Benjamin Franklin once said, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” The same could be said about running out of water when we’re on our caravanning adventures. We need water to survive.
Australia is the world’s driest inhabited continent, yet according to some sustainability studies, Australians use more water per person than most other countries around the world. It’s little wonder that the single biggest issue most caravanners have when free-camping is having enough water to last their stay. I know how hard it is. When we started free-camping with our first caravan, I was shocked at how quickly we used all the water we could carry.
Over the years, we figured out ways to save water and easily replenish it so that we could continue camping at that remote off-grid location for extended periods of time.
We want to share with you our tips for finding, storing and using water when free-camping.
HOW MUCH WATER DO YOU NEED?
When we are at home, most Australians use about 150L of water per person per day. I bet you didn’t think it was that much and, obviously, that rate of usage is unsustainable when you’re free-camping.
In a survival situation, the average person needs to consume about 3-5L of water every day to stay healthy. That could increase if the weather is very hot, if you’re older, or if you have a medical condition.
For just free-camping, you need to factor in water for cooking, cleaning and personal hygiene. We recommend a minimum of 10L of water per person per day as a good starting point. Increase that to 15-20L per person per day if you intend to shower and wash clothes.
If you have pets with you, you will need to think about their water needs as well.
CARAVAN WATER TANKS
I feel confident saying all new caravans sold these days will come with between one and three water tanks. Each tank will hold between 60 and 90L of water. These tanks are purpose-made from food-grade plastic, meaning they should not impart any adverse taste or leach any chemicals into the water.
Water can be the heaviest total load you carry in your caravan. One litre of water weighs exactly 1kg. If you have three 90L water tanks and you fill them up before your trip, you’ll be carrying 270kg of water. This will affect the towing characteristics of your rig considerably. It will be slower to get up to speed, require a longer stopping distance, and the caravan will exert additional forces upon the tow vehicle. You will also use a lot more fuel carrying all that extra weight. Therefore, it’s worth asking yourself if you really need to carry all that water.
I know some people will say that their caravan isn’t stable when towing unless the water tanks are full. If this is something you’re experiencing, you need to take your caravan to a specialist to see if there are any weight distribution issues with your rig. A caravan should be stable under tow with or without water in the tanks.
FILLING YOUR TANKS
The number one rule when filling your water tanks is to use food-grade hoses. Do not use your average garden hose as it will impart a plastic taste to the water. You may not notice it straight away but, trust me, after sitting in the tanks for a few days, the smell and taste will make its presence known.
As for the need to filter the water going into your tanks, if you’re filling up from your home water supply in a metropolitan or regional area, the chances are that the water will not require filtering. If you live in remote Australia or you’re in an area affected by drought, it can be a good idea to pass the water through a simple filter.
I’m a bit fussy when it comes to the water in my caravan tanks. As a result, I pass all water through an in-line filter and I can say with confidence that I’ve always had perfectly clean water, even after it’s been left in the tanks for several weeks.
RIVER AND LAKE WATER
When we first left for our life on the road, I had ideas of being prepared to get water from any source, including lakes and rivers. There are two main problems with this.
First, you are likely to have to pump the water a great distance and height from the source to your caravan, and for that, you need a very powerful pump. The other issue is that the water is likely to require some very effective filtration, even if you don’t intend to drink it. The pump also needs to cope with sucking in leaves, dirt and other debris.
The best solution I found was to use a submersible sump pump. These can cope with dirty water without becoming clogged, and they have the power to pump a lot of water a long distance and uphill. The problem is that they require 240V of mains power, so you will have to carry enough electrical cords to cover the distance from your van to the pump. Then you need sufficient lengths of hose to cover the same distance.
The filters will need to be decent-sized with separate sediment and chemical filtration. You will also need spare filters as they will fill up in a short time. In the end, I never used ours and sold it after about three years.
PUBLIC WATER SOURCES
By far the easiest and most convenient place to get water is at public water filling points. But what constitutes a public filling point varies across the country. Many towns in outback Australia will have a water station specifically for caravanners and others to fill up. They usually charge a small fee, but you can be guaranteed the water is clean and perfectly drinkable.
Other public water sources may be nothing more than a tap located in a park, a public picnic spot or near a public dump point, but be careful that the tap is actually marked as potable water.
The majority we have found are just taps that councils allow travellers to use to replenish their supplies. But don’t assume that because a tap is accessible that you can use it. WikiCamps is often a good source of identifying a suitable source. Be careful, as information on WikiCamps is crowd-sourced so it can be wrong.
The best place to find public water points is to ask at the local tourist information centre. They usually have an outdoor tap that you can use with permission. Petrol stations can be another source but again, never assume you can take their water. Always ask first.
TRANSPORTING WATER TO CAMP
If you do a lot of free-camping and you want to stay in one location for an extended period of time, you are going to need a way to collect water and bring it back to your campsite. The best system we found was to purchase a collapsible water bladder and a small inline water pump.
The bladders come in all shapes and sizes. Some are even designed to fit into the footwell of the rear seats in your car. They can hold anywhere between 50 and 150L of water. Having one means you can leave your caravan set-up at the campsite, go fill the water bladder, and bring it back to refill your water tanks using the small water pump. When you’re finished, the bladder can be rolled or folded up and stored away in a convenient location.
When shopping for a water bladder, ensure it is food-grade so it won’t foul the taste of the water.
CATCHING RAINWATER
Have you ever noticed when it rains just how much water runs off your caravan awning? Let me tell you, it’s a lot, and you can harvest a decent amount of water from even a brief shower. The trick is to catch the water falling from the awning and channel it into your water tanks.
You can buy purpose-built kits for harvesting rainwater from your awning, but it’s easy to rig up a simple system using some spare bits and bobs you might have lying around. I’ve seen old buckets modified with a drain hose used quite effectively. We used an old canvas camp shower that we removed the shower rose from and fitted a standard hose connection to, and this worked perfectly. It had the added advantage of being collapsible and easy to store.
SHOWERING AND SAVING WATER
The idea of having a shower when free-camping is the pinnacle of luxury, and many caravans have a shower in them. The issue: they are usually fitted with a domestic shower rose and, while they are efficient enough for home use, in the caravan, they are very wasteful.
Most caravanners save water by wetting themselves first, turning off the water to lather up with soap and then turning the water back on to rinse off. This is quite effective, but I reckon there’s a much better way.
We replaced our showerhead with one that has a mist function. These give the ‘illusion’ of having a full flow shower, but, in reality, they use a very small amount of water. Even with the tap at full flow, they may only use about 4L per minute. If you have a four-minute shower at full flow, you’ll only use 16L of water. If you use the wet/lather/rinse method with the mist function, you could easily use half that amount of water, greatly extending your time between refills without compromising personal hygiene.
HAVING A SYSTEM
All of these tips are great in their own right, but the best way to store and use water effectively and efficiently in your caravan is to combine them into a system that works for you. Have a look at what other caravanners do. If something doesn’t work, try something different until you find solutions that meet your water needs with the minimum of fuss.
If you have a water-saving tip, share it with other readers! Send your advice to info@gorv.com.au and we will share it in a future issue.
