How many Ltrs of water do you use all up camping or caravanning?

Gday Axle! We just had a few days away, we use bottled water to drink and cook about 3 litres a day. Also 12 litres to shower between Janet and myself. 9 litres for Janet and 3 for me LOL!! We stayed in NP's, 2 had showers, the other 3 did not, we used our own onboard setup for the latter. Michael

G'day Axle,

We are a couple in a hybrid, self contained camper. We are not minimalist campers but we do try to conserve resources when it is wise to do so, and use them freely when it is appropriate.

It depends on the availability of water. We carry 200 litres of drinking water in two tanks, one 70L strictly for drinking the other 130L for nominal non-drinking but kept to drinking standard - ie washing (not clothes. Sink, shower and vacuum toilet flush)

If clean creek water is available we don't skimp. We bypass the big tank and use creek water out of a barrel for all but drinking. That gives us 200L of drinking water, which will last quite some time. Quick shower each day if a swim not available, etc etc. In that case, total maybe 20L a day.

In water conservation mode no showers just wet-wipes, Number 1's for her in the bush or alternative if provided (mine are always there:-)), Number 2's in the flusher if alternative not available (that's why we have it), dishwashing only when necessary - under 10L a day, more depending on weather, activity and duration of stay.

Cheers

Hi Axle

It varies according to supply. In Tasmania where good water was plentiful and we could afford decent showers, an 80 litre tank could last three to four days. If in the desert and being cautious but including having a sponge over wash every night, five litres a day plus drinking water would do us.

Motherhen

From my experience, most survival type guides suggest a minimum of 10 litres per person per day.

we carry 180L in two tanks plus a 20L reserve and top up the tanks whenever we can.

with the usual cooking washing up and showers we have made the two tanks last up to 5 days which is a tad over the minimum given but that included family using the loo which also flushes out of the main tanks.

I think with just the two of us we could make those two tanks last at least 7 days.

I am sure you can work it out from there.

good luck and safe travelling

frank

Two months travelling with two kids and I only had to refill the 80 litre once. As we were mostly in caravan parks, showers were done there.
When free camping on my short trips, 80litres will last close to three weeks.

Axle

Only dirty people need a wash, you know that! That should cut it down a bit.

Oh hell how long is a piece of string.

There are so many variable factors.

I carry drinking water for work every day, in winter I can go out with 2 litres and come home will 1 litre left over......in summer doing hot work I can go out with 4 litres of water, 1 litre of milk and 1 litre of weak cordial all iced and come home empty needing a big drink when I get home.

Then spread that across other issues as well......the variation can be huge.

The recon the nomadic arabs can get by on 250ml of water a day in the desert for weeks at a time...but that is a whole other story.

cheers

We are still using on average 1.5lt/person per day Axle , this over many trips now and so we carry 2lt/person per day.

Find that knowing how much you use is important , if we had a tank that we just pumped it out of I'm sure we would use more.

What one uses is part of a whole system of course and meals we have don't require dishes to be washed etc.

Mustn't forget that drinks like coke , wine etc usually come to another lt/day.

When I lived on Groote Eylandt we (2 adults) would go for 4 days with 40L and come back with more than half. Bathed in the sea, used dry sand to wash the grease of the dishes then rinse in the sea and a lot of our drinking fluid was in the esky.
Now with the camper touring Aus. we have an 80L tank which we only use for drinking and carry 75L in 3 x 25L Jerry's for all other uses. This makes it easy to monitor usage and modify according to availability.
The first time the inlaws came with us (total 4 adults) with the camper I wasn't monitoring the usage and we used 120L in two days.
So you can see that it can vary from 3L/person/day to 30L depending on circumstances and discipline.
Another thought is to have a reasonable amount of water in the vehicle when leaving the camp to go exploring, 10L is what I take.

A little forethought turns a disaster into an adventure.

Have fun while we can, happy camping.
Mal

For a 12 day desert trip,
With a mate, the 2 of us need around 45 litres.
With my wife, the 2 of us use around 100 litres!

For a desert expedition in the winter months, catering for two persons on board - 200 litres. This allows enough to last a month at 3 litres each per day and 50 days at 2L per day if the proverbial hits the fan.

This is purely for drinking and a light wash. Showers occur only when water can be found. We filter and top up supplies when ever we find suitable water (not fouled by bloody camels). If towing the quad trailer I have an extra 100 litre tank underneath which can be used for luxury items like a shower!

If out on the quads, a minimum of 5 litres per day with 5-10 litres spare (4 days - 30 litres). Even with this you're still pretty thirsty on a warm day though!

Cheers Mick