythm. ) For washing clothes we use wool wash...doesn't require rinsing. We will use caravan park/town laundromats when we do the sheets and other big stuff.(like jeans and big towels only because I can't wring them out).

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Sufil- we are in that rhythm as well. It is really just a freshen up, as you way.

With big things - I sometimes use the bulbar on the motorhome to ring things like jeans or sheets and towels, amazing how much water you can get out with little effort. We also use the woolwash - works a treat!

Big Gorilla · Guru

Any where you can. you will find taps in public parks, service stations, jettys and boat ramps, gardens, sports grounds. Some taps on Council owned property have no tap handle. You need a fitting easily purchased from Bunnings or a hardware store. I only use this water for shower and washing up. I carry drinking water separately in a 20 liter plastic bottle.

brian · Guru

Big Gorilla wrote:
Any where you can. you will find taps in public parks, service stations, jettys and boat ramps, gardens, sports grounds. Some taps on Council owned property have no tap handle. You need a fitting easily purchased from Bunnings or a hardware store. I only use this water for shower and washing up. I carry drinking water separately in a 20 liter plastic bottle.

I posted this on the other thread so will repeat it here.

Be a bit careful with those park taps especially if they have no handle. Odds are that the water in not potable, maybe recycled sewage or such. They do not always put up a warning notice to that effect.

Another trick that I use to save water when I have to is to use paper towel to wipe dishes almost clean before washing.

I use a plastic tub that fits partly in the kitchen sink to wash up, when washing the inside of any grotty pots etc, the dirty water is tipped down beside the tub into the sink and out the drain, thus keeping the wash water cleaner for longer.

My wife and I have an agreement, she cooks and I wash up.

She hasn't let me near the stove ever since she caught me using the smoke alarm as an egg timer.

NeilandRaine · Guru

Two of the reasons we stop alternately in Caravan Parks; do washing and fill water tanks. At least we are paying for our water

brian · Guru

NeilandRaine wrote:
Two of the reasons we stop alternately in Caravan Parks; do washing and fill water tanks. At least we are paying for our water

Is there any particular reason why you feel that you have to pay for your water?

KFT · Guru

there are many places we travel to where there really is no spare water due to drought conditions.

About the only place you might get some under those conditions would be at a cp or a council depot but be prepared to pay for it. The water is so scarce in some places that to ask without an offer of payment will get you a definite NO.

Some visitor centres have provision for tank filling for a donation(usually $2)

We do pump from clean creeks/dams/rivers but always via a 0.5 micron filter which will remove Giardia and cryptosporidium. river water from high in the hills will be the freshest tasting mountain water you will ever drink. It is lovely stuff.

the water at Coober pedy is pumped from bores located approx. 26km out of town. the secret to why it is such good water is due to the reverse osmosis filtering system. a very expensive way to make pure water from crappy water but it does work very well.

these are a few of our experiences I hope they help

frank

NeilandRaine · Guru

brian wrote:
NeilandRaine wrote:
Two of the reasons we stop alternately in Caravan Parks; do washing and fill water tanks. At least we are paying for our water
Is there any particular reason why you feel that you have to pay for your water?

someone has to. We do use river water when camping

Nelly · Guru

I was always taught that if drinking from a river, creek etc. that you only drink where the water is running - if not don't drink it as it is probably stagnant and I am still here to tell the tale!!!!

rosco532 · Senior Member

Surprised that no-one has mentioned the ''Weight'' of all this water you are carrying (says Mr Hypocrite)..lol

We have 180ltr in the van of filtered water which is filtered again at the tap...I also have 2 x 25ltr containers of pure water plus a 15ltr container.....Under the floor (of the cruiser) I also always have a 15ltr container of tap water....just incase We see a car stopped for over heating (or hopefully not for us for that reason)....

Now, at the last caravan show out at Surfers we bought one of the systems that attach onto the end of the awning that rolls up like a spouting...then runs into a bucket then can be directed into your water tanks (we also will use an in-line filter for this)...(also realize it will be useless in the ''no-rain'' areas)

We haven't used it yet but will take pics when we are away next week.

