Getting sick on the #RVLife road is the last thing we want to worry about! This year, we had the pleasure of working with Know Your H2O, Pine Tree Companies, and several other filter and sanitization options on the market to try some alternatives during our month on the road in our tiny RV doing some leaf-peeping in the Catskills of New York and Vermont. I made a plan for use and testing both with Do-It-Yourself kits we could use on the road and laboratory send-away analysis. I found a rhythm to managing our water quality needs that gave us peace-of-mind.

Let me start by rewinding to last year's Water Bottle Use experiments. At the end of that trip, we had the unfortunate experience of reading a boil-water advisory at the last campground we visited because the water supply failed a required bacteria test. This was after we had already filled our tanks and used some of the water for showering. All of that water inside the RV had to be treated as if it was potentially going to make us sick, and we learned a lot in this process.

This year, we had with us again the Aquasana Countertop Filter we used last year and have used now for about a year in our home. We also brought along for the ride:

- The Pine Tree Companies Countertop filter - with a wonderful small size footprint for a countertop system and technology derived via a NASA ceramic engineered filter with electro-static absorption to pull contaminants out of the water.
- The Katadyn Steri-Pen - A pocket-sized UV sterilization pen that can sterilize 1/2 or 1 liter of water at a time.
- Potable Aqua Tablets - a just-in-case option in the event we stayed somewhere with questionable water or landed in a boil-water-advisory area. Not a bad option to keep on hand for emergencies as well.
- The ÔKO bottle - which has a built in filter that the water passes through before sipping it.
- A Sawyer Mini-Filtration system that has been in our - "go-bag" for years unused.

We also brought several DIY test options with us to test the water in the field, a field water quality meter, and bacteria tests. Each of the filter options were tested with a baseline laboratory sample as well as follow-up samples sent to the lab at the conclusion of the trip.

Our Findings - DIY Testing

During the trip whenever there was or was not a rain event for 3-days we tested the water using simple at-home methods anyone could use:

1. DIY Test Strips from BestProd
2. DIY Test Strips from SafeHome
3. Varify DIY Test Strips - these were from last season though and had sit in the RV through a hot summer. After the first use we abandoned using them because some of the color changes were no longer accurate and we suspected those that appeared to work to not be accurate as well.
4. Luvcosy Single - Use Bacteria tests and Brian Oram did some follow up testing on other sample using Viotiin.

We also employed the use of the following field test equipment:

1. The Apera Instruments pH, Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Salinity, and Resistance meter.

For DIY testing needs, the test strip options work similarly with some pros/cons to each:

SafeHome DIY Test Strips:

The SafeHome Ultimate Drinking Water DIY test strips provided a way to easily test 12 water quality parameters including: Total Hardness, Free Chlorine, Iron, Copper, Nitrate, Nitrite, Calcium, Total Chlorine, Fluoride, Total Alkalinity, Carbonate/Bicarbonate, and pH.

In addition to the twenty-five 12 in 1 test strips that come with this kit, there are one single-use lead test and one single-use bacteria test.

Pros: 

Quick results - read in 30 seconds after a 2 second dip in the water sample.

Color changes were easy to read

Cons:

The main test strips packet does not highlight the normal ranges for each of the tests leaving the user guessing if a parameter is in a healthful range or not or referring to the Know Your H2O informational website to find out.

The Lead and Copper tests in this kit weren't easy to read. With one Lead test - it didn't lend itself to multiple samples and was hard to discern lighter from darker line:

and the Copper tests color development always developed in a lemon-yellow to lime-green color, but the range on the chart was in the peach to pink color range:

Best Prod DIY Test Strips:

The BestProd Drinking Water Test Kit came with more test strips; however, some of the parameters were on separate fewer test strips like Nitrate/Nitrite and Sulfate, and it also came with 2 small baggy tests for bacteria which I opted not to use since I had jar bacteria tests along with me.

The BestProd 17 in 1 strips were actually 16 in 1 test strips testing for: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Iron, Mercury, Total Chloride, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Manganese, QAC/QUAT, Fluoride, Sodium Chloride, Hydrogen Sulfite, Total Alkalinity, Carbonate, pH.

Pros:

This test kit came with strips that test for several more parameters on one strip than the SafeHome Strips did.

The time to read the results was even faster than SafeHome - read the results within 15 seconds of testing after a 2 second dip into the water sample.

