Water planning for remote camping

Calculate a real allowance

Count drinking, cooking and basic hygiene for every person. Hot weather, altitude and physical work increase demand quickly.

Do not reduce drinking water to protect a low tank. Reduce washing or leave the route earlier.

Confirm the source

A tap icon does not always mean potable water. Read signs, ask the manager and treat uncertain natural water before use.

Remote tanks can run dry or be reserved for emergencies. Carry enough to reach the next confirmed source.

Store it safely

Use several containers rather than one large tank so a leak does not remove the whole supply. Secure heavy water low in the vehicle.

Clean containers between trips and keep fuel, waste hoses and chemicals away from drinking-water equipment.

How much you actually need

Plan on a minimum of four to five litres per person per day for drinking and cooking in temperate conditions, and considerably more in the heat. In outback summer, seven to ten litres per person per day is realistic.

That is drinking and cooking only. Washing, dishes and any showering come on top, which is why a vehicle tank empties faster than the arithmetic suggests.

Always carry a reserve that is not part of the working supply, ideally in a separate container. A vehicle breakdown in remote country turns water from a convenience into the thing that keeps you alive.

Where you can refill

Towns, caravan parks, visitor centres and many rest areas have potable water, but not every tap is drinkable and signage is not always present. Where a supply is untreated or uncertain, treat it rather than assuming.

Bore water in inland Australia is common and frequently high in minerals or salts. It may be safe but unpleasant, or unsuitable for drinking entirely, and signage usually says which.

In remote areas, tanks at campgrounds are rainwater and their condition varies. Carry the means to treat water rather than relying on any single source being available and clean.

Treating water in the field

Boiling for one minute is the most reliable method and needs no equipment beyond a stove. Filters rated for protozoa and bacteria handle most Australian surface water, and chemical treatment works but takes time and affects taste.

Surface water in agricultural country can carry chemical contamination that filtering does not remove. Prefer tank or town water where available and treat creek water as a last resort in farmed areas.

In the tropics, avoid drawing water from any waterway that could hold crocodiles. This is a bigger practical constraint on water sourcing in the north than contamination is.

Storage and hygiene

Use food-grade containers, keep them out of direct sun and rinse them regularly. Water stored in a warm vehicle for weeks develops taste and biological growth, particularly in a partially full tank.

Keep drinking containers and hoses physically separate from anything used near a dump point, and store hose ends off the ground. This is the single habit that prevents most illness on a self-contained trip.

Sanitise the tank periodically with a proper tank cleaning product, particularly before a long trip or after the vehicle has sat unused. It takes an afternoon and prevents a week of trouble.

Reducing what you use

Washing dishes in a bowl rather than under a running tap, using a spray bottle for rinsing and showering with the water off between wetting and rinsing all extend a tank substantially.

Grey water usually fills before fresh water empties, so reducing use extends both at once. On a long remote leg that difference can be a day or two of additional range.

Label containers clearly and consistently, because the one mistake that causes real illness is filling a drinking container from a non-potable source in a hurry.

Sanitise the water tank before a long trip and after the vehicle has sat unused, because it takes an afternoon and prevents a week of trouble.

Places along the way