Drinking Water

[Blacktank]

never cut a water hose?,it's not fiber lined,it has fiber reinforcement and the reason garden hoses are bad to drink from are the chemicals

" research released by the Ecology Center, which tested water coming from standard garden hoses and found that it can contain lead, endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins, especially in older hoses.

Hose fittings contain brass, an alloy that can contain up to 8% lead. One in three hoses tested had levels of lead that exceeded drinking water standards — one as high as 18 times the level" 
http://ideas.time.com/2012/08/02/is-your...ose-toxic/


as far as diseases 

"Although the U.S. has one of the safest drinking water systems in the world, there are an estimated 4-32 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) per year from public drinking water systems 1,2. This estimate does not include waterborne illness from non-public drinking water systems (for example, private wells), recreational water, or water for other uses (for example, irrigation, medical uses, or building water systems.) The frequency of disease from all water exposures is likely higher, but the overall prevalence of waterborne illness in the U.S. is unknown"
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/burden/index.html

"Tainted tap water isn’t just a problem in Flint, Michigan. In any given year from 1982 to 2015, somewhere between 9 million and 45 million Americans got their drinking water from a source that was in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to a new study. Most at risk: people who live in rural, low-income areas.

In general, “the U.S. has really safe water,” says Maura Allaire, a water economist at the University of California, Irvine, and lead author of the new study. Still, problems with drinking water crop up every year, and in some municipalities, year after year. The contaminants in the water can cause stomach flu or “more chronic conditions including a variety of cancers and neurological disorders,” she says."
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/m...unty-stack



with so many cheap filter options to choose from you would be an idiot not to,i use a brita filter pitcher
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Brita-Large-1...gL5vPD_BwE
and now my water doesnt taste like wet dog or swimming pool

[Blacktank]

If you don't like any piece of advice, from anybody, then PROVE it wrong.

was that good enough? or should i continue with the pesticides,pharmaceuticals or just how many parasites those birds are pooping everywhere

[Handy_Dan]

Wow, Gary, Thank you!

Your post made me consider bottled water for drinking, so I researched that a little...  I wasn't impressed with the results.  I've never filtered water myself unless it was coming from a questionable source, or at least what I thought was a questionable source.  I never considered drinking fountains to be a questionable source, as long as the water was clear.

After reading those statistics, I think a Brita pitcher is in my near future.

And yes, that was excellent.  I'm always willing to learn new things.  I still think water fountains are a good resource for free water, just not for drinking.

You have also made me reconsider my practice of ordering water with my meals at restaurants.

Thanks again!

[Snikwahjm]

Berkey makes a good filter. I think there are hacks on line so you can make your own using their filters if you want to save a few bucks. Brita’s are less expensive but you really don’t know when it goes bad.

[MN C Van]

" research released by the Ecology Center, which tested water coming from standard garden hoses and found that it can contain lead, endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins, especially in older hoses.

Hose fittings contain brass, an alloy that can contain up to 8% lead. One in three hoses tested had levels of lead that exceeded drinking water standards — one as high as 18 times the level" 
http://ideas.time.com/2012/08/02/is-your...ose-toxic/

This is just scare mongering.

Water faucets are made from brass. Nearly all of them. Exterior may be chromed, or coated, but inside it's brass.
In every home in America, in the world likely.

Lead is alloyed with various metals to make machining easier. 6011 (aluminum) and steel that has an "L" in the name 41L40 (versus 4140), for example. Lead also makes the material corrode far more readily.

No common brass contains 8% lead. Notice the weasily wording- "Hose fittings contain brass, an alloy that can contain up to 8% lead."
The alloys that do contain lead are used, primarily for engraving, or 'cutting'

If you take a 20' garden hose, there's, perhaps 2" of the fitting (where it screws to the brass fitting on your house) that's exposed to the water.




Lead and Arsenic in Water Filters

[GotSmart]

People should be scared. 

This country was a lot safer before the current administration declared war on the environment. Next the led mines will be reopened. 

Read history and science and learn what to avoid.

[rvpopeye]

the pirate's , point zero two

Lead leaching out of garden hoses has been proven many years ago (after sitting full baking in the sun , but anyhoo) , I (and almost all of the RVing world) only use the white potable water hoses , they're made for that purpose , do anything you want but why take chances ? (also notice the ends are usually stainless)

I also ALWAYS spray every fitting I hook it up to with a bleach solution .  
You'll never believe all the gross things I have seen people doing with their FHU campsite faucet !!
...and then just leave the surprise for the next campers to use it for drinking afterwards  (rinsing out their shit hose,,,on the ground next to the picnic table,,by inserting the water hose all the way in and slowly pulling it back out , or draining their gray tank into the bushes )
just two ,the list goes on and on....


Boondocking sounds so nice now , right ?

And speaking of that , even thinking about using dump station water is just a bad idea ..............



AND on the subject of filtering,, check out the Zero Water filter device , the water tastes    !

[Blacktank]

no need to be scared,just dont be stupid,they make potable hoses,a tablespoon of bleach in a spray bottle will disinfect most things,dont drink anything thats found around poop and pee,animal or human,basic stuff

[Handy_Dan]

I've been using water from drinking fountains for many years, and never gotten sick from it.  That being said, if it didn't look good or taste good though, I would either pass on it, or only use it as not potable water.  Maybe once a year or so, if it was questionable, I would add a little bleach to it.

Before I use any water for cooking purposes, I always bring it to a rolling boil first, and only use crystal clear water for cooking.

I've always been picky about my drinking water, if it didn't look and taste good, it wasn't drinking water.  I'm looking forward to seeing the difference in what filtered water tastes like.  I figure at my age, and at this point in time, a few extra precautions can't hurt anything.  

I'll still be using drinking fountains as my main water source, because I feel like drinking fountains are as good as local water gets in whatever area you're in.  The few times I've bought water from machines it tasted identical to the local water.

[Scott7022]

The backseat was hot, why we had driven down to TJ was beyond me. My nephew and I had gotten tacos and were packing enough firecrackers in our underwear to threaten the San Andreas fault. The slow stop and go was driving us crazy, and a strange sliver of humanity came over my father.

"Go Play in the park and walk back across when you see me get to the booth."

Off to the park, we ran and soon needed the water fountain. My older sister had told us never to use it. But heck you could see America, and other kids used it. We had zero cash, so we drank. Several times we lapped the cool water until we saw Dads car disappear. Time to walk past the road that led to the naked statue and the walk through border crossing.

The road trip home was one of horror and pain. Never capable of being fully explained before the Family Guy puke episode. That explains one exit. Terms visual aids still are unavailable to explain the bottom exit. Explosive really is just a beginning. 40 years later and if I picture the scene the smell will still make me gag.

As for Crystal clear mountain streams in the forest. Hunting 20 years ago and had a Grizzly Adams raised hunter give me shit for running a litre of fresh mountain water through a Kayden water filter.
A click up stream, when we recrossed he tossed his lunch. Two bulls had taken the bleed to breed thing a bit too far and died in the small river. Their rotting corpses were full of the corruption that comes from dying for love in the bush.