The test strip bottle does highlight the acceptable ranges for drinking water for each parameter.

Cons:

These have to be read horizontally. The color changes will bleed into one another if a test strip is held vertically and may affect the overall read results:

A breeze or wind will also change the results on these test strips.

Varify DIY Test Strips:

The Varify test strips we used last year were old. The colors easily bled into one another even held horizontally and some of the color changes were not in the bottle range for some parameters, so we abandoned use of these early in favor of the other two brands that had not sat through a hot summer in the RV. Varify strips test for 16 parameters:  pH, Hardness, Hydrogen Sulfide, Iron, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Total Chlorine, Mercury, Nitrate, Nitrite, Sulfate, Zinc, Fluoride, Sodium Chloride, and Total Alkalinity.

Luvcosy Single Use Bacteria Tests:

We also used the Luvcosy single use Bacteria Tests that come in a multi-test box. Each of these is a single vial test that is filled to the shoulder with water - shaken for 20 seconds and left in a room-temperature area without direct sunlight for 48 hours before reading the results.

If the liquid in the vial turns green after 48 hours it is highly likely that harmful bacteria are present in the water sampled.

After multiple attempts in the field to contaminate a sample to achieve a bacteria present test result - I did not succeed with these tests! Gratefully none of the drinking water tests performed showed a presence of bacteria; however, samples from pond, stream, pooled water under a tree after a rain storm, and pond water I purposely contaminated with dirt - I still did not achieve a bacteria-present result.

I don't think this was because the tests were defective in any way. I'd like to try again with some rich soil dug from my garden in a nice dirty water sample and try again. I may even pass some of this water through one of the filters tested once I can achieve a bacteria present result.   (Oram's comment:  We have found we had better luck screening samples with the Viotiin Product)

Apera Instruments Field Test Unit:

If I were going to recommend a piece of field equipment that anyone can easily use it would be this one. Apera Instruments ZenTest PC60-Z was easy to calibrate, easy to use, had a long battery life, stayed calibrated for many test sessions, and was very easy to read and understand the results. With the push of a button this single unit tests for: pH, Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Alkalinity, Salinity, and Resistance.

The only cons to this unit in the field was that the calibration solution containers are not in sealed containers and they do tend to leak once in the test vials. It requires very little maintenance and storage is easy with a few drops of distilled water in the cap before replacing it over the sensors.

Keep in mind if purchasing this unit that some basic understanding of the results obtained are crucial:

pH of drinking water should be somewhere in the neutral range - close to 7 is key.

Conductivity can tell us a lot about a water source. Lakes and streams are typically in the 0-200 µS/cm range while rivers can have up to 1,000 µS/cm. If water is in the 1,000-10,000 µS/cm range it is usually saline and may even taste salty when drinking it. Distilled water should be in the 0.5-3 µS/cm range. Tap water in the 50-800 µS/cm range; however, the US standard for potable water is 30-1,500 µS/cm. Conductivity measures the waters ability to carry an electrical current. Water burdened with a lot of pollutants and contaminants indicates a lot more ions in the water are present and will have a higher conductivity. Water also in a limestone region will have a high range. Generally, greater than 2,500 µS/cm is not recommended for any animal to drink, and the 0-800 µS/cm is is where we like to see drinking water supplies; however, this is not the only measure of drinking water viability to consider. (Know Your H20 - Conductivity Guide)

Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water come from natural and and human made sources. The EPA standard for drinking water is under 500 mg/L.  As Reference: Freshwater is from 0 - 1000mg/L, slightly saline water is from 1,000 - 3,000 mg/L, moderately saline water is from 3,000-10,000 mg/L, very saline water is from 10,000  -35,000 mg/L, briny water is greater than 35,000 mg/L. (Oram, B, 2024)

Salinity it not really a common measurement factor for freshwater.  It is more commonly measured for water that have a high "salt" content.  Salinity is not a measure of just the sodium chloride content of the water.  

Resistance measurement and drinking water - I hadn't tested for this previously even after working in a water quality laboratory, so I had to do some research. The Resistivity of water measures the water's ability to resist an electrical charge and it is basically reciprocal conductivity. It is directly related to the number of dissolved salts in the water - in particular metal salts.  When working with in the laboratory, the laboratory needed to make laboratory pure water and the purification system used a built-in resistivity meter to make 18 megaohm (MΩ), which is equivalent to 0.055 micro-siemens/cm at 25 C. . 

