Water Filtration?

Adding chlorine or iodine tablets directly to the fresh water tank and not using the city water hookup would seem like a logical solution (just a SWAG), however I don't know of any specific examples or products for rv applications. The best advice is don’t drink the water, or boil it first.

Carbon filters can absorb contaminants but flow rate and other factors will come into play as to how effective they are. They do not stop particulates.

The micron size of the filter media, not the carbon, is what determines what passes through.  100 micron is very coarse and will stop only big particulates.  10 micron is common with good wells to filter sand and particulates.  5 micron will get even finer stuff.

To stop bacteria or Giardia cysts you need AT LEAST a 1.0 micron filter and 0.5 is better.  Those are expensive and pass water slowly.  The water in our area is generally considered contaminated with Giardia and cyanobacteria we use a .5 micron filter on the well.  Giardia range in size from 3 micron to 6 micron and cyanobacteria .5 to 1 micron.

As far as I can tell the Camco EVO filters sold at Walmart & Camping World are a combo 5.0 micron filter with active carbon layer.  They will stop a lot of stuff, they will not stop Giardia or most bacteria, despite what the description says.  I guess if it stops SOME bacteria then can make that claim.

We sanitize our system, flush with fresh water, and use it out of our taps. I like to run straight drinking water through a Brita but I do that at the house too. The only water that goes into our rig is from sources that are deemed " good enough" or potable. We use the blue sediment filter to keep grit our of our plumbing. As long as we don't have crud in our lines, we're good.

Most people don't know where their water comes from (even the bottled stuff).The tap water here is sucked out of the Potomac river, filtered and treated with chemicals until it is deemed "good enough" and run through old, sometimes damaged pipes to the house. In the summer you can smell the chlorine in it when you shower. If we put some in a jar and let it settle, we can see sediment and unidentified stuff in it. I haven't looked under a microscope but I'm sure there would be swimmers in there. The wastewater here is treated and dumped back into the Potomac to cycle through again. Unless you live at the source of the river, your drinking water includes the waste water from plants upstream. Some bottled water comes from similar places.

I've also backpacked and pulled gritty brown water out of an almost-dry spring that animals had probably slurped from and added in the rainwater running off a filthy, rusty metal AT shelter roof onto my dirty tarp, and strained it through my not-so-clean bandanna. I then sucked it through a backpack filter and boiled it for three minutes. Voila, potable water. It was probably cleaner than our tap water. I didn't get sick and I'm not dead. You'd be amazed at what stomach acid can kill off.

We taste and smell the water at campsites before filling our tanks. We got bad water once at a campground from their freshwater tap. I got sick and we emptied and sanitized the system - lesson learned. We carry a small backpack filter for camping where the rig can't go and it doubles as an emergency filter for drinking water if we can't find clean stuff. We've never needed it but it might give you peace of mind.

My advice, sanitize your system before a trip and use it. You control your water supply.

I never filter the water. Drinking water we carry bottled.

I never filter the water. Drinking water we carry bottled.

Ditto. We cook and drink with 'processed' water in a 5 gal jug.

I do not consider the freshwater on board potable. It is for bathing and toilet. Dishwashing also. 

Yes, the makeup air in the jug could enable bacterial growth after a while, but proper sanitation of the container between fills has proven effective.  Both Mrs V and I have digestive tracts that would have informed us promptly if there had been problems. 

I' m looking at the rvwaterfilterstore site - see an attractive dual canister arrangement mentioned above. One disclaimer: keep out of direct sunlight... pondering how to do this easily.

Good inline water filters are inexpensive and generally last a long time.  Although we always use bottled water for drinking and cooking, I believe that a water filter is a good investment.   

Crop Duster, good point with an exception. Those water filters really cut your water pressure, almost to the point of being a no go for anyone that still has a head of hair in the shower. I’d use a filter I guess for filling my on board tank but not for city side hook up.  I still under no circumstances use our on board tank for drinking no matter if I filled at home or any where else with a filter or not, even though I sanitize my tank.

I’ve had circumstances where I had to drink water I otherwise would have not considered and survived just fine.  That being said, that was under different circumstances and unless I was under similar circumstances I damn sure ain’t doing it again!