It is common for water in your recreational vehicles to get contaminated during vacations, and this can pose serious issues for you and your fellow travelers. Interestingly, one of the major reasons people get sick when they are RVing is by drinking or using contaminated water or water treated by chemicals that are strange or harmful to the body. It even gets more complicated if such issues are not discovered early.
Fortunately, you can avoid all of these by putting certain measures in place to ensure that your RV water stays clean and pure. In this blog, we have listed the proven methods you can adopt to safeguard the water in your RV and keep everyone safe during your travels.
Campground water is not always healthy for drinking!
Most people who RV are fond of drinking water in venues they visit, even when they are not sure of how safe the water is. It is easy to assume that water is safe for drinking, but such assumptions often come with severe consequences when wrong.
We have gone past the era of drinking from or swimming in any natural water source in the wild. Unfortunately, these water sources often contain life-threatening amounts of parasites, viruses, and bacteria. This is why facilities must ensure proper monitoring of their supplies; it is the only way to ensure that visitors do not develop health issues.
As a traveler, you can never be sure of how safe or healthy a water source is, especially when you are new in the area. Therefore, you must take certain steps during your journey to keep everyone around you safe.
Water in RV parks is hardly safe for drinking, even if they appear clean and pure. And that is due to the variations in the water type and quality across various locations. In addition, the immune system may become weak or react adversely if it gets fed with water with a chemical structure different from what it is used to (the water at home).
Such adverse reactions include hives, constipation, diarrhea, rashes, and others, all emanating from waste matter or inadequate chemical maintenance or contaminated filtration systems.
While it is normal to expect the places you are visiting to be properly sanitized, you might be disappointed in some cases. And that is why pollution is one of the leading causes of illnesses during a vacation.
Assess the water source before connecting.
RV park systems are under the jurisdiction of various health departments. Among other things, they are expected to inspect and ensure they are of the best standards. But this is not always the case. Even when the water sources are certified fit for use, travelers who use the water can be at risk of illnesses because of the chemicals used for treatment.
So, if you are in a new area, assess the water source before connecting your hose. How do you evaluate an RV water source?
- Turn on the faucet and allow the water to run for a minute.
- Put in a paper cup to collect some water.
- Observe the color and smell.
It is important to note that a water source may pass all the checks above and still turn out to be unsafe. But the chances of such water being fit for drinking are higher than cloudy, smelly water from a rusty or dirty faucet.
Do not use the water if you have any reservations about its source or quality. In such cases of doubt, resort to the water in your tank until you can assess the purity of the new water.
How do you avoid contaminated water problems?
The tips below will help you avoid contaminated water and the problems that come with it.
Sanitizing your freshwater tank
You can follow the steps below to sanitize your unit before storage properly or if you detect a taint;
- Drain the tank completely.
- Remove the water filter in the case of a taint.
- Combine ¼ cup of bleach in one gallon of water.
- Pour the mixture into the tank.
- Add clean water to fill it to the tank.
If your tank has a 100-gallon capacity, you need 6.5 gallons of bleach mixture alongside clean water to fill it up. Again, kindly stick to this prescribed measurement to avoid damages to your fittings.
- Open each faucet, staring with the cold faucets.
- Keep them open until you can perceive a chlorine smell.
- Turn each faucet off.
- Run a cycle through your empty washing machine (if your RV unit comes with one).
- Leave the entire system unused for up to four hours.
- Drain the tank completely and flush with fresh water to remove the chlorine smell.
- Ensure there is no smell of chlorine coming out of every faucet.
- Insert a new water filter (if you removed the previous one).
That’s all – you have now discarded all the contaminated water in your system and sanitized the washing machine.
Water purification tablets
Aquatabs and other water purification tablets can remove any doubts you may have about the purity or safety of the water. We recommend Aquatabs here because of their impressive track records and first-hand experience, although you may go with other brands that do the same job.
You can easily get these tabs in stores around you at affordable rates. They are easy to store and always come in handy in keeping everyone safe during trips and camping adventures.
Filtration systems
There are two kinds of filtration systems to choose from here. The first is the inbuilt filtration system that filters only the water you drink, while the other one is a filtration unit attached to your hose and filters all the water that comes out of the RV. Both kinds perform excellently in protecting your water supply – what you use ultimately depends on your preferences.
If you are using the attachable option, we recommend the Camco brand. The brand is known for its quality products that protect your health at all times. You may be considering bottled water as a reliable source of clean water. While bottled water is an option, it doesn’t provide you with clean water for washing dishes or your water appliances. So, you need at least one of the two filtration types to ensure your food preparation area enjoys a regular supply of clean and safe water.
The activated carbon material in these add-on water filters helps to reduce bad taste, odor, and chlorine effectively. But if you want a more powerful filtration performance, you can install a RO system or a UF system by your sink. Ensure you go for a size that can conveniently slot into under your sink space.
