Don't drink the water?
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It's interesting to note that nasties thrive and breed best in water temperatures between 20c and 60c.Unless the regulations have changed recently, stored cold water in commercial establishments has to be kept at less than 20c to prevent the growth of bugs and is not allowed to be used for drinking or food preparation. Taps connected to such supplies must be labelled "not drinking water". For the same reason, stored hot water should be kept between 60c and 65c. The storage temperature and quality of both cold and hot water has to be periodically recorded and tested and the system must be cleaned by an officially approved method if the test results are unsatisfactory.
There's clearly good reason for this regulation and it encourages me to stick to option 3. 👍🏻
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Option 1. Been caravanning for nearly 40 years and always used the caravan water. I don't drink the water straight out of the tap as I don't dilute drinks with it (whisky is drank neat!).
We do all the washing up, cleaning teeth, washing hands and filling the kettle from the 'van's tap. Never had a problem. I don't even have a filter on this 'van.
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Us too, IanB. As our van is used for over 2/3rds of the year, and drained down before every move, the water doesn't stay long in the pipes/system.
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The health risks are not just those of 'upset stomach' but may include medical problems which might never be associated with the drinking water. In my case, I had neurological symptoms - not a true dizziness, but strange 'unbalanced' feelings, numbness and tingling in my feet and fingers, and just feeling very odd every time we returned from a caravan holiday. I was referred for investigations, which included brain scans, MRI's, a lumbar puncture and umpteen blood tests. I was told there were problems in the reactions of my central nervous system, and in certain blood tests but they didn't know the cause. I was asked to return in six months when further investigations might be required.
A friend of mine, a Professor in Microbiology, after hearing my story, asked about our habits when we were caravanning, and I explained that we'd had a problem with our water pipes and which appeared to be filled with green/black slime. He asked to see the photos and and said that this build up in the pipes is a slime (biofilm) mainly consisting of algae, fungi, moulds and bacteria, and that it was possible that I was sensitive to the toxins in some water-borne algae which can cause a variety of symptoms affecting nerves, brain, and lungs - and if present in sufficient numbers can kill livestock and wildlife. I immediately stopped drinking the water from the caravan - and have never had the symptoms since...................!
So make what you like of this, but I'm in better health since we stopped drinking the water, my blood tests returned to normal, and if anyone else has unexplained ill-health of any type after their caravan trips away, perhaps they could try not drinking the water either to see if things improve.
I'm not suggesting people shouldn't do what they want, but do like to draw attention to the potential problems of what appears to be a clean water supply. If anyone doubts the potential problems then some 'googling' will bring up all sorts of interesting articles.
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We use the water from the aquaroll / onboard tank for drinking, albeit that it goes through a Britta filter first, but this won't get rid of bacteria. Both tanks are re-filled at least once per day, so there's never any stale water hanging around. We have also been 'yachties' for the last 30 years or so, and have always drunk from the on-board tank with no ill-effects - including over 2 years living on board in the Med. Again, even with a 100 litre tank or greater, it was always re-filled every couple of days and I think that regular re-filling is key to this discussion. Incidentally, my wife suffers from ulcerative colitis and has been affected by water supplies when staying in various cottages etc - but has never suffered any ill-effects in either a boat or the caravan.
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Yes, and it's not so daft as it might sound so I'm glad you brought it up, even as a joke. Personally we don't use the aquaroll water for brushing teeth! We stopped when we saw the state of the caravan pump and pipes even after what we thought was a thorough cleaning
And another reason- you can get serious diseases from pathogens (bacteria or fungi) found on your teeth. Eighteen months ago a friend of ours in France (late forties, eats organic food, grow their own organic herbs for sale on local markets) became very very ill, fighting for his life in fact, and had to have three heart valves replaced. The operation was so urgent that it was done late on Christmas Eve and he was in intensive care, unconscious, until after New Year.
It was said, at the time, to be due to a virus infection which had affected his heart. However, in France, there is a great emphasis on the moment on how the state of people's teeth can affect their general health, and cultures were done both of his heart valves, and his teeth. The cause of his illness was found to be a fungus - and absolutely by coincidence, one of those which can affect caravan water supplies and potentially form part of the black slime which was present in our pumps. And would be used for brushing your teeth or rinsing your toothbrush.
French dentists now recommend that you sterilise your toothbrush in a solution like Steradent, hydrogen peroxide, by boiling, or by microwaving! Instead of dismissing those who prefer the 'clean water' idea anyone who has had heart problems, valves replaced because of infections, etc., might just have another think.................................... and maybe even sterlise their toothbrushes too! Or as in our case, anyone who wants to help to protect themselves from potential problems.
The name of the fungus is Aspergillus and just like Legionnaire's disease, there are even reports of it being present in hospital water supplies. Again a google might give people food for thought.
