Where do I add bleach to the fresh water system?

[Gene]

Nick, I have had wells at two houses and never tested them. I'm told you should sanitize them with chlorine annually, but I've never done that either. Still alive. If you are talking about your well or the well of someone you know and no one is sick, good. I also have an inline 5 micron filter so all the water we put in the trailer (either in the fresh water tank or "city waster" to the faucets) is filtered. Giardia cannot get through a 5 micron filter, The filter housings are sold at big box stores along with the filters—cheaper than you can get them at RV stores. I install them between two drinking water hoses, one of them short and close to the water inlets.

The thing I worry about is campground water, especially in remote places. The inline filter is for that. Airstreams usually have an undersink filter in the kitchen, but not the bathroom sink. We didn't mind filtering everything. My wife, the microbiologist, said that was enough. We sanitize the trailer system twice each season using the fast Cl route—more chlorine for one hour and then rinse three times to get the odor and taste out. Since chlorine is bad for plastic, you want to flush all of it out as quickly as you can.

We've not gotten sick (so far as we know), but of course, tomorrow is another opportunity. I think you are more likely to get sick from a restaurant than from your water system so long as you have a filter at campgrounds. We used to know an ER doctor who got giardia on a trip to Alaska in their conversion van. I have to admit I thought it was funny.

In some places the wells and septic systems are close together—less than 2 acres, sometimes much less (we lived somewhere where the wells and septic systems were 100' apart. Where do you think a lot of the water is coming from? Soil and rock filters out the waste products and then you drink it—brings you closer to your neighbors. Some commercial filters take out all the minerals in the water. You need those minerals for good health—so if you use such a filter or drink distilled water, you need supplements to get those trace elements.

[nickcrowhurst]

Gene, thanks for the prompt reply. I've used the standard bleach treatment plus a filter, but we live for extended periods on a cattle farm, hooked up to well water. I need to test the well water for medical reasons.
Nick.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by nickcrowhurst

Gene, thanks for the prompt reply. I've used the standard bleach treatment plus a filter, but we live for extended periods on a cattle farm, hooked up to well water. I need to test the well water for medical reasons.
Nick.

I am sure the safer thing to do would be to check our well periodically, but we don’t and have never traced any illness to well water. It sure tastes better than city water, at least in Grand Junction and some other cities. If we were using herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, had lots of manure, I’d certainly be concerned with what leaches down to the well. However when we lived west of Denver, with leach fields and septic tanks 100’ from our well and our well was only 200’ deep, we never got water borne diseases. The rock was ancient fractured granite and it acts as an excellent filter. But it is better not to think about what your neighbor sent to the ground when you drink a glass of “water”.

Where we live now there is little between the source of underground water here and our house. No ranches or farms and not many houses either. A high mesa is public land and where the snow collects most in the winter, so no development there. Everyone lives in different places with different needs.

My point is that people sometimes worry too much and do more than is necessary. I keep the windows closed and the swamp cooler on during cool nights when the allergy season is on—I’d love to open the windows (and save money by not running the machine) and hear the sounds of the night (mostly howling coyotes here), but my nose, eyes, sinuses and lungs appreciate the filtered and humidified air.

In the past several years we haven’t boondocked at all and so hardly ever use the fresh water tank. When stopped at a rest stop for lunch, that’s about it. I do worry about what is in the tank for weeks or months—lots of bacteria loves dark, damp places. That’s why I’ll sanitize again in midsummer. Our Airstream had a kitchen filter which may have helped for larger bacteria, but now we just have an exterior inline filter. So when we fill the tank is gets filtered and city water always gets filtered too. Even with filters, my personal microbiologist drinks bottled water and uses it to cook. I usually use tap water for tea, but it gets boiled briefly (too briefly accordng to health depts) and so far, so good. Some CG water tastes really bad, so then I use the gallons of distilled water.

It is what you feel safe with, what your experience is, what makes sense for the specific situation.