Your Letters
Using a plastic mattress to store water while boondocking

Chuck,

I wanted to reflect on the subject mentioned in the boondocking column in RV Travel #149 regarding the use of a plastic mattress for storing water. On the one hand, it is one way to capture water but not a very good one. The plastic contains ingredients that off gas into the water, contaminating it. The hotter the plastic gets, the greater the off gassing. Still, a carbon filter somewhere between the water source and the person drinking the water is the best solution. Carbon filters do the very best job of filtering water as a low cost solution to doing the most with the least.

Paper filters are not a good option and people should avoid them unless they have no other option. The fact of the matter is that anything other than a reverse osmosis system built by a reliable company like Oasis (the water cooler company) is less than the best. The RO systems displace one gallon of water for every one that goes into a drinking water storage tank. This process takes much longer to purify the water and that is the reason for the storage tank. Storage tanks should be metal with a glass liner, just like the thermos bottles. Cheaper RO systems are just that. A complete RO system with a UV attachment costs around $600. but provides the purest of water for a lifetime. I use the UV attachment to insure there is no bacteria or viruses present in the water.

A UV attachment is a good choice so long as the UV housing is stainless steel or other non-corroding metal. Plastic will not hold up yet 95% of the UV units currently out there are plastic. I have been in this business for 14 years. -- John Mauldin


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