Boondocking 101 - How to Make Your Water Last Longer
With only so many gallons of potable water in your fresh water tank - reducing water consumption by even a gallon or two a day, means having to travel less into town to find fresh potable water. We learned how valuable water was within the first few weeks, as having to find water is sometimes more challenging than we expected, and also meant a lot of work. Packing our entire RV, hooking up to our truck, and then towing the trailer around to find the magic elixir. We now see water in an entirely different way.
How Long Does Water Last While Boondocking?
How many days you can go without refilling your fresh water tank, really depends on how big your tank is, how many people are using the water, and how conservative you are with your fresh water. Our fresh water tank is 37 gallons and we can make this last approximately 7-10 days, depending on how conservative we are being.
How Can I Make My Fresh Water Last Longer?
Don’t have your water pump turned on at all times. This prevents us from mindlessly using the water without thinking about it. We turn it on only when we it.
Use a 5 gallon jug for drinking water. We purchase a 5 gallon water jug (seen above) for all of our drinking. We typically have a few other gallons around for backup water as well. I suggest having at least 5 gallons.
Only use water for flushing when needed. We quickly discovered the toilet can go through quite a bit of water in just one day. This does help keep the black water from smelling badly (diluting and helping break down things in the tank), but we decided it wasn’t necessary for all toilet flushes.
Catch shower water in a bowl while you are waiting for it to get warm. We use all of this water later for washing dishes.
Wash dishes in a bowl of water, instead of running the continually running the water or filling up the sink.
Hand sanitizer. We use this instead of constantly running water to wash our hands. Of course there are cons to using hand sanitizer as well, and sometimes you have to use water to wash your hands, but we use it when we can.
Low flow shower head. Changing out your shower head can save gallons of water over time.
Showering smarter. Before we shower we get everything ready beforehand, and as soon as the water is warm enough, we are jumping in. It is more difficult for people with long hair or for those who shave on a regular basis to be super fast in the shower. I no longer wash my hair every time I shower (dry shampoo is great), and I don’t run the water while shaving. Rather I get my legs wet, lather, turn the water off and shave, and then rinse off. This saves so much water! I also do not feel the need to really shave as much these days, now that I am not going into an office five days a week.
Drought tolerate plants. We have a LOT of plants in our RV and of course they need watered. But, we tried to bring mostly succulents and plants that require less water. They are also also pretty tiny plants and require very little moisture.