Can you just drink rainwater or do ya have to filter it?

[Sheripoms]

Hey, I just got to wondering . Could I just drink rain water or do ya have to put some bleach in it?

[The Paw]

Originally Posted by Sheripoms

Hey, I just got to wondering . Could I just drink rain water or do ya have to put some bleach in it?

Depends on who you ask.

Seriously, in some areas, acid rain might make you think twice. You also have to consider what the rainwater is running off of to get collected.

I have a cistern which is filled up with rainwater and we top it up in the winter from the municipal well. I will use the cistern water to brush teeth, and use for cooking where it is being boiled, but we have 5 gallon jugs of drinking water for making coffee, juice, etc. My rainwater runs off of asphalt shingles, and I would prefer it if my roof were metal.

If I were going to drink rainwater on a regular basis, I would filter and probably use an ultraviolet treatment light on it.

[knight88]

Remember that birds do things on your roof...

[EDDIE BUCK]

Lol, I remember back right many years they were saying not to eat snow well since then I've probably eat a tractor trailer load of it cause that snowcreme is right close to the top of my favorite things to eat. Now I ain't dead and Im still kicking maybe not as high as I used to but thats more from arther rye tus than snowcreme. Now if that snowcreme CAUSED that arther rye tus and if it gets to hurting so bad that these pain pills don't work then I might cut back a tad on the creme and put some in the freezer to save till arther ain't acting up quite so bad. So your question about the rain, if it collects in something clean like a pan or bucket and not run off something like a roof, I think its ok, Oh and no dog has been anywhere around that bucket to, well you know.

[Shrek]

With atmospheric pollutants that have evolved over the centuries any water source needs to be filtered or distilled to a degree.

Some companies are already developing processes to mine valuable elements from the atmosphere as they once were mined from the subterrainian area.

[ErinP]

I'd recommend a Google search on "rain water harvesting." there are a myriad of filtering options out there.

[Pink_Carnation]

Here is another way to think about it...what is one of the benefits to it raining?
It cleans the air out a bit ...of dust and a bunch of other junk floating around.

[meanwhile]

Hello - I did not have time to sort the list below. It is for a school project with one of our boys but it has good information re Rain Water Harvesting.

Rainwater list of sites:


Sites re Water issues: Rain Water Harvesting, Gray Water and Water Storage, including World Health Organization sites re Water projects in developing countries

1. The Eco Tipping Points Project (India)

http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/ETP-...rainwater.html

2. Rain Water Harvesting (huge site with great information from all over the world)

http://akash-ganga-rwh.com/RWH/WaterHarvesting.html

3. More projects from India

http://www.karmayog.com/library/rwh14.htm

4. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (we have this book and he is considered one of the top US experts on Rain Water Harvesting)

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/r...inforesources/

5. Rainwater Harvesting. Org site

http://rainwaterharvesting.org/

6. Rain water Demo sites

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/r...tration-sites/

7. Do it yourself Water projects

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

8. Oasis Design site (we have this book)

http://www.oasisdesign.net/index.htm

9. State of Virginia’s Rainwater Harvesting Guide and laws

http://www.cabellbrandcenter.org/Vir...g%20Manual.pdf

10. State of Texas’ Rain water guide

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publicat...3rdedition.pdf




http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater
NCSU Stormwater Engineering Group
NCSU Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department
NCSU Cooperative Extension Service
American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
Texas A&M Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater Harvesting in India
Rainwater Harvesting in the UK
Montana State University Rainwater Harvesting
Efficient Landscape Irrigation

I am sorry - I cannot get the last list to "link" properly but you could google those names to reach those sites and I will try to fix it later.

[ptannjr]

IIRC there is a guy in Texas that has a whoole operation set up for collecting and bottling rain water to sell. I believe he lets it rain for so long and the water run off before collectng it. thata lets the roofs and such to get clean first.

[ptannjr]

check out www.rainwatercollection.com

[meanwhile]

Here is the updated list we have:

Rainwater list of sites:


Sites re Water issues: Rain Water Harvesting, Gray Water and Water Storage, including World Health Organization sites re Water projects in developing countries

1. The Eco Tipping Points Project (India)

http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/ETP-...rainwater.html

2. Rain Water Harvesting (huge site with great information from all over the world)

http://akash-ganga-rwh.com/RWH/WaterHarvesting.html

3. More projects from India

http://www.karmayog.com/library/rwh14.htm

4. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (we have this book and he is considered one of the top US experts on Rain Water Harvesting)

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/r...inforesources/

5. Rainwater Harvesting. Org site

http://rainwaterharvesting.org/

6. Rain water Demo sites

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/r...tration-sites/

7. Do it yourself Water projects

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

8. Oasis Design site (we have this book)

http://www.oasisdesign.net/index.htm

9. State of Virginia’s Rainwater Harvesting Guide and laws

http://www.cabellbrandcenter.org/Vir...g%20Manual.pdf

10. State of Texas’ Rain water guide

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publicat...3rdedition.pdf

11. NCSU Stormwater Engineering Group
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater
12. NCSU Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/
13. NCSU Cooperative Extension Service
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/
14. American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
http://www.arcsa.org/
15. International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
http://www.ircsa.org/index.htm
16. Texas A&M Rainwater Harvesting
http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/index.html
17. Rainwater Harvesting in India
http://www.aboutrainwaterharvesting.com/default.htm
18. Rainwater Harvesting in the UK
http://www.rainharvesting.co.uk/
19. Montana State University Rainwater Harvesting
http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9707.html
20. Efficient Landscape Irrigation
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/programs...ion/publicat/w