JBarca,
More good info. Seems like all of your info. would be good for a sticky...
Apologies for asking more questions... :)
1. What does a carbon block filter do to chlorine in your water after the filter? If I install a carbon block filter that filters the entire TT, is that possibly detrimental? It seems like some RV-ers use a carbon block filter. In our case, the water inlet is right below the kitchen sink (only a few feet of pipe) while the bathroom sink is 10'+ away but the only time you'd ingest water in the bathroom is a small amount when brushing your teeth.
2. I noticed at the end of the last camping season (51 nights), that the little screen filters on the hose and water inlet were plugged up with some kind of crud. Not sure if it is sediment and/or algae. Any idea what it is and what the negatives are? Would it originate from a public system or private well system?
3. Just how good is bulk filtered water that you buy at stores or bottled water compared to city water that you'd use at a CG? I seem to recall reading that it's not as good as they make it out to be. We get bulk water in 5 gal. bottles for DW as that's all she will drink. The bulk water comes out of the filling machine pretty quickly so I am guessing the level of filtration isn't that great? I'm pretty sure they are supplied by city water.
I've been drinking well water for about 20 years at home. One was 300' deep or so and artesian. Our current well is a recently built shallow one (30'). When you build a new house here in Canada that has a well, your municipality requires you to meet "Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality". Link below. I think some provinces have their own regs. for public and semi-public water distribution systems. For private homes at least, they don't require any on-going testing. If you construct or drill a new well, there's no testing requirements which seems odd.
We had a new surface well built a few years back that was slightly above the limit for aluminum and e-coli. The e-coli was from decaying vegetation that got buried around the well casing. We could tell it was coming back from the smell. We just periodically dosed it with chlorine and it eventually went away. I believe that there are several different types of e-coli but the Canadian regs. refer to total coliform count. Our water is quite high in calcium and tends to plug up the outlets of faucets and shower heads. I'm guessing it's good for the body and those with osteoporosis.
As you say, if you drink well water all the time, your body can get used to it and tolerate some things in it that others can't. I've never gotten sick or died from our well water.
Canadian drinking water regulations