Water Management

[ian.anderson]

Hello everyone, I have a question about managing your water supply while on multi day trips. I'm mostly comfortable on multi-day excursions but water always seems to be my limiting factor. What works for you guys? Where does your gear fall short? Any tips and tricks for stretching your water supply? I pack a 5 gal water jug in my bed but it often isn't enough after dishes, especially on very hot days.

 

[trail_runn4r]

Hello everyone, I have a question about managing your water supply while on multi day trips. I'm mostly comfortable on multi-day excursions but water always seems to be my limiting factor. What works for you guys? Where does your gear fall short? Any tips and tricks for stretching your water supply? I pack a 5 gal water jug in my bed but it often isn't enough after dishes, especially on very hot days.

I found ~2 gallons of water per person per day works well for me.

 

[genocache]

Going to the desert for a least a week at a time I carry 10 gal and take a water filter;

Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

<p>The classic Katadyn Pocket is a high-class fllter with a 20-year warranty. </p>

www.katadyngroup.com

I've had mine since 2003 and filtered probably 100 gallons in that time. Cleaned it after each trip and if you need to you can bake the ceramic filter to do a deep clean. Mine was a lot cheaper back then!
Buy 1 and done!

 

[ian.anderson]

Going to the desert for a least a week at a time I carry 10 gal and take a water filter;

Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

<p>The classic Katadyn Pocket is a high-class fllter with a 20-year warranty. </p>

www.katadyngroup.com

I've had mine since 2003 and filtered probably 100 gallons in that time. Cleaned it after each trip and if you need to you can bake the ceramic filter to do a deep clean. Mine was a lot cheaper back then!
Buy 1 and done!

Interesting, does your filter use a squeeze bag? I've been looking into the sawyer squeeze water bag. Or does it have an electric pump?

 

[Elzevir]

That filter uses a hand pump

 

[Alanymarce]

If it's a short trip, then a couple of 1L bottles, and we take personal bottles, refilling whenever water's available.

Long trips - a 5L bottle, 2 personal bottles each, and refill whenever we can.

Trajectories with no water resupply for a week - as above, and also 2 x 10L water cans.

More or less... : )

 

[grubworm]

the wife and i did a week out in the desert and used around 10 gal of water for shower and cleaning dishes and we just buy gallon jugs of spring water to drink and we just stash those where ever there is space. we also get a 40pk of drinking water and stash those under the seat, etc and i mainly use those to carry on hikes
gallon jugs are just too easy to get anywhere, so we use those for drinking and dont have to worry about filtering or any of that and its easier to find 5 small spaces for 1 gal jugs than finding a large spot for another 5 gal water can

 

[KAIONE]

When I lived in NV I used 5gal collapsible jugs. Highly recommend collapsible. When your done they give you back a lot of space, that helps with trash packed out. Duct tape the bottoms just in case something pokes at it, can create a drip and you won’t notice for days, maybe…lol.

I like 1gal jugs as well, duct tape the bottoms and sides too. Lots of uses i.e. water filter, oil funnel, cup, shovel and on and on.

I always had a few large OR dromedaries with Sawyer filters bags in a small bin as well. Emergency tabs too. You need lots of water with a way to get more if need be. There’s actually a lot of water in the desert just need to know where to look.

Some advice I’ll never forget from a pro driver was always have a bottle on you or near you to bail out with. Because if you roll/wreck/crash and your vehicle goes up in flames, you’ll survive…..sometimes. So I always had a bunch of those survival water packs stashed EVERYWHERE.

STAY SAFE

 

[FishinCrzy]

If it's a short trip, then a couple of 1L bottles, and we take personal bottles, refilling whenever water's available.

Long trips - a 5L bottle, 2 personal bottles each, and refill whenever we can.

Trajectories with no water resupply for a week - as above, and also 2 x 10L water cans.

More or less... : )

Same here. Two 10 L Sceptre? type plastic cans and one 2.5 L with control spout. Refill the 2.5 can. Works good for warshing me head, etc. Just place it high enough to get under it. BTW, Walmart sells filtered water for about $0.38 /gal. At least all the ones I hit last year in Wyoming did. I am usually around water and I do have a filter but rarely need it. Most of the water I use for cooking is boiled anyway. I try to keep some 16 oz. bottled water and will refill those from the filtered water. Worked fine. 35 L will go a week plus if you are careful.

 

[KS_Explorer]

Duct tape the bottoms just in case something pokes at it, can create a drip and you won’t notice for days, maybe…lol.

That is some great advice. I am going to put a couple layers of Gorilla tape on mine. Actually, I am going to take a close look at all my storage gear and see what might benefit from strategic taping.

 

[grubworm]

just drink a weeks worth of water right before leaving the house....

