Non-potable water in fresh water tank

[DickiedooFlagman]

Originally Posted by Oakman

I have to chuckle to myself when I read posts about not drinking from their fresh water tank even though it has been sanitized. These folks never would have made it as backpackers or tent campers.

Not to mention serving in the Military.

[moligney]

My used Cherokee had a major science project in the fresh water tank. After a weeks worth of cleaning I will forevermore drink only bottled water thank you. Previous owner also left the black tank half full over the winter. Glad I live in the woods when I decided to wash it out.

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by DickiedooFlagman

Not to mention serving in the Military.

Lyster bag water always tasted like wet canvas.

[spudston]

Originally Posted by Oakman

I have to chuckle to myself when I read posts about not drinking from their fresh water tank even though it has been sanitized. These folks never would have made it as backpackers or tent campers.

Yes I used to chuckle too until I was puking my guts out at 3 in the morning on a tent camping trip. Also my son's Boy Scout troop was happy as hell until they ALL got sick at summer camp. So, it happens.

Water born illness is nothing to laugh at. Our water treatment plant has state of the art ozone treatment to kill the organisms that aren't affected by massive doses of chlorine. And the treatment plant biologists will tell you that many of the organisms that can make you deathly ill have grown resistant to or unaffected by chlorine, thus the need for ozone. Yes there was once a time when you could drink from a nearby stream, as I did while backpacking, but as far as I'm concerned, those days are in the past. There are too many sources of contamination upstream that weren't there 50 years ago.

[widogmom]

Just one more note on this...make sure you get the chlorine out of your tank before you drink the water. Bacteria/cysts in the water are bad, but so is killing off all the flora in your digestive tract.

[Myrle]

Originally Posted by hankpac

I never drink water from my internal fresh water storage tank.
This is just my personal preference. We sanitize, like anyone else, but only use it for washing, flushing, and doing dishes. Dishes get one teapot full of boiling water to final rinse.
I don't drink from the tap at home either.
I obtain drinking water in either 16 oz bottles by the case or in 1 gallon bottles, in 6 packs.
We fill our tank at elk camp from a spring, and use sanitizer (which is merely bleach), but still don't drink it.
Just a personal preference, but we also have NEVER had gastrointestinal issues due to water. Chili maybe, but not the water.
Neither boiling or bleach will kill guardia, by the way, however, the issue in shallow wells or non-potable water is E coli, anyway, and that is handled quite well with bleach and/or boiling.

Neither do we when we are out we use bottled water.

[Wolverine 1945]

I have never put any other water in our freshwater tanks other than filtered soft water from home !!! I guess if we were on the road for a long trip I would have to use water from some other source,,, I would filter it though !!!

[Cleon]

Since we don't care to use bleach in our system at all, I use pool chlorine instead to sanitize. we feel it isn't as big a deal if some remains in system after the "rinse" cycle since treated water may have chlorine in it to start with. water is a commodity we don't like to waste if possible.