Potable water - Thoughts on and/or sharing a Playa water service?

[Nofxguy]

Howdy,

Al from camp Gymnasium, we are a smaller camp of around 25 burners. This year our camp is looking into alternatives for our camps potable/fresh water supply. In previous burns we’ve had a combination of bottled water and two barrels which were supplied as part of an RV service one of our campers used. This year with a change in plans and to try reduce waste from empty water bottles, we’re investigating and hunting down the possibility of an onsite water delivery service. Keeping in mind OSS havent been announced yet that I know of and our camp havent had to use one before. (https://burningman.org/event/camps/deliveries/)

Hoping we can get some feedback, recommendations, experiences other camps who have had a water delivery service on Playa? Or if there are any camps who might already be arranging a Playa water delivery our camp could potentially share and contribute towards? We’ve previously been placed somewhere around 7:30 G for the last few burns.

Feel free update on here or email me directly if you like [email protected]

Cheers,

Al - Camp Gymnasium

[Papa Bear]

Based on what I've seen, I'd advise against depending on delivered potable water.

A camp neighboring ours tried that a few years ago. The delivery was supposed to be made on Thursday of build week, but as I recall it didn't actually happen until Monday or Tuesday of event week. They were fortunate in that we and some other neighboring camps were able to supply them until their delivery came in. Needless to say, they no longer get water delivered. Nor are they the only camp I've heard of with a similar story.

If one of you has a truck, one option would be to simply buy a large enough container (or multiple empty barrels), have it filled in Gerlach, and drive it in. The cost per gallon is much lower that way than on-playa delivery, too.

Alternately, you could get your campers to bring their own in those reusable 5 gallon jugs that are used for water coolers. Our camp is a similar size to yours, and makes a game of it. We have a common water cooler, and camp members refill it using their jugs whenever they see it running low. The "game" is to contribute all of yours to the shared cooler as soon as possible, because whoever doesn't have empty containers by the end of the event gets to haul their water back out again. It also has the effect of making camp members more aware of and responsible for how much water they are using.

(To be clear, our game is only for drinking water. Water for showers is supplied by the camp, and comes from the same supply we use for the headwash - all of which we haul out in 55 gallon drums we fill in Gerlach.)

[Nofxguy]

Hey Papa,
Thanks for sharing. Yeah, we normally bring our own, two large barrels strapped to the back of a campers RV that gets delivered for him and a batch of bottled water we bring in as part of our camp setup ourselves. Delivery makes me somewhat nervous. We'll have two small trucks and a cargo van this year so should be able to transport enough in for everyone. It's more so the weight and logistics that triggered looking for ideas
I'll hunt around and see what 5 gall bottle deals I can find as an option too. Thanks!
https://www.thereadystore.com/5-gallon- ... -stackable

[ashby]

Bit of thread necromancy here...

I'm heading to BRC solo via Burner Express and staying in general camping which limits me to what I can carry. As you can imagine moving 100lbs of water on top of all my other gear becomes a bit of a problem. Bringing in 3-4gal is fine, but 10-12 starts to get challenging. If there are camps bringing bulk water who can handle bringing in an extra 10 gal that I could refill my supply from once or twice during the week it makes the whole thing very manageable. I'm happy to contribute financially, just struggling to make the logistics work otherwise.

If anyone is in a position to assist I'd love to hear from you.

[Traveller in Time]

Burner Express provides the service you are looking for . . .

[Sham]

If anyone is in a position to assist I'd love to hear from you.

From what I've seen from several of my camp mates, There are large water tanks to refill your water supply during the week. I think you get coupons to use to fill up. Just bring your collapsible containers both small and large.

[ashby]

Thanks so much guys. I thought I'd gone through everything on Burner Express's page but I guess I missed the water thing.