Flashlights

Most Americans are aware that water supplies are not nearly as dependable as we used to think. In fact, over 2100 contaminants have been identified in drinking water thus far. Of course, not all are in the water you drink, but how many did you want in it and still know it is safe?

Let’s assume you’ve acted on the warnings you have heard and have stopped drinking faucet or even well water as is. You have decided only filtered water is worthy of yourself and your family. If so, you have elected to either buy a filter and purify it yourself, or to continually purchase bottled water in some form.

The problem is, when you go on vacation or on a camping trip, you don’t want to trust the water supplies available to have the same healthy water you enjoy at home. If you are purchasing bottled water, then you’ll take along a case or two.  This option will probably provide you with safe water, but it is the most expensive. Over eight billion gallons of filtered water are sold annually at prices at times exceeding gasoline. Bottled water may not be as pure is the label indicates but it would be fine for camping.  However, keep in mind that if you discard the plastic bottles you use on your vacation, you only add to the environmental problem of plastics that could sit in land fills for centuries.

For those who have purchased a gravity feed filter the solution is also obvious. You can pack your water filter in the car and filter all drinking and cooking water, no matter what the source. This would provide an endless supply and would guarantee that the stream or faucet water is safe for the family to drink.

If your device to filter water is not portable or you simply don’t have room to take it, What is the next option? Plan ahead and filter extra water now to take with you on vacation. Store it away so that you have ample clean pure water from home.

But where should you store it? If you keep it in plastic containers, you could face a problem, especially if the water gets warm during storage. Plastic can leech into the water, contaminating it. This is true of the PET bottles (made of polyethylene terephthalate) used by most bottled water companies.  Reusing them is not safe either.

What about the hard plastic bottles for sports drinks or water coolers? The National Institutes of Health recently showed that bisphenol, used to make these bottles, may cause neurological problems in developing babies. They have yet to discover the long range effects on adults. That may be a bit risky to store and transport water in those containers too.

This seems like a dead end road. You don’t want to lose water quality just because you are on vacation but you can’t take your filter. If you store it in unsafe containers, the result could be worse than just drinking that is available. But there is an answer. Store your filtered water in glass containers, including bottles, jars, and thermoses with glass lining.

This solution solves several problems. We not only have the clean water we want, but we also don’t contribute to the environmental problems of discarded bottles. In addition, we have the peace of mind, knowing that the water is pure and safe, and the containers can be washed and reused without contaminating the water we drink.

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