Do you drink the water?

[Tbear]

I swim in rivers, lakes, the sea and probable the worst, swimming pools so I see no point in getting too upset about drinking the water from a MH tank.

Richard

 

[Canalsman]

Singling our plastic bottles is a bit lip sided when there are many more sources of plastic causing more problems that the bottles ...

Have a look at this:

A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change' | Environment | The Guardian

16 million plastic bottles A DAY chucked away! And that's just the UK!

 

[GeoffL]

We don't drink the MH tank water. However, we have a couple of 10-litre water containers for drinking water that we fill at the same time we top up the MH tank. Been doing that for over two decades of caravanning and carried the practice on when we switched to a motorhome last year.

 

[Tim120]

When fresh water filling in France and Spain on aires or service areas some if not most would have two outlets marked eau potable (drinking) and non potable (not for drinking) signs on the same machine to dispense water. Likewise here in the UK on the odd ocassion we have stayed on a site at a service point water is marked as potable and waste. These two are separate from the cassette rinse water.
Surely there are not two different supplies fed to one point for water to provide potable/non potable water.?

In answer to the question we have done both, using water fed from a local supply into the tank and bottled when we could not find a supply.
Filled tank and bottles from a supply when we have found one.

 

[Nabsim]

Have a look at this:

A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change' | Environment | The Guardian

16 million plastic bottles A DAY chucked away! And that's just the UK!

My last comments on plastic bottles. An enzyme has been developed that recycles plastic bottles, we can now recycle plastic but it is only just being told in the news so you may not have heard yet. The problem is the existing plastic that has been thrown away already. My comment was not meant to make out it is okay, it was meant to point to a much larger problem of plastics and packaging not just bottles. People are fairly stuffed with regard to buying things in single use plastic although it is starting to change but they have always had a choice where to put it once used. Thats a far bigger problem to my mind.

 

[GeoffL]

Do you keep them in the dark, or are they opaque?
How are they better or cleaner than the tank?

One is opaque; both are kept in shade. However, the big difference is that the water is changed at most every few days and they are thoroughly washed before we go on a trip. It would be very difficult to vigorously shake the MH tank in the same way! The other advantage is that by using our 10 litre containers, we have an additional 20 litres on board and two 10 litre containers that we can use to carry water to pour into the tank if we can't or don't want to use the hose.

 

[Nesting Zombie]

Do you keep them in the dark, or are they opaque?
How are they better or cleaner than the tank?

Because the Raw water I collect is only normally stored in my Containers for ‘Maybe’ 2 Or 3 Days before I Filter it & Put it in my Main Fresh water Tank, I just use Thease -

Each one is 10 lt, They are VERY Strong & can put up with a bit of chucking about & a punishing trip in my Rucksack if needs be, & (To Me) the YELLOW Top denotes RAW WATER, I have 2 Green ones for Diesel (The Nest) & 1 Red one for Petrol (Genny).

Not mixed the up,,,YET !,,,

 

[Deleted member 3011]

In overt 30 countries including several regarded as third-world and never a health problem attributable to the water.

Only a couple of times we bought water - Baja and southern USA and that was only because coffee and tea made with the local tap water was undrinkable

 

[Nesting Zombie]

Well,
According to the figures in the Poll, Roughly Twice as many ( currently At around the 66% mark ) ‘Do’
Than Don’t (Currently at around the 33% Mark), But we are all still here so Proof that Whoever is Doing Whatever is Working for you them However & Wherever we all do it !


I Think!.

 

[Caz]

Can't really vote as I fall somewhere between the two extremes.

From Halloween through to Easter I don't use the fresh water tank at all in case it freezes. I have 3 x 2 litre containers that I use. In summer I tend to keep them filled up as easier to get to when travelling than the tap. However, when I am stopped and can get to the tap I use that for everything, including filling the dog's water bowl.

Having said that, I never drink water cold anyway so it's always boiled for my coffee. If I am thirsty then I drink fizzy/flavoured water - which has to be bought in plastic bottles as it's the only way it comes from the shop.

 

[Nesting Zombie]

Hey Caz,
I use to drink FAR FAR too much of that same kinda Bottled Fizzy Water as I think you’re on about,,,But even I know it’s Awful Fake Stuff that just makes you feel even more Thirsty!. I hardly drink the stuff now.

Have you thought of water & say a Squash if Some sort as a change ?.

 

[Minisorella]

My last comments on plastic bottles. An enzyme has been developed that recycles plastic bottles, we can now recycle plastic but it is only just being told in the news so you may not have heard yet. The problem is the existing plastic that has been thrown away already. My comment was not meant to make out it is okay, it was meant to point to a much larger problem of plastics and packaging not just bottles. People are fairly stuffed with regard to buying things in single use plastic although it is starting to change but they have always had a choice where to put it once used. Thats a far bigger problem to my mind.

