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Remember that scene in the film Cast Away where Tom Hanks is waving a blazing palm frond in the air yelling “I HAVE CREATED FIIIIIRE”? Yes? Well, that is how I felt recently upon discovering my first Glacier water vending machine in a Publix supermarket. I’m sure everyone at the cash registers wondered why I was dancing around with my Igloo water cooler yelling “I HAVE DISCOVERED CLEAN TASTING WATER FOR 50 CENTS A GALLON”.
Preparing for the road has meant reading and researching a ton. Mostly, though, I have discovered so much I didn’t know I even needed to know by reading the experiences of those who have pioneered ahead. Some things were easy to test out beforehand from the relative safety of home and some had to wait until I was in the field, so to speak. Storing and finding clean drinking water was, of course, a primary consideration.
I have spent agonizing hours reading product reviews and blog posts for everything from portable toilets to solar lanterns. Water storage, though, fell into an entirely different category – absolute survival. Seriously, I can poop in the dark pretty much anywhere if I have a shovel (Okay not anywhere), but clean drinking water that can see me through a few days is not something I can piecemeal together at the last minute. My primary considerations were the space and interior design of my vehicle and sturdiness and material of the container. In addition, in my quest to reduce waste, water bottles were not an option.
Water storage containers range in shape and size from bulky and round, to cube-shaped, to flat, skinny and tall. I started my search for the perfectly sized container early on, and lucky I did. My initial purchase was the WaterBrick – a square, 3.5 gallon container that I thought would fit in the far back of my vehicle. It took forever to arrive and was just slightly too large and bulky for the space I had in mind (plus it had animal hair stuck to it). Back to Amazon it went.
Before settling on the Rotopax two gallon military grade containers (the tall, skinny ones), I picked up a one gallon Igloo water container on a whim at Walmart. With my purchase of two Rotopax and the Igloo (and various water bottles etc), I would now have more than five gallons of drinking water with me at all times. That is, if I could find water!
Enter SUV/Car camping fb group and the collective hive. Dozens of responses to my cry for newbie-help gave me a great deal of information (see below). And yet, since knowing is not doing, I felt uneasy until I actually did it. From a long-time filtered faucet drinker, I’m hear to tell you – you can find clean drinking water on the road. And, you don’t even need to bring your own filtration system. Although I still do have my EHM pitcher, just in case. Keep in mind that you definitely don’t have to pay for clean drinking water, as some of the sources below indicate. For me, however, even after filtering the potable water at my first campground, I was not comfortable with the taste.
Info from the hive
Finding Water
App: Water-Map Created by NGO European Water Project. Provides latitude/longitude for sites with free public water fountains in U.S. and abroad.
Website: Findaspring.com “An environmental conservation foundation committed to ensuring the earth’s precious waters are appreciated and protected.” Search their map to find natural springs near you.
Website: shop.water.com Provides Primo (& Glacier) Refill Locations.
Website: freshpure.com Provides locations of fresh pure water vending machines. Common in whole food markets. Provides alkaline and reverse osmosis options.
Website: watermillexpress.com Gives locations of Watermill Express water vending stations.
Other ideas for finding free drinking water: libraries, public parks, boat launches, city/county/state office buildings, cemeteries Filtering/Purifying Water on the Road Zero water pitcher Berkey filter UV wand GoSun Flow
Epilogue This being week two of my full-time SUV life, I had thus far only stopped to fill up the one gallon Igloo (refer to above Cast Away register dance of glee scenario). My second campground advertised potable water, so I wasn’t too worried about filling up the Rotopax. Enroute yesterday, I felt a niggling voice telling me to stop and fill up both Rotopax containers, which I did at a Primo station along the way. When I arrived at the campground and inquired about the water, the manager said that no one there really drinks it, it can be rusty at times. And...the nearest water vending machine? Nineteen miles away!
Note to reader: This is not intended as a comprehensive or definitive post, so please do leave a comment on ways you ensure clean drinking water in your daily life – either on or off the road.
State forest somewhere in Central Florida