Making river/creek/lake water safe

[Backwoods Rambler]

I got really tired of towing my pop-up camper, with my 6cyl XJ, up the mountain passes here in Colorado, when it's full of water (16gal total x 8.34lbs/gal + the weight of the camper and gear = holy crap!)

Up until now I've been carrying a 7gal drinking water container and filling the camper with river water for doing dishes and showering. I know it's risky, but so far we've been lucky. I've been contemplating a way around this for quite some time now and think I have a system figured out. Keep in mind, I need enough water for 4 people for 3+ days and nights, so a simple hand-held filter pump like KATADYN's isn't going to cut if for me. Particularly since we refill the camper at least once on most trips.

So, I want to be able to take water directly from a river, creek or lake and put it into my camper and have it be safe for drinking. That's a pretty lofty goal it seems......here's what I've come up with......

A hose to the water source with a screen filter, leading to a 20/30 micron "sediment" filter. From the sediment filter into the pump (Shurflo 8000 series) then from the pump to a .5 micron "bacteria" filter. From the bacteria filter into the pop-up camper or water container via a drinking water grade hose.

From there I believe my only concern is viruses, which can be easily eliminated via a UV "filter" system if you'd like to pay around $400 or more. Or just use Chlorine Dioxide Purification Tablets. I'd like to see what other options are available for eliminating viruses, but I can't seem to find anything.

In my mind I envision something like a miracle grow fertilizer hose attachment that slowly draws the fertilizer into the water stream. Obviously I would be subbing fertilizer for water treated with a concentrated does of purification tablets. From here the water would then be introduced into the camper and after a brief holding period, the water would be competely safe to drink

I'd like to see what everyone thinks about this.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

 

[adventurebuddies]

I think if you start snooping around the RV supply websites, you'll find what you need. Most likely it will be in the form of tablets that you drop into your full tank. They will purify everything in there.

 

[BiG BoB]

Bacteria and virus's will be killed off with tablets (or for the patient and chemical free, a good long boil), however I'd be more worried about chemicals from upstream industries...

Some caravans here come with the option of a system to do what you want, I beleive either Pheonix or Bushtracker offer the option (search http://www.google.com.au)

Sean

 

[rusty_tlc]

When I worked in a green house we used a venturi system to inject fertilizer into the hoses we used to water with. It fit between the faucet and the hose with a small pick-up tube leading into a five gallon bucket of concentrated liquid fertilizer. IIRC you set the finished level by changing the venturi size.
I believe the system was made by Peters Professional.

Here is a link I found with a quick Google

Force Flo

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Bacteria and virus's will be killed off with tablets (or for the patient and chemical free, a good long boil), however I'd be more worried about chemicals from upstream industries...

Some caravans here come with the option of a system to do what you want, I beleive either Pheonix or Bushtracker offer the option (search http://www.google.com.au)

Sean

Thanks for the tips, I will check them out. I have done a ton of googling of this topic.

There are typically (99% of the time) no industries upstream from where I camp. This last trip however had a cattle pasture upstream at an elevation of 10,500 ft. That caught me by surprise.