No, an enzyme that can digest plastic has been identified and is being worked on, but is not yet in use, and needs to be altered to take high temperatures so it can eat liquid plastic. Unfortunately it will still cost far more than making new plastic from oil, so it will need fiscal help to be viable. And if it were to escape to the wild and evolve that would not be good. Yes, too much plastic is a bigger problem, but plastic-bottled water is an utterly unneeded product that typifies the wider and bigger problem of all single-user plastic.

I heard the good news yesterday about the enzymes too... let's hope it'll be a brilliant new and more efficient way of dealing with plastic and drinks bottles in particular. By the way, a lot of people don't realise that empty water bottles have been used to make fleeces for a very long time. PET is highly recyclable and reusable. As you say Nabsim, if only more people would separate and put stuff in recycling bins instead of throwing them in the normal waste to end up on tips Packaging drives me nuts... I won't even start...
HD, I don't agree about bottled water or other drinks not being needed now, although I wish they'd never been invented! If bottled water had been nipped in the bud donkeys years ago, we'd still have lots of drinking fountains around and wouldn't need to resort to buying drinks when we're out and about. Nowadays, we have no choice... other than to carry our own refillable bottles... usually lightweight and plastic

I've got a bit of a concern about the whole plastic furore. I should say first, I'm a great believer in recycling and ethical use and disposal of everything we use... I use glass at home and a refillable drinking bottle when out and about, a refillable coffee mug whenever I can logistically carry it with me and have used fabric shopping bags for decades, certainly long before anyone thought up 'bag for life'. However, leaving aside the disposal aspect for just a second or two... plastic is an incredible material that has totally revolutionalised our lives in many ways. It's light, durable, mostly inert and non-toxic (unless left hanging around in the sun) now that BPA has been addressed, it's cheap, washable, sterilisable, easy to make colourful without harmful coatings, etc, etc. Think of the old days of glass, wood, rubber, leather, metal (lead!) and early attempts at plastic, such as bakelite... now associate those with modern baby equipment, children's toys, pet equipment and toys, medical equipment, simple things like washing up bowls and dozens of useful things that we carry in our vans. Think of the expense of trying to avoid plastic again and switching back to more natural materials. Wood for example... gorgeous but do we really want to cut down all those trees to avoid plastic? Glass... I'd happily go back to doorstep milk delivery and collections but for other things, it's far too dangerous, eg, to give to littl'uns (and the odd hooligan!).

Anyway, my main point is, pushing us into giving up plastic via the relentless guilt trip about using it need NOT be the battle cry in this day and age. I have no doubt we have the brainpower, the technology and the inventiveness to find better ways to recycle/dispose/reuse and even change the chemical composition of plastic, to allow us to continue using such an invaluable material. The thing is, do we have the will? Someone, somewhere needs to be able to make money out of it for the research and development to be put into it in the first place. The enzyme news is a great start and I hope it encourages more work in the field. The alternative is more punishment, taxation, guilt and blame on the consumer... as happened with plastic shopping bags and now even diesel - ie, "we won't stop you using these [incredibly harmful] things, we'll just make you pay through the nose for the privilege and boost our own profits into the bargain"!

OK, soap box is back behind the sofa... I'll go quietly...

 

[Tbear]

I may be a bit thick but I really don't see why don't just burn it. At low temps it gives off all sorts of toxic stuff but at high temperatures it is much cleaner. As an easily available source of energy it could be used to produce electricity and as what we are doing now is causing massive damage to the environment for generations to come, which is the lesser evil? Is it just because of the NIMBY attitude to incinerators?

Richard

 

[Ed on Toast]

I would prefer to use it for road surfacing an repair, it is very effective and longer lasting than Tarmac.

A plastic bottle tax to benefit good causes, like the carrier bag tax, which has amounted to some £730 million in 2017, plus carbon and littterpicking savings of some £75 million, in the same period. It also resulted in an 80% reduction in bag use.

Automated, reward driven collection machines might also have a place in all this. They work well overseas and a few pennies for cans or plastic bottles, soon adds up.

 

[Nesting Zombie]

With advances in technology the way it’s going, I don’t see why we can’t Crush, Compact, Harden & Re mold The Stuff into Sea Defences & Land Re Claiming Projects, Make ALL Lorry Containers Out of it, Then if STILL got a surplus Send it of into Space as Satellites & Space Stations, & THEN when end of That life comes, Instead of allowing it to Burn up on re entering Earth Atmosphere (Gone) Send it on a collision course with the Sun !.

 

[Deleted member 74361]

When fresh water filling in France and Spain on aires or service areas some if not most would have two outlets marked eau potable (drinking) and non potable (not for drinking) signs on the same machine to dispense water. Likewise here in the UK on the odd ocassion we have stayed on a site at a service point water is marked as potable and waste. These two are separate from the cassette rinse water.
Surely there are not two different supplies fed to one point for water to provide potable/non potable water.?

