lake water?

Gman

Gman

New Member
Oct 15, 2006
42
Austin, Texas
Unlike most marinas on my lake, mine gets their fresh water directly from the lake. If I don't plan on ever drinking or cooking with the water, would it hurt anything to fill my fresh water tank with the water from my dock?

I might possibly put in a couple cap fulls of bleach to kill any bacteria that might be in the water. I am also told that our lake has some of the cleanest water around. Also the water is very hard. But even filling up at a marina that uses city water, the water would still be hard.
 
I sure you might get a few different opinions. There are 4 levels of licenses required for water operator and I hold the 2nd from the top and I can say no, no,no. There are many more problems assoicited with what we call surface water than well water and bleach is no guarantee. Surface water normally has a much higher tds (total dissolve solids) and also suspended solids that act like a hiding place for nasty stuff like giardia. These type of bugs must first have there hiding places filtered out then treated. Way to dangerous. There are many systems out there that can do what you want but I hear they are expensive. :thumbsup:
 
Since you're on Travis, I would never put the water in a fresh water tank. "Cleanest" water around is very subjective. We don't have too many truly "clean" water lakes and the new water in Travis came from up river. Even with the really, super clean, EPA recognized lakes in Arkansas like Ouachita, I'd never put it in my fresh water tank.

Just my opinion though. :D
 
Gman said:
Unlike most marinas on my lake, mine gets their fresh water directly from the lake. If I don't plan on ever drinking or cooking with the water, would it hurt anything to fill my fresh water tank with the water from my dock?

I might possibly put in a couple cap fulls of bleach to kill any bacteria that might be in the water. I am also told that our lake has some of the cleanest water around. Also the water is very hard. But even filling up at a marina that uses city water, the water would still be hard.
Click to expand...

Travis does look like "clean" water and when conditions are perfect it can have some very clear water. I've waterskied on it and been able to look down at the fish and bottom below almost like I was skiing on a plate of glass above a painting. But it's still lakewater.

I'm confused. If you don't ever plan on drinking or cooking, what are you planning on doing with it? Just flushing, washing hands, and showering? If that's the case I suppose it may be okay; however I'd still not do it. If it was my boat, something sometime would catch up to me - the chances of something happening like a guest's kid onboard that decides to take a drink before someone could stop him would be somewhere around 100% before the summer ended.
 
This is not going to help you, but I was curious why they pump directly from the lake? I guess costs, but that's not very usefull for the people using the docks.
 
I was wondering the same thing. They have to have some fresh water hookups :huh:
 
I even filter the marina well water ( has still particles from the ground in it) with one of those and put Aqua fresh in the tank. Always have clean water and never had any problems wit stinky water.


http://www.camco.net/Menu.cfm?SupCategoryId=10000&SubCategoryId=212&ProductId=2057

CAMCO even makes a better kit that could actually clean up clean lake water for a tank if you wanted to. It even filters viruses ou.
 
We have friends at W Beach marina who have the same problem & they fill with city water at Emerald Point when they buy gas & pump out. Or, move to LT Marina & have city water at your slip.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! I decided to not put the water from the dock in the fresh water tank. Instead I got water from the fuel dock that is hooked up to city water. I also talked to the manager who said it was ok to come anytime (even after hours) to fill up with water as the hose is right there on the dock. They don't charge for water anyway, so it is not a big deal.

And to answer a few questions. Yes, we only plan to use the water for washing dishes, flushing the head, and showering. Even the city water doesn't taste that good, so it is just easier to bring bottled water aboard.

And I am not really sure why the marina doesn't have city water. I guess they don't want to go to the expense of running the pipe. The fees are siginificantly cheaper than other places, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Thanks again!
 
The system that ALEXD suggest is exactly how we process water, except I would still suggest monthly bacti test at a local lab for safety. The dechlor is needed so that you discharge is safe. :thumbsup:
 
Strange...I posted an answer to BrentJones' question and now it seems to be gone.

Yes, I wash the boat with the dock water and yes it gets it clean. The biggest problem is with the hard water spots. But all water, including city water is hard so can't really get around that.

The other problem with keeping the boat clean is spiders and birds, but that's a different topic. :grin:
 
I think a lot of marinas pull water from the lake???? Several I've seen do, but you may not know it. Most of the time you won't be able to tell either.

Many houseboats pull water from the lake for just about everything. But I think with mine, if I did, I'd want to test the water and probably filter for whatever the water has that I wouldn't want.

For ours, I just use water form the faucet at home or the tap where we store it. :grin:
 
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