Not potable water

the rocket · Guru

Not potable water

blaze · Guru

have you ever swum in the ocean or paddle in a river
cheers
blaze

Mike Harding · Guru

I have been doing so for years and have lived to tell the tail :)

I frequently rough camp in the forests in the Golden Triangle area of central Victoria, gold prospecting, and may be there for up to a couple of weeks at one time. Despite being an ex Pom I like to shower every day usually around 6pm to 7pm so I feel clean at the end of a dusty day and am clean for bed.

In these areas the only water is from the old dams which were dug by prospectors of old. As you may imagine these dams do not see a lot of flow and their water is invariably very murky and heavy in particulate nevertheless I use it for showering, hand washing and dish washing. I heat a bucket full over my camp fire then mix hot and cold to the desired temperature in another bucket. With the aid of a small battery, a 12V submersible pump and a shower rose hung off the vehicle roof rack I have a delicious hot shower in the middle of the bush :)

I must have had hundreds of showers this way over the years and have never suffered illness. Having said that; I do advise you keep your mouth and eyes closed when washing your face and if you do get water in your mouth spit it out as there *will* be bacteria in it.

I must admit, I do prefer the water from the creeks in the High Country - crystal clear.

Edit: typo

-- Edited by Mike Harding on Sunday 12th of March 2017 01:16:45 PM

kiwijims · Guru

the rocket wrote:
can we shower or wash up in non potable water? Thanks everyone.

This report might give you some idea Mate,

"https://www.reference.com/science/non-potable-water-1f3f0ac74dd4187f" />

K.J. confuse

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

There is a small, but serious risk from showering in non potable water.
Conditions like Legionnaires disease and meningococcal and others, are acquired by breathing in the contaminated droplets. Low risk, but very serious consequences, particularly for the young and the not so young.
The best simple solution is to add chlorine to this type of water to improve its safety.

Cheers,
Peter

Goldfinger · Senior Member

Mike, no way would I wash/drink anything from those 'old dams' dug by early prospectors in the Golden Triangle, and I live in the 'Whipstick' gold fields Eaglehawk/Bendigo where they are numerous..... Rangers have warned me to not even eat the yabbies that you can catch in them....due to toxic residue 'arsenic' which is invariably concentrated in them....from the mine activity tailings...not to mention the highly toxic 'mercury' which was used with gay abandon by early prospectors in the extraction of gold from ore....neither ever break down to anything but what they are..highly toxic substances for ever.....and many prospectors/miners have paid the ultimate price for inadequate protection when handling......apparently yabbies life span is not long enough for these toxic wastes to affect them, however most humans live considerably longer and the effects are cumulative...i.e. always building up in ones system..........even through skin contact.....arsenic is naturally occurring in a number of minerals in the gold bearing areas and will concentrate in these ponds/dams etc to toxic levels..........I won't even let my dog dive into them on hot days..

Hoo Roo

macka17 · Guru

If you're that fusssy

Either Don't go there.
or take a water tanker with you.

People are too coddlednowadays.

The short period of time most od us would go there for. as long as you take your drinking water or desl unit with you.
99.999% of us won't be affected.

There are always the odd sook. but jeezus,
I'd love to see how some of you here would have lasted on the Construction sites we worked on 50 yrs ago.

Boiled Billy tea in diesel bucket. and cooked steaks etc on face of shovel.
I worked mainly with the Irish in those days. and married one.

Hard workers hard livers and honest, mainly. you knew where you stood.
or got knocked down. Was a good life.

Tony Bev · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
There is a small, but serious risk from showering in non potable water.
Conditions like Legionnaires disease and meningococcal and others, are acquired by breathing in the contaminated droplets. Low risk, but very serious consequences, particularly for the young and the not so young.
The best simple solution is to add chlorine to this type of water to improve its safety.

Cheers,
Peter

Hopefully not getting too far off the main Original Poster question, but I would like to add some further questions on the same topic Peter, as from your previous posts, you seems to know a lot about water

Chlorine in the water tank, is that water still OK to cook and make a cuppa in?
I use a B.E.S.T filter that has silver and carbon as the filter ingredients, to fill the tank, is this good enough for tap water which says not for drinking?
Town water with no signs on a tap, is this safe enough to use, without treating it, to brush your teeth in?

Desert Dweller · Guru

Some idiot on another forum told us to sterilize our drinking water tank by mixing a small amount of Milton baby bottle sterilizer with a full tank of water then drive around a bit to mix it up, then empty the tank & refill with fresh water.

It took 4 full tanks to get rid of the taste of that crap, never again!

macka17 · Guru

If you got taste in your tank.
Empty a bottle or two of lemon Juice from Coles in there.
That stuff's magic, and tastes nice too.

Fridges etc.
Slice an onion or two and lay them round in there for a while.
That absorbs all scents.

Mike Harding · Guru

Hi Goldfinger

You are correct about the heavy metals they used and I would not *regularly* eat yabbies from the dams either however heavy metal poisoning normally occurs from long term or massive exposure to the toxin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_poisoning

I'm sure, like me, you use to play with mercury as a child.

The major issue is if one regularly drinks such water or uses it for cooking and even then it would have to be over a long time and added to that, at my age, the alcohol is going to finish me well before trace arsenic :)

The amount of heavy metal passed into the system from surface water used as a shower would, I suspect, be undetectable.

Mike Harding · Guru

>The best simple solution is to add chlorine to this type of water to improve its safety.

A good reply Peter.

Following on from my previous thread regarding filtering drinking water you mentioned that you use household bleach for purification - I am unable to find a bleach which only contains sodium hypochlorite in Coles, Woolworths or IGA supermarkets - which brand are you using and where do you buy it?

