If You Don't Drink the Water?

[foggysail]

GEEZ, another water scare. I agree with those who recommend city water for drinking. There are soooo many people around here and I assume in the entire country that want to pick on water systems that they get quality tested frequently.

From what I read, every time someone some place finds any microscopic flaw in the water, they call in the class action blood suckers.

An RO? A better way to go if you want to feel better

[propellanttech]

Originally Posted by foggysail

GEEZ, another water scare. I agree with those who recommend city water for drinking. There are soooo many people around here and I assume in the entire country that want to pick on water systems that they get quality tested frequently.

From what I read, every time someone some place finds any microscopic flaw in the water, they call in the class action blood suckers.

An RO? A better way to go if you want to feel better

That is one of the problems I have found.

Very few systems test their water for chemical contamination frequently. It seems everyone is so worried about biologic, they forget the other things that may be in the water.

Also if they do find it, you won't hear about it. That would cause a panic.

If you ask to have water tested, do not have a standard water test. The test is only for biological contamination. Make sure to have a comprehensive complete spectrum water test including chemical tests. It isn't cheap, and you will have to pay. This is why municipal water systems don't test often for chemical contamination.

I say drink what you want, but understand the consequences.

Biological contamination doesn't bother me at all, chemical on the other hand is quite scarey. Some things are pretty hard to get out of water.

And if you don't believe they cover it up....just watch Erin Brockovich. It is based on a true story.

Back to reading and not posting......

James L

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Ziggy

"Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?" -- BrigGen Jack D. Ripper, USAF

I think most everybody missed your "zinger" - but I am old enough to remember that famous movie scene quote.

Anyway, acquiring drinking water while cruising is not all that difficult. There are R.O. watermakers for those who can afford them; Activated Charcoal filter systems for boats which you can buy or D-I-Y for a fraction of the "ready-made" unit's cost; and catchment systems for rain water, etc.

Catchment systems generally are boat awnings or sails that are modified to direct rain water to an attached hose or tubing that is then routed to your water tanks.

However, there are a few "gotchas" with catching rain water. First of all, rain water can be quite dirty when it is falling through industrially or locally polluted air. Rain drops all contain a microscopic "seed" particle around which the water mist in the cloud grabs onto and then falls to earth.

Secondly, trying to catch rainwater that falls on your decks is not a very good practice. Your decks are seriously dirty from atmospheric dust/dirt - and - if they are FRG (gelcoated fiberglass) oxidized and weathered such that quite a lot of gelcoat plastic dust flows with the water into your tanks. It is dramatic to see what is left in a cooking pot that has "deck rainwater" in it and then been boiled off. The white "crud" that remains is a bitch to get out of the bottom of the pan.

So that leaves canvas (Sunbrella) awnings and sails which are an order of magnitude "cleaner" than your decks. However, even awnings/sails have chemicals and "oils" saturated in them to make them "waterproof/resistant" and the rain water gathers these on its trips from the Heavens to your water tanks.

Seems you can't win for losing in the "clean water" arena. So as with everything else, compromises come into play and we found that the RV drinking water garden hoses and D-I-Y filters are the most practical route to reasonably clean water.

Additionally, since we have a "large boat" and use a lot of water (again relative to "landlubbers" our water use is exceedingly miniscule) we built a potable water tanker system for the dinghy. I took a Nauta 40 gal flexible water bladder that just fits into the dinghy and installed a short fill hose made from PVC hose and fittings and an 10 ft (3 m) outlet hose with fittings to attach it to a 12VDC water pump.

We take the dinghy to shore/dock and fill the bladder using our D-I-Y charcoal filter rig and then putt-putt back to the boat. We hookup the outlet hose to the 12VDC water pump and pump the water in the dinghy bladder up and into the ship's water tank fill on deck. At about 40 gal per dinghy trip filling the ship's water tanks is quick and easy.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by osirissail

I think most everybody missed your "zinger" - but I am old enough to remember that famous movie scene quote.

Anyway, acquiring drinking water while cruising is not all that difficult. There are R.O. watermakers for those who can afford them; Activated Charcoal filter systems for boats which you can buy or D-I-Y for a fraction of the "ready-made" unit's cost; and catchment systems for rain water, etc.

Catchment systems generally are boat awnings or sails that are modified to direct rain water to an attached hose or tubing that is then routed to your water tanks.

However, there are a few "gotchas" with catching rain water. First of all, rain water can be quite dirty when it is falling through industrially or locally polluted air. Rain drops all contain a microscopic "seed" particle around which the water mist in the cloud grabs onto and then falls to earth.

Secondly, trying to catch rainwater that falls on your decks is not a very good practice. Your decks are seriously dirty from atmospheric dust/dirt - and - if they are FRG (gelcoated fiberglass) oxidized and weathered such that quite a lot of gelcoat plastic dust flows with the water into your tanks. It is dramatic to see what is left in a cooking pot that has "deck rainwater" in it and then been boiled off. The white "crud" that remains is a bitch to get out of the bottom of the pan.

