How to Transport Filtered Drinking Water

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.

Now you are planning a vacation or a camping trip and you want to take along the same pure water that you enjoy at home. If you have elected to drink bottled water, then it’s simple. Just take along a case or two.  Over eight billion gallons of filtered water are sold annually. In spite of the fact that water is so abundant, in bottles it could be more expensive than gasoline. But for a vacation, bottled water is probably pure enough, though maybe not as pristine as claimed by the label. Too, if you discard the dozen or more bottles you use on your vacation, you only add to the environmental problem of non-biodegradable plastics in land fills or on road sides.

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.

What if you either have a built in filter, or don’t have room to take your gravity fed water filter with you? In that case, a little planning ahead would still provide the same water you drink at home. You filter extra water and store it to take with you.

The problem is, in what do you store and transport it? You know the water is clean when it leaves the filter. You certainly don’t want it deemed unsafe because of the container. This is a very real concern. The PET bottles (made of polyethylene terephthalate) used by most bottled water companies, are, as far as we know now, safe as long as they are kept in cool places. Water stored in them at higher temperatures for a period of time might become contaminated with chemicals from the bottle. Reusing them is not sanitary 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 choice solves several problems. We will have the clean water we want without the problem of discarded bottles. Further we have the peace of mind that the bottle will not contaminate the water. The bottles can be washed and reused without danger to you or your family.