Rain water will typically have a Resistivity of 20,000 ohms. Unfiltered tap water in the 1,000-5,000 range. Brackish water in rivers around 200 ohms, and open sea water 20-30 ohms. Interestingly in the testing I performed - the distilled water I purchased in a 1-gallon jug was quite a bit higher (14-155) than sources we used for drinking water in this measurement (2-3) and rainwater measured 53 in Vermont; however, I couldn't find any drinking water standards for this measurement.  There are no drinking water standards based on conductivity or resistivity, the drinking water standards use total dissolved solids, chloride, sulfate (Secondary Drinking Water Standards (Aesthetics/ Use Issues), and standards for specific ions as part of the Primary Drinking Water Standards (Health Concerns).  

Our Findings - Filters 

Prior to connecting our RV to any drinking water source, I used tools on the Know Your H2O site to check on the quality of the water system at each campground we would be staying at as well as to get a better understanding of how the quality might fluctuate with rain or no-rain events based on the source of that water. The Safe Drinking Water System widget allowed me to enter the location of each campground and then from a list find the information I needed. In one case, the campground water system was not listed, but this was not a cause for alarm. I reached out to the EPA contact for the water system region linked when searching and within about a week I heard back from them about them with more information about that particular campground's water quality. All of the campgrounds we would be staying with had no bacteria findings in the last 10 years which gave me comfort and both were up-to-date with regulated testing requirements.

Before discussing the filters tested and pros or cons, we should level-set the discussion with a simple guide explaining some of the many certification standards you might find on drinking water filters. 

Short Description of the Water Filter and Treatment Systems Certification Process.

In general, there are no federal regulations related to the use of residential water treatment systems, point of use filters, purifiers, whole house water treatment systems,  reverse osmosis, distillation systems, and plumbing related products, but the National Sanitation Foundation/ NSF International  (NSF), The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), CSA Group (CSA), Water Quality Association (WQA) and other organizations have developed certification procedures and processes to ensure the performance and safety of the commercial products.  The certification relates to the durability of the equipment and the ability of the equipment to treat or polish drinking water to a set-standard.      

Many commercial water filtration systems meet one of more of the following performance standards:

• NSF/ANSI 42 (aesthetic quality of the water)
• 53 (health related contaminants like lead and forever chemicals)
• 401 (emerging chemicals)
• P473 (PFOA/PFOS)
• 61 (System components and filter media)

Some specialty water treatment apparatus meet:

• NSF/ANSI 55 (UV Disinfection)
• 58 (Reverse Osmosis- includes forever chemicals)
• 62 (Distillation System)

Each of the certifications require a different set of tests. Saying a product is "Certified" or "Lab tested" really doesn't tell the whole story that being certified to a specific standard does using certified laboratories for testing.

 The Aquasana Countertop Filtration System

• System: WQA tested and certified to NSF/ANSI Standards 42, 53 (including P473) and 401
• 100% BPA Free
• 300 gallons (up to 6-months) per filter
• Patented Claryum® filtration technology removes 78 contaminants including treatment facility disinfectants, solids, some biological pathogens, lead, mercury, many industrial solvents, flame retardants, glue and paint chemicals, many herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, fumigants, and many pharmaceuticals. 

I have used this filter that I purchased for last year's excursions now for about a year and have performed the every 6 months filter change recommended for households with two adults. To allow all of the testing on this trip to start at a level playing field - I did change the filters before the trip.

I like this unit a lot at home and we tend to go between using this unit and a similar level of filtration that came with our drinking water spigot on our refrigerator. It holds NSF/ANSI certifications 43, 53 (Including P473, and 401 and claims removal of up to: 99% of microplastics, cysts, lead, and asbestos; 97% removal of chlorine and chloramines, 96% of mercury, and 95% of PFOA/PFOS and VOCs.

I'm excited to see Brian Oram's assessment of the test data from water samples run through this unit from the laboratory samples collected and shipped to the lab before and after the trip. None of my field tests provided any warnings to me that would have prevented me from drinking the water through this filter.