So that leaves canvas (Sunbrella) awnings and sails which are an order of magnitude "cleaner" than your decks. However, even awnings/sails have chemicals and "oils" saturated in them to make them "waterproof/resistant" and the rain water gathers these on its trips from the Heavens to your water tanks.

Seems you can't win for losing in the "clean water" arena. So as with everything else, compromises come into play and we found that the RV drinking water garden hoses and D-I-Y filters are the most practical route to reasonably clean water.

Additionally, since we have a "large boat" and use a lot of water (again relative to "landlubbers" our water use is exceedingly miniscule) we built a potable water tanker system for the dinghy. I took a Nauta 40 gal flexible water bladder that just fits into the dinghy and installed a short fill hose made from PVC hose and fittings and an 10 ft (3 m) outlet hose with fittings to attach it to a 12VDC water pump.

We take the dinghy to shore/dock and fill the bladder using our D-I-Y charcoal filter rig and then putt-putt back to the boat. We hookup the outlet hose to the 12VDC water pump and pump the water in the dinghy bladder up and into the ship's water tank fill on deck. At about 40 gal per dinghy trip filling the ship's water tanks is quick and easy.

You mean there are CFers who have never seen Dr. Strangelove?? I think I even have a copy on board! Along with all of the rest of Kubrick's movies.


I like your dinghy-water-tanker idea! Might try it myself. I have no water maker, and my boat lives (when not underway) on a mid-river pontoon. Cruising, we are usually at anchor. We tank 1000 liters of water and don't often have water problems, but there are probably times when I woukd not have gone into a port if I had had a system like yours

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by propellanttech

Biological contamination doesn't bother me at all, chemical on the other hand is quite scarey. Some things are pretty hard to get out of water.

And if you don't believe they cover it up....just watch Erin Brockovich. It is based on a true story.

There is no reason why biological contamination should be less scary than chemical contamination. Nature is much better at killing us than we are (natures success rate is 100% after all)
The worst natural poisons are 10000 times more deadly than the worst we have come up with.
If you worry about what might be in the water don't forget this: while it might be true that a few people die few days earlier than they would have because of something in their tap water there are still millions dying because they don't have running water...
If you are worried about something being carcinogenic, well everything is carcinogenic. Milk is causing more cancers in Japan than Fukushima ever will.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I will try to explain my somewhat less than plain English original statement:

We do not drink raw (=not boiled) tap water ever. We buy bottled water for drinking. We try to buy bottled spring water, if available and if within our budget.

We use tap, dock, rain tank, water, boiled, for tea, coffee and all cooking.

b.

OK. I get it now.

[River Cruiser]

I've found beer in bottles a great alternative;-)

[micah719]

Back when water was dodgier, everyone drank beer. That would take care of the bugs, but not the chemicals. RO, then brew it, then drink it.

I was looking at water sources a little while ago. One promising source was fog & dew harvesting. At the same time I was looking at filtration, redneck offgrid scrooge style....the penalty is a lot of space and weight. Hence the multiple large water tanks with layers of redundancy and compartmentalisation. Filter on land, store in cisterns.

[CCBullseye]

Originally Posted by thompsonisland

Britta doesn't manage everything I want to treat, unfortunately. The garden hose thing is a problem-they are way, way bad for drinking water. Berkey will take out flouride, which is important to me. No cheap filter does that.

Go buy a potable water hose from a RV dealer. Replace the plastic lines from tank with pex lines or other suitable piping. Run water through filter and you should then have water as good as house water.

[Sailor g]

We have used the Water Fixer for the past 5 years. You can find it online (see link attached) It has an 5 micron filter, a 0.5 micron charcoal filter and an UV filter. They have a pamphlet that shows what it filters out. We have it in our lazzarette (or you can just put it on dock when needed) and it connects directly into our water tanks (which we keep clean by chlorine and using that for non drinking purpose but use tank after that to drink. We connected our UV so we can turn that off when not needed (we use the filters even in LA to remove chlorine, etc.) Out of country, I worried more about pathogens-I know people who've had serious problems.

I have an adrenal disorder & take corticosteroids so am immunosuppressed. We traveled through Mexico 1.5 years with never any issue. We also have a watermaker for offshore. I have actually felt healthier while out cruising because of time to cool healthier, more exercise and being totally happy with the life.

