If your boat has a potable water storage system, it’s essential to confirm your water isn’t contaminated before you or your guests use it. Unlike home plumbing, boat water often sits stagnant for long periods and may be filled from unknown or poorly sanitized sources—such as unclean hoses, unfamiliar marinas, or pipes that have been dormant during storage. This can allow bacterial growth or leaching of heavy metals like lead, both of which can cause health issues.

 

Testing Your Boat’s Water Supply

 

There are several methods to verify the quality of your boat’s drinking water:

 

Bacteria Testing:

Bacteria—particularly Total Coliform and E. coli—pose an immediate health concern in potable water. The Safe Home® DIY Bacteria Test Kit detects over 50 species of bacteria, down to a single organism. We recommend testing every quarter or any time you refill from a new source to confirm your water is free of bacterial contamination.

 

Lead Testing:

Lead contamination can occur when older plumbing materials or corroded filling-station pipes leach lead into your water. The Safe Home® DIY Lead in Water Test Kit identifies lead at levels as low as 5 ppb in just 5 minutes. For an exact concentration, our In-Lab Lead Test Kit submits your sample to an EPA-certified laboratory for detailed analysis.

 

In-Lab Testing:

For the most thorough assessment, the Safe Home® Premium Water Test Kit screens for up to 50 contaminants in your boat’s drinking water, including:

• 30+ Metals like lead, copper, and arsenic.
• 12 physical properties like hardness and pH.
• 6 Inorganics like Nitrite and Fluoride.
• Free: DIY Bacteria Test Kit.

 

This test is performed at our EPA-Certified Laboratory and compares them to the EPA limit for each parameter. If you have any questions about ordering a kit or which test kit you need, our customer support team would be happy to help.

 

What to do if your water is contaminated

 

If your test results show positive for lead or bacteria, you should stop using the water immediately and change water sources to prepackaged water.

Contaminated water shouldn’t be used for:

• Drinking
• Brushing your teeth
• Cooking
• Cleaning dishes,
• Making Baby Formula

 

If you are not sure if the contamination is coming from the boat’s storage tank or the water source you are filling from, you can have them both tested separately.

 

If the problem is bacteria, you will need to have chlorinated water flushed through the system. This high chlorine water shouldn’t be drunk and will need to be flushed out with fresh water after the chlorination process is complete.

 

If there is lead contamination, you will need to either have repairs done to remove any lead piping from your boat or install a filtration system.