In our travels, we’ve lived in areas with less than desirable drinking water. We’ve reduced some of the hard water contaminates by using a slew of water filters, inside and outside our motorcoach. As we migrate, we constantly monitor the water quality in each park we stay in.
Assessing its quality
Prior to leaving for Mexico, we purchased two different water quality testers to check the saturation level of solids in ground water. Why two? For redundancy, so each would corroborate the other.
Water regulations
Federal water regulations state that safe (or marginal) drinking water is between zero ppm (parts per million) and 500 ppm of solids suspended in water. Our first test was in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico, where the water was 170 ppm. Better than we expected, as years ago the saying was, “When in Mexico, don’t drink the water!” While in Puerto Penasco, we purchased a case of bottled water and 2.5-gallon jugs of water at their Sam’s Club for daily coffee and consumption. That water averaged 15 ppm. Quite sufficient.
Coming back to the states
When our time was up in Mexico, we departed for Apache Junction, Arizona. The first morning, we tested the ground water out of the faucet. The water out of the tap was reading 874 ppm on one tester and 871 on the other! Startling! And we thought Mexico was bad? To quell our drinking water dilemma, we refilled our jugs at a Reverse Osmosis (R/O) water dispensing location. This water averaged 15 ppm on both testers. As a comparison, we ran the faucet water for one minute and again tested the ground water from the park using one filter at 100 microns and one filter at 10 microns. It still registered 675 ppm. Hmmm! What’s in this water? Is the city doing anything to this water?
Discussed this issue
My hubby discussed R/O systems with local plumbers. The outcome advice was to purchase a tankless unit with the new leakless fittings. So, hubby began researching and found a compact, tankless R/O system online. Before purchasing the system, Waterdrop, he discussed this R/O system directly with the manufacturer. Normally, he would hire a plumber to install, as he has always said he will not hang wallpaper or do plumbing jobs in tight spaces where it hurts his back, making him grouchy!
Waterdrop arrived
After reading the instructions, hubby laid on a pillow hooking up the lines to the water pipes. All I did was hand him tools when needed, and, in just over one hour, the tankless R/O system was installed. The R/O system took far less space than we appropriated, fittings were easy to use and no specialty tools were needed to attach to the unit. The tools used were two crescent wrenches, 1/4” drill bit and electric drill, and a Phillips #2 screwdriver. Everything needed was in the box, including plumbers’ Teflon tape.
He plugged the Waterdrop electric cord into the dishwasher outlet and voila, we should have good water. Nose level smell… none! No leaking! Hubby opened the new faucet, letting it run for at least one minute before filling a clean cup with water for testing. The first test read 104 ppm. Not satisfied, hubby asked me to open the faucet and let it run for two more minutes. Our second test read “0” ppm! Problem solved.
Now the lugging of large jugs of water in and out or having empty plastic water bottles around are a distant memory. And our morning coffee is delightful!
You can find Waterdrops products on Amazon, or on their website.
Kate Doherty has been writing for more than 30 years in technical and general media. In her previous business, she and her spouse dealt with special projects within the military/government sector. Recently she published Masquerade: A Logan Scott Novel under the pen name Bryan Alexander, a thriller now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon. It’s a page-turner!
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For those of you who are concerned about the amount of water waste, there is an RO system that has a 2:1 ratio, which saves about 75% on water waste. Bluevue RO system is the one I use. Setup is the same as the one mentioned in this feed. As always, do your research to see if this is a good fit for your needs. It produces 500 gpd. I hope this helps.
We think we are pretty well filtered with an under-sink filter and we use that faucet to fill a Pur pitcher.
This article on water filters makes no mention of coliform bacteria and the need to test for it not only in your drinking water but also the community pool. Coliform bacteria is tasteless, colorless, etc. It appears in water that is contaminated with animal and human feces and can cause serious illness. It is a much more serious consideration than how much iron, calcium, etc. is in your drinking glass.
Hi John,
Absolutely. I certainly hope the city has both tested for and treated any microorganism bacteria. Many R/O systems will screen for some as well. If coliform is in a city’s water, we’re all in trouble.
Thanks
I’m disappointed the author didn’t discuss energy usage and wasted water filling your grey tank. You can’t consider an RO unit in an RV without understanding these two items.
Two good comments! We typically consume an average of two gallons per day so the excess to the grey tank would be the same. We leave our valve open and routinely close the valve on day five accumulating rinse water for our day seven purging of our black tank. The tank will have plenty of water for rinsing with showers, dishwasher and laundry. The energy consumption is no more than when the water pump is running for water when we boondock. We’ve had R/O systems for our whole house previously and this compact unit has upped its game for ease, simplicity and for what we need it for.
I have been researching R/O systems as I recently moved into an area requiring softened water. This article mentions nothing of the downside of these systems. (the amount of water consumed/discarded during the filtering process). Not sure how that would square with an RV holding tank situation or location in a drought stressed area.
How well does the system handle losing 120volts, self recover when power comes back etc. AkA life in an RV?
The system is an on-demand system so it does not run continuously. It also purges the lines every time it is used (self-cleans itself).
Don’t depend on TDS meters alone. I use a Royal Berkey water filter at home (just the best there is, check the specs here: https://berkeywaterkb.com/black-berkey-element-specifications/ ) I filter my soft well water through it. The TDS meter still says over 800ppm in the filtered water. The Berkey removes 99.99% of pestcides, heavy metals, pathogens etc. It LEAVES good minerals that your body needs. I have used it for over 10 years. I do have a “Zero Water” filter/pitcher and, true to their name, you get 0ppm TDS. The water tastes funny.
I’m a Berkey fan. 8 years in my cabin and now have one in the RV.
Great info!
reminder, coffee brewing requires a minimum of 100 ppm tds to 180, for best taste and flavor. The amount of wasted water in RO systems is disheartening at best.
Agreed. I hate wasting water, but the water here in AZ is so bad. We’ve lived in areas where we could only drink bottled water when building factories and temporarily living in the area. This system wasn’t available even a couple of years ago. This system ratio is 1:1, better than some. Water is such a valuable commodity, no system should waste water.
I enjoyed your article! Which Waterdrop system did you select?
Waterdrop D4.