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Tony Bev wrote:
Hopefully not getting too far off the main Original Poster question, but I would like to add some further questions on the same topic Peter, as from your previous posts, you seems to know a lot about water
Chlorine in the water tank, is that water still OK to cook and make a cuppa in?

I use a B.E.S.T filter that has silver and carbon as the filter ingredients, to fill the tank, is this good enough for tap water which says not for drinking?
Town water with no signs on a tap, is this safe enough to use, without treating it, to brush your teeth in?

1. Chlorine is what is used to make our town water safe. Chlorine does naturally break down and disappear fairly quickly though so after a few days (depending on the water quality and the temperatures) it will be pretty much all gone, which means it is not doing its job any more, so you need to add more on a regular basis. Bugs can and do grow inside tanks in the dark, especially at temperatures of 30C or more (very common in RV water tanks).

2. The "Best" carbon/silver filter is fine (if it is 1um, which it probably is), but in my view you are using it in the wrong place. We do not filter our water when we fill our tanks, but we always add chlorine. We filter our water with 1um carbon/silver after the pump and before the taps. The carbon will also take out any residual chlorine.

I would recommend a 10" household style filter. A 1um carbon/silver replacement filter cartridge will cost about $30-35 compared with the smaller throw away "Best" at almost $100.

3. Probably, but not necessarily. Taps that are not used very often will deliver water that has been in the pipes for an extended period. All the chlorine will be long gone and with it the protection it provided. A well used tap is a better bet that one that is at the end of a long pipe.

Mike, the cheapest home brand bleach (typically 6g/L free chlorine) is usually OK, but check the label carefully. We use liquid swimming pool chlorine which is about double the concentration, but an opened container will gradually become less concentrated with time, so buying too much at once is counter productive. While we were touring Europe we used household bleach, but reading the labels was a challenge sometimes.

Chlorine and fine filters will make water biologically safe and remove many contaminants.

No filter (except reverse osmosis) or chlorine treatment will remove heavy metals or dissolved salts from bore water.

Cheers,

Peter

Tony Bev · Guru

Thanks for that reply Peter, I now have a better understanding of everything

Moonraker · Senior Member

I am sure Peters method is the way to go if away from town and potable water for any length of time.
However we dont travel remote areas for more than one week at a time very often and aways drink only bottled water, the discount packs from Woolies or Coles etc. That way all tank water can be used for washing, showers etc. We filter river, dam or bore water through a sediment filter then a carbon filter then occassional will add a couple of Milton tables into each tank as well if we think it needs it.
Just to note. I have occasionally used the filters on town water that is potable. You would not believe the contamination in the sediment filter at times. So this potable water would be relying on the addition of chorine to make safe to drink I guess with minimal filtration or from old pipes or pipe lines that have had recent repair work.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

A real risk for RVers is the temperature that the water in the tanks is stored at.
It is often ideal for biological growths to multiply quickly, irrespective of where the water originally came from.
As I said, very small risks, but with dire consequences.

Cheers,
Peter

Lancelot Link · Senior Member

I am here for a short time, not a long time. I want to have fun. The amount of garbage I have ingested, digested and all that other medical garbage over the years just says to me if it smells off, if you don't like the taste and you don't like the look, just use plenty of cumin and other condiments to hide the taste of the off food. The beneficial effects of the seasoning will counter the effects of the bad food! Just cook it longer!
As far as water goes, just boil it, all the crud will fall to the bottom once it has cooled and you will have potable water! Showering in dirty water is the same as showering in your shower at home, just use soap!

Bluey1 · Veteran Member

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
A real risk for RVers is the temperature that the water in the tanks is stored at.
It is often ideal for biological growths to multiply quickly, irrespective of where the water originally came from.
As I said, very small risks, but with dire consequences.

Cheers,
Peter

Peter how much chlorine would you put in a tank, ours are 95 litre

thanks Darren

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Bluey1 wrote:

Peter how much chlorine would you put in a tank, ours are 95 litre

thanks Darren

The minimum recommended dose is 8ml of 6g/L free chlorine per 100L of water, depending on temperature and water quality.

We typically use about double that.

Cheers,

Peter

PeterD · Guru

Tony Bev wrote:
I use a B.E.S.T filter that has silver and carbon as the filter ingredients, to fill the tank, is this good enough for tap water which says not for drinking?
Town water with no signs on a tap, is this safe enough to use, without treating it, to brush your teeth in?

1. The silver in the B.E.S.T filters takes no part in the filtering of water. It is there to prevent the build up of bacteria in the filter. Those filters have a longer life than filters without silver. The only practical way to filter water to make it potable without using chemicals is to use the reverse osmosis style filters.

2. No it may not be be potable water if there is no sign saying otherwise, particularly in Tasmania. In Tas you will often see signs in caravan parks and information centres warning you to boil watef but there are none around town.

-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 13th of March 2017 10:30:42 PM

macka17 · Guru

Load of bloody sooks.
Boil it, drink it.

Later yrs Desal it. drink it. (I had desalinator A\C)

anything else just filter it if discoloured.

I've travelled over a lot of this planet.
only ever boiled to drink, and washed in clear water.
otherwise "wipes"
or stayed dirty till suitable water
ain.

Only place ever I got crook. was once yrs ago on the Nile in Egypt.
On a boat cruising with some local mates.
ate a locally caught and cooked fish out of the river.

Jeez. Through the eye of a needle had nothing on it.
Cleared me out REAL good.

-- Edited by macka17 on Tuesday 14th of March 2017 01:25:10 PM