Cheers

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Nelly wrote:
I was always taught that if drinking from a river, creek etc. that you only drink where the water is running - if not don't drink it as it is probably stagnant and I am still here to tell the tale!!!!

Check upstream Nelly... does anybody have a dunny nearby? Cattle, horses, sheep? Not just poo but a dead animal can give "clear running water" an interesting flavour.

In the high country where it really is pristine the water is soooo good. Also its important to keep it that way, don't contaminate it with soap or worse.

Nelly · Guru

Hello Gerty Dancer - I have always lived on a farm and no doubt there could have been 'things' in the water - upstream could be a long way. We use tank water (sealed and sifted) here at home and there probably are 'things' in that too - I would rather have it over town water any day - could be 'things' in the high country water as well - but as I said I am still here to tell the tale.

Kooroorinya Kelpie · Senior Member

Hi all. If you get yourself a good Activated Carbon Charcoal filter it will take out most of the off tastes and odours from any water. It will NOT take out all of the greebies that can make you feel like last weeks rubbish collection. About $120 gets you a good quality ACC filter and providing you put the water through it at around 10/litres minute the water is perfectly good for washing/showering and cooking but still needs boiling for drinking. Otherwise stick to drinking beer.

Dunmowin · Guru

General hint re buying water at Nullarbor Road house. Don't pump straight into your tank. They will charge you for a full tank, i.e. if your capacity is 100 litres, they will charge you for 100, even if you are only topping up. We filled our 20 litre jerry can three times, pumping it into our tank ourselves. So were only charged for 60 litres. Can' remember the cost, think it was around 15c per litre

oldbobsbus · Guru

Kooroorinya Kelpie wrote:
. Otherwise stick to drinking beer.

Thats me ...lol smile

KFT · Guru

oldbobsbus wrote:
Kooroorinya Kelpie wrote:
. Otherwise stick to drinking beer.
Thats me ...lol

that is damn good advice

they always make beer from very pure water

The dog lady · Guru

Nelly wrote:
Hello Gerty Dancer - I have always lived on a farm and no doubt there could have been 'things' in the water - upstream could be a long way. We use tank water (sealed and sifted) here at home and there probably are 'things' in that too - I would rather have it over town water any day - could be 'things' in the high country water as well - but as I said I am still here to tell the tale.

My home base is in an area where you store your own water or go without. Dam water is fine for gardens, washing etc. Rainwater is for drinking, and I prefer to fill up at home before I head out (though of course it never lasts the whole trip). Years ago on a previous property we thought the rainwater was starting to taste a bit peculiar, investigation revealed a dead possum in the tank bleh . None of us got sick tho smile . In FNQ all our water came straight and unfiltered off Qld's highest mountain at 90psi out of the taps! At this property I tried keeping mesh screens on the tank openings, then found that the overflow was blocked by big healthy green frogs! Still, I'd rather drink frog water than chlorine and fluoride. The only time I've ever been sick was using water from a town where there was way too much chlorine. Now I buy drinking water from the supermarket when I can't get rainwater, and decant it into my 3litre ex-apple juice bottles because I find 10litre containers too heavy. For washing me and my clothes and dishes I just take a bucket to the creek, river or park tap. And if there really isn't any to spare for washing you'd be surprised how well you can freshen up using baby wipes! (At least I think it works OK, no one has ever said I stink biggrin ) As I'm no longer interested in going into the real outback, I've found that 20litres of good water on board is plenty for me and 2 dogs.

The dog lady · Guru

KFT wrote:
oldbobsbus wrote:
Kooroorinya Kelpie wrote:
. Otherwise stick to drinking beer.
Thats me ...lol
that is damn good advice
they always make beer from very pure water

I usually have a couple litres of wine on board for emergencies, tho the dogs don't seem to like it much biggrin

Big Gorilla · Guru

The dog lady wrote:

I usually have a couple litres of wine on board for emergencies, tho the dogs don't seem to like it much

Funny you should mention that... Great minds think alike !! If the dogs don't like it, don't give them any !! biggrin biggrin

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Cheers Marianna - love your stories of your water usage - and as for baby wipes, use them a lot when we have limited water, great for an all over clean and freshen up - take care.