In answer to the question we have done both, using water fed from a local supply into the tank and bottled when we could not find a supply.
Filled tank and bottles from a supply when we have found one.

At Canterbury P+R 'Aire' there used to be one tap, which was used for filling and cassette rinsing. Now a second has been added. The new tap is marked for drinking. I know that both come from the same supply, but the idea is to encourage use of the original for rinsing and the new one, placed further from the WC disposal point, for filling for drinking.

I suspect the same thinking might apply for the French and Spanish situations.

Geoff

 

[vwalan]

I may be a bit thick but I really don't see why don't just burn it. At low temps it gives off all sorts of toxic stuff but at high temperatures it is much cleaner. As an easily available source of energy it could be used to produce electricity and as what we are doing now is causing massive damage to the environment for generations to come, which is the lesser evil? Is it just because of the NIMBY attitude to incinerators?

Richard

if the public put the plastic in the right bions etc it is used in gasification plants to produce electricity etc and hot water.
the real trouble is folk just throw it around anywhere.
having worked in the waste industry i say use as much plastic as we can . its only recycled waste from fuel . then burn it in the gasification plants .
these burn at very high temps . and not in true fires .
plant trees yes but they can only be used when the oil is finished .
at the moment the waste that goes to make plastic is being stock piled as they produce more as more fuel is used in vehicles etc .
blame the public really for chucking waste about the country and burning oil in there motor homes and cars .
the public are responsible .........irresponsible

 

[GeoffL]

[...]Surely there are not two different supplies fed to one point for water to provide potable/non potable water.?[...]

I know that in at least one finca in Mora la Nova, Catalonia, the water supply comes in raw (and is called 'agricultural water'). It's non-potable but some of this is diverted to a mini filtration and treatment unit to provide potable water. In another finca in the same area, they use ag-water for general purposes and have a 1-tonne IBC for potable water that they fill by driving their pickup to a municiple potable water point, filling several smaller containers, and then decanting the water into the IBC. Again, this results in co-located potable and non-potable supplies.

 

[Tbear]

if the public put the plastic in the right bions etc it is used in gasification plants to produce electricity etc and hot water.
the real trouble is folk just throw it around anywhere.
having worked in the waste industry i say use as much plastic as we can . its only recycled waste from fuel . then burn it in the gasification plants .
these burn at very high temps . and not in true fires .
plant trees yes but they can only be used when the oil is finished .
at the moment the waste that goes to make plastic is being stock piled as they produce more as more fuel is used in vehicles etc .
blame the public really for chucking waste about the country and burning oil in there motor homes and cars .
the public are responsible .........irresponsible

That's my point Alan. The plastic is rarely sorted properly and is often contaminated. Huge ships of waste being moved vast distances to end up in someone else landfill. Some plastics can be recycled with ease but not locally. Vast amounts being fly tipped or dumped in the sea. If you burn it locally to produce energy in small power stations coupled with a recycling centre that can cherry pick the valuable bits out, you have cheap energy and a profit. They could take things like hospital waste which is produced in unbelievable amounts. It is a mix of all sorts of combustible material and costs the hospital a fortune to get rid of. Suddenly it would become a saleable resource. Huge drop in the amount of landfill and perhaps you could even revisit the stuff that is already in landfill which is rotting and producing vast amounts of methane. I am sure it is not done because of the NIMBY's.

Richard

 

[vwalan]

That's my point Alan. The plastic is rarely sorted properly and is often contaminated. Huge ships of waste being moved vast distances to end up in someone else landfill. Some plastics can be recycled with ease but not locally. Vast amounts being fly tipped or dumped in the sea. If you burn it locally to produce energy in small power stations coupled with a recycling centre that can cherry pick the valuable bits out, you have cheap energy and a profit. They could take things like hospital waste which is produced in unbelievable amounts. It is a mix of all sorts of combustible material and costs the hospital a fortune to get rid of. Suddenly it would become a saleable resource. Huge drop in the amount of landfill and perhaps you could even revisit the stuff that is already in landfill which is rotting and producing vast amounts of methane. I am sure it is not done because of the NIMBY's.

Richard

gas is taken from most big landfills . and gas from sewage works powers motors that drive generators and supply the mains electric system.
this sort of thing is what i liked about working in the waste industry. had several trips away in uk and abroad because i was interested in the workings . all paid for by the company i worked for.
i also pop into works in africa and spain etrc when abroad for awhile . amazing what good work is being done in many places . the western world as we know it is backwards in time compared to many countries .
the desalination plants in africa are fantastic . in many places they are turning the sahara back into plantation land .