VanLife – How I Get Drinking Water For Free

I rarely go completely off grid as I travel, but I do utilize the campervan’s water tank to carry up to 11 gallons of potable water for cooking, washing, and drinking. To refill the tank I typically look for free water sources, such as a friend’s house, city park, RV dump station, or any available spigot that I don’t think will get me arrested if I borrow it for a few minutes.

Many folks would prefer to have filtered water to drink, but tap water never seems to bother me. Besides, any chance I get to drink directly from a mountain spring I do, so imbibing less than stellar water while driving my van isn’t that big of a deal.

Below is a quick video I made in Page, Arizona when I refilled my water tank at a city RV dump station.

A good resource for finding water: iOverlander

VanLife Drinking Water

4 Comments

  1. Good info Chris. How much would filling up typically cost if you could not find a free tap, and how much do you estimate this saves you per month?

    1. Hey! It’s not too expensive, I’ve refilled the van with gallon jugs of filtered water from the grocery store a few times. It probably only saves $10 to $15 a month, but that’s a few cold brews or a couple gallons of gas instead of water!

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