Building Principles continued from page 12 The amount of water that can be drawn from a well is determined by both its construction (the hole diameter and the depth) and the rate at which the water moves horizontally through the earth past the well. Much like your cash flow through your bank account, it is a fixed value and has absolutely NOTHING to do with how much water you WANT or NEED. There are testing procedures that will help to accurately determine the well’s sustained yield. So if keeping camp supplied with potable water isn’t optional, I think that’s a smart investment over the well driller’s best guess. Despite the soil’s breathtaking capacity to renovate water, there may be some other things about your water that you want (or may be required) to change. The first of these is disinfection. By and large, properly constructed and maintained water supply wells are free from illnesscausing bacteria. These are most prevalent in the very top layers of the soil, so by taking steps to prevent those microbes from entering the deep aquifer from which you draw the water, you’ve done the most important part to secure your supply. However, once the water begins to move in pipes through the shallow layers of soil, cracks in the pipe and leaks at pipe joints can allow those surface soil microbes into the distribution system. To ensure that these are adequately controlled, some jurisdictions require disinfection of all camp water supplies. Usually, a chlorine compound is mixed into the water just after it leaves the well. System operators or owners are then required to submit samples for analysis to show that there is sufficient chlorine remaining to disinfect the system and that there is no live bacteria at the tap most distant from the well. We see one particular opportunity for contamination far too frequently: Is your camp one of the many that has hundreds of feet of black polyethylene (HDPE) 14 CAMPING magazine • March/April 2014 pipe snaking all over the grounds? This method is common where it’s difficult or expensive to bury the lines. The rationale is that it’s easy to drain in the fall and easy to check for leaks in the spring. What’s overlooked, though, is that each and every connection or branch that uses a barbed fitting and hose clamp is an opportunity for surface contaminants to enter the system. Some organizations have tried to raise the lines off the ground by hanging the pipe on trees, sort of solving one problem while creating trip hazards (nobody ever walks through the woods at night without a flashlight at camp, right?). Resolve to stop fooling around with this: Bury the water line below the frost line so that it doesn’t have to be drained at all, and make proper connections with materials and fittings intended for just that service. Small diameter PVC is primed and glued. HDPE sections and fittings are heat-welded for a watertight seal. Save the hose clamps for your vehicles. Camps that drain their systems for the winter need to be especially watchful when opening in the spring. It’s common for operators to blow the water out of the pipes in the fall and leave the ends exposed/unsecured. Poisoned in the buildings, dying rodents often seek water and shelter. Their droppings and corpses are common causes for system contamination. Typically, health departments require only that the “most distant tap from the source on the system” be tested for chlorine residual. So unless each and every leg of the water system is tested each and every spring, who knows what toxic soup is arriving at the tap downstream? One last point to ponder on the topic of water treatment is water quality. Fundamentally different from potability, this aspect involves consideration of how the water looks, tastes, and smells. Above all, your water has to be something that people WANT to consume. Even if it meets the regulatory standards, if it is inherently unappealing to drink, dehydration is another problem in the wings. Camp leadership needs to set the example by drinking plain, unbottled tap water to encourage the hot, sweaty, wildly active campers to do the same. While everyone’s “home water” will taste different from camp’s, it should be the go-to drink. Camp leadership needs to set the example by drinking plain, unbottled tap water to encourage the hot, sweaty, wildly active campers to do the same. Iron, manganese, and sulfur can all be removed from the solution (some do by themselves when chlorine is added!) with very small additions to the system. The cost of systems that will improve water quality is miniscule when compared to the cost of the staff and guests not drinking enough water or even against the cost of shipping in bottled water. Would you ever ask your parents if they think that safe, consumable water from the tap is a luxury or a requirement? Probably not; but you probably can imagine their look and reaction to the question. Are you doing what you can and should do to ensure that their expectations are being met? Today is the day to start improving your water system. Rick Stryker is a professional engineer with a particular passion for helping camps with infrastructure, planning, and regulatory issues. He can always be reached at campfc@ptd.net or 570.828.4004.
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