We filter but have a small RO (Reverse Osmosis) unit for when the water is really bad like in Yuma and Bullhead City, Arizona. We have two whole house filters, one 5 micron and the second 1 micron. These keep sediment and much else out of the RV. Under the sink we have a carbon filter for taste with its own small faucet. In 95% of the places the filters are enough, when not we bring out the countertop RO unit and fill a few gallon jugs. (We have gallon jugs since Diane goes through distilled water for her CPAP). Living in the Pacific Northwest most of our lives we are used to good tap water, so going bottled was a strange idea for us.

Edit: The countertop RO unit cost us about $160 mail order.  In every place we have been with bad water there are water kiosks everywhere, in parking lots, in front of stores, everywhere.  If you supply your own gallon jug it normally costs 25c or $1.00 for a 5 gallon jug at these kiosks.  We lost money buying the RO unit. 

I don't recommend whole RV RO units, you discard about 3 gallons of "brine" water for every usable gallon of water you get in the RV and filling the tank takes four times as long. 

-- Edited by bjoyce on Wednesday 7th of September 2011 02:22:25 PM

We filter all water coming into the rig and use it for everything, unless it tastes funny. Then we use bottled water for drinking and coffee / tea. 95% of the campgrounds we've been to have OK water.

We use a whole house filter, charcoal impregnated, for all use. If the water is really bad, we go to a kiosk for a gallon or two. First time I bought a bottle of Evian water, I chanced to look at the label from the other side of the bottle and saw what it reads backwards. DUH!! They should not have told me that. By and large, if you look at bottled water labels, it tells you it is bottled from so and so town's supply, using enhanced filters. Enhanced Filters? Whuzzat? A big one? Most cities water supply is tested, retested, sampled, tested and monitored on a continuing basis. By and large, it is good water and is safe.

We have a whole house filter system, but always use bottle water. Happy Trails...

The best thing we could all do to stop the incredible amount of waste created by the billions of water bottles is to stop drinking bottled water! We have a high grade filter that is attached to the ice/water dispenser on our fridge but similar filters are available. We have been refilling the same water bottles we got while in Vegas over 3 years ago (shame on Fiji Water for using material that would last that long with only the labels showing wear) we also have a quart and 1/2 gallon jug we use for various reason. In most cases, even this add-on filter is not necessary and we also filter all water coming into the coach and use that for drinking and cooking. There have been very few places where the water has any funny tastes. We are currently in Shakopee, MN at the Mystic Lakes RV park and they use an R/O based water system and brag about their water.