Fill your own water
 

I am new to the forums here. We recently purchased a water cooler with five gallon bottles. Does anyone know of a place around Alton where you can refill the jugs?

We used to live near a place that you could refill the jugs for like a quarter a gallon if you brought your own jugs, but I don't know of anywhere around here where you can do that.

There is a place in Alton where there is a spigot and you can refill your jugs there, but I am suspect of the quality of the water. Anyone able to shed some light on that source?

Thanks in advance.

Natural Spring
 

There is a natural spring area on Rte 11 between the Bay and traffic circle. I usually fill up there instead of drinking the water out of the lake.

The Hannaford's in Gilford next to Lowe's has a 25-cents/gallon water vending machine in their store entrance and I believe it gives you City of Laconia water that gets further processed by reverse osmosis inside the vending machine, and it is set up to work with a six gallon, blue plastic water container. If you live on the waterfront and have been using water straight out of the lake, then you can say goodbye to diarrhea by using the Hannaford's 25-cents/gallon water vending machine!

Also, Hannaford's has one of those coin-counting, vending machines which will count your piggybank loaded with pennies, charges you about 8.4%, and gives you a receipt to use in the store for anything, so you can now afford to buy the water, or maybe even a quality beer like Pabst Blue Ribbon!:D

Not a natural sprig.
 

Spigot in front of Levey Park in Alton that you are referring to is connected to the Town of Alton Water system. One of the pump stations is located down the road to the right of the spigot and the park. Good quality water, and the price is great!

I called the Town of Alton about when the water spigot at Levey Park (Rt. 11) would be turned on. The response was "by the end of the week."

Thank you everyone for your time and information.
:liplick:

And the only "free" water from the Alton Water dept! I do hear that it is good water but never gave it a try. I often see people filling several jugs there.

There used to be a pipe with water running out on the left side of Alton Mt. Rd. I have no idea as to the source of the water. Could this be a genuine "natural spring"?? Who knows.

We purchased the zero water bottle a few years back and it has made island living so much easier. You put the bottle on the cooler, fill the top with tap (lake) water and it runs through the built in filters and then the cooler operates as normal. No carrying 5 gallon bottles, no little plastic bottles to waste, it's a great device anywhere but on the island, it's even better.

And it comes with a water tester too.

https://www.zerowater.com/products-accessories

Webbsatwinni
 

I'm not sure which Zerowater filter you use, but I would be careful. The Zero web site has some FAQs like this one.

Q. Does the filter remove bacteria?
A. The current system is meant to be used with municipally treated, potable water as the current filter will not remove microbiological contaminants.

You are quite correct! Those types of water filter do not remove or kill bacteria.

They make some really nice inexpensive under sink UV filters that work great! Combine it with a simple carbon filter and you have a great tasting and SAFE drinking water.

Dan

I drank water out of that pipe several years ago and was sick for three weeks. On antibiotics and the whole nine yards! Was not a pleasant experience !!!!
Walked into the woods after the fact to see where that pipe went and where the water was coming from, a big pit type hole that was full of leaves, crap and who knows what else... Be careful if you take water from there..

I, and several others, drank water out of that pipe for a whole summer with no ill effects but that was back in the summer of '78 when there were only two homes on that side of the mountain. A lot of others stopped and filled jugs there back then. I belive it was feed from a natural spring back then. It was through a rusty metal pipe too. I have noted that the pipe has now been changes to PVC but who knows what if anything has changed per the water supply. I do still see people getting water there but per the above post drink at your own risk.

Under cabinet systems
 

Dan, you mentioned an under cabinet water filter system. I'm looking for some kind of system due to having lead in my well water. I've seen some
have a three cartridge system with its own spout and tank. Is there one
out there that the Forum members can suggest to use.

Thanks Dave M

three cartridge
 

I think that is the osmosis sytem. You can't get any better than this. I had an osmosis system with UV for bacteria control and I was very please with this setup. It was only attached to a seperate spigot for drinking and cooking. You would not want to do whole house as the cartridges are EXPENSIVE.

I remember it was a GE brand.

Hi Dave;

There are a million different systems out there. With lead being your water issue, you will need to look at the filter specifics but I know many of them filter lead out like this one... http://www.puriteam.com/products/PUR...r-Filter-.html

Here's another one but I am not sure if it does lead...
http://www.purauv.com/puraundersink.htm

One recommendation is to confirm the amount of lead the filters remove. Just because it says it treats for lead it may not treat for all of it or 99% of it. It may only remove a certain portion that still may be unsafe. Call the manufacturer to confirm then have your water tested after install to ensure it's working properly.

Good luck Dave!

Dan

I've drank water out of that pipe ever since I can remember, probably 25 yrs or so. I used to make my father pull over every time we went "down town" from the mountain so I could drink out of it. I still very often drink from there "just because" when I go by. Granted, it's been about a year since I've stopped, so I can't speak as of late, but I've never once had any problems from it.

There is always going to be a risk from any natural water source of getting some type of bacteria. All it takes is an animal "upstream" or even just at the other end of that pipe, to go to the bathroom and get bacteria in the water. It won't last long though, but of course there is a risk. :D