The Pine Tree Companies Countertop Filter

The small size was a welcome surprise when I received this unit in the mail. Also not requiring a power source was also a plus. Being able to switch a lever to allow RV tap water or filtered water from the same receptacle and the easy of installation were also big pluses. This unit is also NSF/ANSI/IAPMO certified for the filtration media employed to standards 42, 53, and 61.

This unit was incredibly easy to use and store between destinations. It fit perfectly next to the faucet on my limited RV sink. The smaller nozzle shown above allows water to pass through the filter before the nozzle with an easy flip of the black lever. I could even fit my RV swivel and spray nozzle onto the end of the tap portion of this unit in order to wash dishes with my on-demand very hot water in our RV.

Between destinations, I was able to drain the majority of the water from the unit and place it into a dry bag and then store it somewhere where it would not be knocked around in travel. Once we reached our destination, I was able to hook it back up in minutes, and flush the unit with water for about one minute as instructed by the manufacturers.

I really am looking forward to Brian Oram's assessment of drinking water through this unit as well. I would love to see this manufacturer run some bacteriological samples through this unit and test the outcome from the water as well. 

We filtered 83.5 liters of water through the Pine Tree Countertop unit on our month-long trip. This is equivalent to saving 23 single use gallon jugs, or 184 sixteen ounce bottles. On our trip 16 ounce bottles were costing an average of $3.00 each USD at an average mini-market stop in New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania. This would equate to a cost savings of $552.00 just in the course of a month simply by filtering campground water over purchasing 16-ounce bottles of water.

The ÖKO bottle, Sawyer Mini, and Katadyn Steripen options:

I've lumped these treatment options together for the purpose of this post; however, they are not at all similar. These are all small camping/backpacking solutions. The ÖKO bottle is like a modified plastic drinking water bottle that has a ceramic filter at the end prior to sipping water from the container. The Sawyer Mini is a multiple-part system that uses many micro-tubes to push water from a ziplock style baggie into a drinking vessel. The Katadyn Steripen is not a pre-filter at all. If water is gunky dirty, this solution will do nothing for that problem. It will remove according to the claims 99.9% of protozoa including Giardia and Cryptosporidium, bacteria, and even viruses.

I personally don't trust any filter-media that says under 100% of bacteria has been removed from my drinking water source anymore after my experiences last year at a campground with unsafe drinking water. My perfect RV solution is small, takes up little or no countertop space, is affordable, and does it all - pre-filtration as well as sanitization. Potable water sanitization tablets have been my go-to sanitization method for backpacking, but the UV pen might be a good alternative.

Understanding the difference between filtration abilities and sanitization requirements is key here. I want a filter that removes all the gunk - the dirty water color, the hidden heavy metals, PFAS/PFOAs and other chemicals, but I also want something that sanitizes the bacteria, protozoans, etc. from my drinking water.

Filters and Treatment Options Tested Side-By-Side Assessment

Amy's Preferred 2024 process for managing drinking water in the RV

Water and water filtration needs dominate the countertop space in my RV!

For this trip I fell into the following rhythm for managing drinking water needs:

1. I checked the source I was tapping into using tools on the Know Your H2O website well before booking a reservation at a particular campground. We didn't fill our tanks from any source that we weren't aware of the quality standards, testing standards, and history of reports.
2. I used a sterilization freshener in the tank of my RV.
3. I used a Camco sediment filter before filling the tank of my RV - this is primarily just to preserve the plumbing on the RV system and contributes very little to quality of drinking water provided.
4. I filtered my water either through the Pine Tree Companies Countertop Filter and then through my Aquasana Countertop Clean Water Machine into a clean 1L BPA free Nalgene Bottle.
5. I used my Katadyn Steripen to UV sterilize each 1L batch of water in the bottle.
6. I poured each 'batch' of 1L into a larger 1 gallon plastic bottle for storage and use for cooking, brushing teeth, etc. We used this water within 72-hours.
7. My last bottle 'batch' of sterilized water went into the RV refrigerator each night. I'd fill all of our drinking water bottles this way each day and store them in the refrigerator for the next days use for drinking specifically or we had them to grab-and-go on excursions.

Conclusions

No single testing nor filtration and sterilization option met all of my expectations on this trip. I am a tough customer for sure with a specific list of desires and needs when traveling in an RV or on any excursion where my water source might not be up-to-par. I want something that doesn't take up a lot of space and does so many things to potentially hazardous parameters in my drinking water. My quest to find a solution will continue!