I see I have options to find dump stations and such as we travel about.
Finding potable water seems to be a bit more of a search.
I don't like traveling with full tanks for weight and gas mileage reasons. I will have some.
So, any tips or tricks on finding potable water locations near your destinations?
Dan
Easy answer is go to
Free Camping Near You | Go Camping for Free! type in the name of the town, go up to "FILTERS" at the top of the map, look down to "AMENITIES" and select the box that says "DRINKING WATER". Look for a freebie park or a cheap public park.
Remember, just because the water is safe to drink (designated as "DRINKING WATER" or "POTABLE WATER"), doesn't mean it tastes good.
Me? I bleach the "potable water tank" in the truck camper fairly often. The water we use in it is clean enough to flush the toilet, wash hands, dishes and ourselves. We never ingest it. We only drink and cook with RO water, including the dog's drinking water. I built a POI list of RO water fill stations covering 10 states with verified GPS locations). I loaded it into Google My Maps and use it as part of my main base map that I plan trips on. I have 3 gallon jugs that I fill with RO water. You can find many of the RO fill station stations by going to the company websites and looking (I used Twice the Ice, Watermill Express and Primo). Many of the locations are wrong. This is when I pulled up Google Maps on Sat view and searched all over the towns trying to find the fill stations. Of course Primo is in front of a lot of Grocery stores (and is currently 10 cents per gallon higher than Twice the Ice and Windmill Express water locally). Primo claims their water is be sold at Lowes and Home Depot but, locally, that is not true. Nor can I determine if it is true anywhere. The machines are not out front according to Google Maps and there are no store level SKU codes for water on their websites.
www.twicetheice.com (not all machines sell water, the two that are in my current town do and I get water from them most of the time)
Watermill Express – Pure Drinking Water and Ice (not all machines sell ice, there are several in my town, just not in the places I go, If there is a problem with a TTI machine, this is where I get water))
Purified Bulk Water & Water Dispensers | Primo Water (from what I can tell, Primo only sells water, sometimes the machines are labeled "Glacier")
The result of this practice is that I am not terribly picky about the water, I will, and have, fill up at most any spigot, including one at the side of a restaurant (Cracker Barrel), hardware store (Lowes garden dept) and gas station/convenience store (Stripes?) after asking permission. I can put "garden hose" water in, add the required amount of bleach to purify the water ( 3-3/4 TSP regular bleach for a 30 gallon fresh tank according to the EPA guidelines of 1/4 TSP per 2 gallons water) by putting the bleach into a long necked clean wine bottle (saved for this use and labeled with "1/4 TSP Bleach per 2 GAL water"... a silicone cap keeps the inside of the bottle dust free between uses), filling it with water from the fresh tank and then pouring the water thru the gravity fill BEFORE filling the tank. This flushes the bleachy water out of the fill line and down into the tank. The water does tend to have a slight chlorine smell for a day or two. No worse than some city water sources.
The truck camper has a 3 gallon square water jug with a manual pump (both came from Walmart) for drinking water. We generally keep a gallon or two in the jug unless we will be traveling, then we fill it. For "home" use, we have 5 of the 3 gallon jugs and a USB/battery powered electric pump. It's the 2nd electric pump as the first one stopped working. I bought the manual pump to fill in while we waited on the 2nd electric pump to come in (it was during COVID when everything was hard to get). The electric pump is nice until it doesn't work.
When the camper tank water smells "old", I use the same amount of bleach to "freshen" the tank water. We leave the truck camper on the truck year round and use it when going grocery shopping and taking the dog to the town's dog park. Finding a clean public bathroom is very difficult and the camper makes a good place to leave the dog while we do our shopping. In town, the truck with the camper on it gets the same mpg as the 4WD Jeep.