I understand your concerns. I am aware how serious contamination can be- talking chemicals added (ex:acid spillover feom industry into drinking water in CA) not leached from bottles. But if anyone can answer a couple questions- doesn't exposure to most materials leached take extended exposure (years or unusually high use) or have a genetic predisposition- rare person affected with less exposure. I am not up on your condition or many of the products. I taught chemistry and used MSDS sheets which show most everything to have some danger. At my age I think I won't live long enough to have problems with exposure or is there something new to think about?

http://www.waterfixercompany.com/

[propellanttech]

Originally Posted by Sailor g

We have used the Water Fixer for the past 5 years. You can find it online (see link attached) It has an 5 micron filter, a 0.5 micron charcoal filter and an UV filter. They have a pamphlet that shows what it filters out. We have it in our lazzarette (or you can just put it on dock when needed) and it connects directly into our water tanks (which we keep clean by chlorine and using that for non drinking purpose but use tank after that to drink. We connected our UV so we can turn that off when not needed (we use the filters even in LA to remove chlorine, etc.) Out of country, I worried more about pathogens-I know people who've had serious problems.

I have an adrenal disorder & take corticosteroids so am immunosuppressed. We traveled through Mexico 1.5 years with never any issue. We also have a watermaker for offshore. I have actually felt healthier while out cruising because of time to cool healthier, more exercise and being totally happy with the life.

I understand your concerns. I am aware how serious contamination can be- talking chemicals added (ex:acid spillover feom industry into drinking water in CA) not leached from bottles. But if anyone can answer a couple questions- doesn't exposure to most materials leached take extended exposure (years or unusually high use) or have a genetic predisposition- rare person affected with less exposure. I am not up on your condition or many of the products. I taught chemistry and used MSDS sheets which show most everything to have some danger. At my age I think I won't live long enough to have problems with exposure or is there something new to think about?

Water Filters And Purifiers

You are right, most chemicals are an additive effect. The chemicals to which I refer, are calculated to never leave the human body. The chemicals have been used for many years, and few know of the problem.

It's sad that our culture is so greedy, our health suffers from peoples attraction to the all mighty dollar.

James L

[thompsonisland]

I think that we get many magnitudes of accumulation when it gets to the point where food sources are also contaminated (this is particularly an issue with fluoride, where the ppm added to drinking water assumes that people are ONLY getting it from drinking, and not a large quantity.

But anxiety will get you,too, I agree! I have purchased a Berkey for drinking, and I think the lines are pex so I'm going to get a good hose and put some doubloons in the tank (just 'cause that's awesome) and filter it on the way in for bacteria and under the sink before it is used for cooking. That sounds cheap and easy. When we start going offshore, I'll look at watermakers. By then, my older on will be approaching teenaged years, and I think we'll need a bigger boat...

[zeehag]

there ar so many pollutants and impurities in mexican water other than
eschericia coli. there is no water in mexico that is potable straight from tap unless other wise stated. even mexicans do not drink tap water here..LOL
if you wish to do the drinking of tap water in mexico, be my guest. enjoy. is publicly stated not just to gringos, either--that there are contaminants in it you so do not wish to drink.
try cesspool uphill from well syndrome, or well too near the heavy metals from a boat yard, or the well has.........yes, water here comes from wells. each well has different contaminants. is always good idea to KNOW the area in which you are staying. helps with survival skills and enjoyment of the area.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by zeehag

there ar so many pollutants and impurities in mexican water other than
eschericia coli. there is no water in mexico that is potable straight from tap unless other wise stated. even mexicans do not drink tap water here..LOL
if you wish to do the drinking of tap water in mexico, be my guest. enjoy. is publicly stated not just to gringos, either--that there are contaminants in it you so do not wish to drink.
try cesspool uphill from well syndrome, or well too near the heavy metals from a boat yard, or the well has.........yes, water here comes from wells. each well has different contaminants. is always good idea to KNOW the area in which you are staying. helps with survival skills and enjoyment of the area.

There are many places in our own country where well water is contaminated in the same way. We are naive to think that just because it's American water it's automatically safe. As the other poster said, there are organisms that have been working to kill us for eons, and they are present even in such things as mountain streams where you would think they had to be pristine. Well, there be b'ars in them there woods ... (and other critters. Fish poop in those mountain streams ...)

I was talking, as just about everyone realizes, I'm sure, about municipal water supplies in Mexico, where usually are in good shape. Clearly you're not near one of those and if you didn't trust them I couldn't fault you for it. But the conditions you describe are extremely common all around the world.

Spring water *ought* to be pure, but it depends on what's leeching into it.

[osirissail]

Here are some photos of how we got water from shore to our boat. While in the Bahamas water was free at Georgetown, Exuma but was located inside the little lagoon/lake and only accessible by dinghy. So we used the 40gal Nauta Bladder to "tanker" the water using our dinghy. In the other photo we are in Luperon, D.R. and you purchase water in 5 gal bottles which you take out to the boat and transfer into your water tanks. We use a 12VDC potable water system pump with fittings/hoses so we can pump the water from the bottles (or the Nauta Bladder) into the boat's tanks.