We are doing better with water use than I could have imagined! We are using just over 1 gallon per day, drinking most of that. Dishes, cleaning, teeth brushing, and sponge baths combined total just over 1 quart most days. On a heavy day if I do dishes 3 times rather than twice we can use 2 quarts, though often snow substitutes for some of that.

Using a 1 liter electric kettle with temp settings is perfect for heating water. I like 122F for dishes and 140F for sponge bath. Usually I heat 2 cups to 122 for dishes, wiping table & counters, and a quick “bath”. Sometimes there is enough left of that 2 cups to brush my teeth too.

With 3 Aquatainers each holding 6 gallons, plus a few smaller jugs, I thought we would be hauling water at least twice a week as my goal had been 7 gallons per day. Based on how much water we used living in Denali employee housing at C-camp last year, that seemed a reasonable goal. Instead we can go 2 to 3 weeks on that 20+ gallons.
Two big disclaimers on our dry cabin water use! We go out for showers and laundry, typically once a week. Fortunately many Alaskan communities have public pay showers.
We had a harder time finding water to haul than finding showers, but finally found a year round source of good water where we could pay $50 for 6 months. It is posted non-potable, but seems to be OK without needing treatment. I expect they don’t want to jump through the hoops for Public Health.


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