 

[MOAK]

We have built in water tanks on the trailer to carry 20 gallons. In the LC we have an additional 12 gallon tank for showers. We also carry an addition 5 gal Jerry can. Even after 10 days in the high desert, with rationing, we’ve never run out. Why so much water? Worst case scenario.

 

[genocache]

Interesting, does your filter use a squeeze bag? I've been looking into the sawyer squeeze water bag. Or does it have an electric pump?

As Elziver states, it is hand operated, not fast but no need for electricity! One day out mountainbiking I pumped, and drank, 3 gallons........lots of sweat too!

 

[genocache]

I live on the Pacific Coast and like to camp in Nevada. I don't travel with more than personal use for the trip water. At the final jump off town I buy water to fill my MWC cans. The reason being less weight to travel with so (hopefully) better fuel mileage.

 

[socal geek guy]

a friend of mine tried this out last year and i just tried it out on my last camping trip. use one of these sprayers for washing dishes to save water. you get pressurized water spray and it doesn't go through the water so fast.

HDX 56oz Handheld Multi-Purpose Pump Sprayer 56HDX - The Home Depot

The HDX 56oz. Handheld Multi-Purpose Sprayer is ideal for weed control, pest control, fertilizing and watering plants, and non-harsh cleaners. This sprayer comes pre-assembled with no tools required. It features a comfortable thumb trigger with a locking option for continuous spraying, a...

www.homedepot.com

 

[Desert Runner]

Going to the desert for a least a week at a time I carry 10 gal and take a water filter;

Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

<p>The classic Katadyn Pocket is a high-class fllter with a 20-year warranty. </p>

www.katadyngroup.com

I've had mine since 2003 and filtered probably 100 gallons in that time. Cleaned it after each trip and if you need to you can bake the ceramic filter to do a deep clean. Mine was a lot cheaper back then!
Buy 1 and done!

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Your filter system of choice is the one I finally chose....... after a lot of thought. Price ($$$) was the hold up on choosing which one. Finally talked myself into the 'buy once, keep forever' camp , as it is and was, the unit of choice for long term ownership and use, from what I read by international travelers.. At the time, durability and construction was far superior to much of what was offered on the market. Nowadays consumers have a much better plethora of choices to choose from. In another thread I talked about how on a 2 week hunting trip we took 6 jerry cans of fuel. That same trip, we took 5 five gallon water containers, and used most of them on the trip. The weather was mild, not to hot or to cold at night yet. Basically on the cusp of fall/winter. We could have resorted to boiled creek water as an backup for washing etc. But it never quite came to that. This was before a practical filtration system was contemplated, or explored. After that excursion was when I first got serious about upgrading. I now use besides the old standby purification tablets, also now have a purification straw for backup. NOTE: Coffee filters make a good 'SILT' filter on the end of your unit. Very light weight and it keeps your unit's filter cleaner for less maintenance cleaning as often.

PS: Now have 3 spector (tan) USA, and 3 British (black) military spec 5 gal jugs, as they are much more robust than commercial offerings.

 

[MMc]

I have 4 each 2Gal, heavy industrial fluid containers, (they are 35 years old) I also carry 5 gal containers, I have a bunch. Depending on how long I'll be away from resupply determines how much I'll carry. I plan on 2.5 gals+/- per day, it's more than I use. I also use the cooler water for washing and shower. I have a 2 gal garden pump shower that is used for washing dishes. Rinse water is used for the next days wash.
If I was getting water containers to day I would look at water bricks.

 

[John and Mandi]

The best way to stretch water is through conservation. We use a non-toxic liquid soap and use a dry(er) wash method for dishes. We also don't cook things like pasta that wastes water, unless you like drinking pasta water as friends of ours do. For washing, we pre-wipe everything with a paper towel moving from the least dirty to the worst. If water is needed we use just a splash then transfer it through all of the dishes as we work our way through. We then soap our sponge and start thoroughly washing from smallest to largest item, again if water is needed we transfer it along. Usually we just wipe the dishes dry with a clean paper towel and keep re-using it until it becomes saturated, then relegating it to being a pre-wiper or table/counter/stove wiper. If we have a stubborn pot or pan, we always add a little water and heat it on the stove to loosen up the debris and scrape it with a spatula etc, we only use stainless which makes that easy. We usually only carry 10 gallons, sometimes 15, and can easily go about 5 days on 10. We drink a lot of water, and coffee.

If you are near water, non-potable is fine for doing dishes and washing yourself. If you are concerned you could always boil it. We have even washed dishes with ocean water, no issues.

 

[T4R13]

We use a life saver Jerry can. And fill with pond, stream, mud hole water ect.

 

[walkabout_ca]

We also don't cook things like pasta that wastes water, unless you like drinking pasta water as friends of ours do.

We stopped using a large pot of water for cooking pasta, just a small amount that is almost gone by the time the pasta is done. Comes out quite well, especially if you add a good amount of sauce anyway.