There is a large debate over whether it is safe to drink the water coming from water stored in RV fresh water storage tanks or even directly from various campground sources. We’ve decided to err on the safe side and purchase drinking water. This also allows us to also reserve water from the storage tank when we’re boondocking in order to safe it for bathroom and kitchen use.

We started off buying water in bottles and then switched to gallons when we became concerned with the plastic waste. Even in gallons we were still producing more waste that we were comfortable with. We ended up switching to a refillable 5-gallon bottle solution. This allows us reuse the water bottle over and over and have been able to find water dispensers for refill almost everywhere. The most reliable source has been Walmart, which charges only 39 cents per gallon.

The best part about the 5-gallon bottles is that you can find rechargeable USB water pumps. Our has worked great than only needs to be recharged every other month or so. We keep the water bottle by the sink on top of a storage tub and use a bungee cord to secure to the van’s wall so it doesn’t tip over during travel.