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Thankyou for posting, Valda. As I said earlier, the regulations applying to commercial premises are in place for a reason.
Many people have been lucky and got away with drinking the water from caravan pipework for years but that doesn't mean they always will and those with affected immune disorders, or other underlying health issues, would do well to seriously think about it. Still, that's up to them but I'm not risking it.
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To be fair the UK health service has also been aware of the possible links between oral hygiene and cardio vascular problems but I don't think it's been proven. But as TW says it's up to all of us what we do. I thought about caravanners "surviving" 40 years ago but I don't think the old vans had the maze of pipe work and storage tanks now in use?
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No they didn't, Brue. In the 70s you had a posh van if you had a manually operated pump to draw the water from a container to the one and only sink on board.
The pump was manually operated because we didn't have EHU or leisure batteries, let alone showers, water heaters, onboard tanks or the like.
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Id hardly call the pipework in our MH a maze or complicated in any way.
the external filler fills a tank. the pump pumps cold water to to three cold taps (kitchen sink, washroom basin and shower) and to the hot water boiler. the boiler feeds the hot side of the feed in the three locations mentioned.....just a few feet of pipe all told....
the tank is used regularly though usually lasts a few days before ot needs filing again bit there is a steady flow of fresh chlorinated water passing though the (and my) system, just like at home.
how far do folk take the 'mustnt come into contact with.....' thing?
perhaps folk dont shake hands with others these days for fear of where theyve been.
if we don't all blow ourselves up, it will be a little microbe that kills off the human race as we will have lost immunity to just about everything.
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I see that both legionella and aspergilus spp's. Are being touted as major risk to health in caravan water supplies. Maybe this is true But.
Both Organisms actually aspergillus is a family of organisms and legionella. Cause infection by breathing them in not by drinking them.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Aspergillosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Legionnaires-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Particularly in the case of legionnaires disease the biggest risk comes from your caravan shower. Maybe we should be like travellers and have completely dry vans? Of course you could shower with the site facilities but how do you know that they are safe?
As ever this subject brings a lot of heat not much light.
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BoleroBoy, Quite agree, lets suppose you have never slipped on ice, it doesn't say you never will but neither does it say you will. We seem to be wrapping ourselves up in cotton wool, to the point that one day we wont even venture out from a sterile location and thats not living life to the full. Just remember you can't go before your time
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Site showers and water systems are tested regularly, Boff. See my earlier post re commercial premises and regulatory testing.
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Maybe my van's pipework is in a really disgusting state but if I use the water from the van/s innards for drinking or even brushing my teeth then I get 'tummy upset' (to be polite). If I use bottled water I don't.
This actually happens when I go abroad so I suppose it's just a case of getting used to the local water rather than the state of the van's pipes, but as I'm not sure and I don't like the results I don't drink out of the water supply from the van.
To paraphrase TW , it's your tummy so do as you see best.
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Are you suggesting the club doesn't comply and thereby breaks the law?
This is getting stupid.
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Just to note, I (and others) have stated their preferred way of using water from their outfit's supply or not.
It is rather sad that some posters are ridiculing other poster's choices. If some prefer to use bottled water why do some folk make a joke of it?
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I did not refer to commercial sites.
Your inferrence was that tests may not be carried out everywhere. We were talking about camp sites. We are using the CAMC forum. Ergo, the club is in the front line.
I suggest you work on your powers of observation rather than jumping to conclusions and making inappropriate comments.
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We certainly don't wrap ourselves in cotton wool, but drinking the water after you'd seen the state of our pipes would just be madness in my opinion when the alternative is so easy. As it wasn't possible to keep the pipes clean then we simply choose to get our water fresh from the tap. All on this forum seem to be concerned with the cleanliness or otherwise of the sanitary facilities on site, but are quite blasé about potential problems in their own caravan.
Our water at home is tested regularly and water quality monitored by the water companies, site regulations insist that the water in the 'facilities' block is tested, and on sites with swimming pools the water is tested daily, yet I have never seen a mention of testing of the water which is delivered in your caravan. Just a little part of me wonders if that is because manufacturers avoid this question because in some cases the water might by found to be 'non-potable' which wouldn't do the industry any favours.
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In 30 years of caravanning, now motorhoming, in France we have usually drunk mineral water because it tastes OK, its cheap but also when it's hot it's good to keep it in the fridge. Can't chill an Aquaroll or onboard tank. Sometimes we fill empty mineral bottles direct from tthe tap and use those as drinking water.
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So are you now saying caravan sites are not commercial premises? Instead of trying to have your cake and eat it why don't you show some proper scientific evidence that drink water from a caravan tap posses a significant extra risk compared to a normal domestic situation?
Six Pages and no one has mentioned the real risk. Which is fecal contamination of water that's where the real hazard could be. If you want to pay extra for mineral water fine by me, but I wonder what the hazards are from the plastic containers we buy it in?
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