Water Supply
In selecting a camp site, other than in a camping park provided with water, as these mostly are, the question of a water supply for drinking purposes is exceedingly important. As mentioned elsewhere, the wells of the countryside and the wayside springs are more or less open to suspicion. So, too, are the brooks, as they may receive drainage from farmhouses near their course or from barnyards. If the camp is near a swamp, the water there may be dark, but that is no sign of especial impurity as the color may be due to discoloration from the vegetation and turf of the bog. This bog water is quite likely to be free from contamination. But no matter what the source of supply, an attitude of suspicion is the wise one, and the water should only be drunk after boiling. In extremity the writer has drunk unboiled water out of ditches and stagnant ponds without ill results, but this is not advised, and the motor camper will, as a rule, have facilities for [[126]]boiling his drinking water. We have heard of motorists, when hard put to, drawing hot water from the radiator of their machine in order to get a hot drink, but seldom, indeed, would there be any such necessity.