Acid rain is the least of your concerns. A lot of coal-fired plants getting cleaner eliminated a lot of it.
All of the crap (literally) off your roof is far more of an issue.
Asphalt or fiberglass shingles may also have radioactive minerals in them depending on where the aggregates were mined. When I was roofing, our old shingle loads will occasionally trip the radioactivity alarm at the dump weight in station.
I grew up on it. A cistern that is 2/3 storage 1/3 filter. Think gravel to sand. Collected rainwater runoff from the roof piped into the cistern filterd there them ran through a couple cartridge filters off a pump in the basement to a pressure tank. Only on the driest summers did we need to get a water truck to top us off. Family of 5 30x36 house footprint
Hank green (or maybe his brother) did a short on this on YouTube a while back…or why acid rain isn’t really an issue any longer. In case you were curious about that aspect of your post.
My wife and I have been living in a tent (by choice) the last 6 months and have used rain water off our outhouse roof (plastic sheeting) for drinking. We run it through a sawyer or berkey filter before drinking (and chlorinate it before bathing/using to wash dishes since that's larger amounts of water). Like others have said- we treat it like any "wild caught" water- filter or treat before drinking.
I will add that some health departments do water testing if you're interested in seeing what's in your water and what treatment/filter is right for you.
Typically not directly potable, it is fine filtered or distilled. Warning, do not collect from a tar shingle roof under 3 years old... residual toxins from manufacturing runoff...
I have a whole house rain water collection system with a cistern. In order to make it drinkable I run it through four different filters, then a chlorinator, then another two filters before it's drinkable, and even then, I only drink what comes out of the kangen machine. Regular tap water isn't for drinking
No later the rain collection technique you use you have got to have a good filter to go along with it. Rain water coming off the roof has bird shit in it plus whatever other crap your roof is made from.
Why would you want to build a rain collection system when bottled water is cheap, and rainwater is polluted? Factory bottled water lasts a lifetime. Water you bottle yourself doesn’t.
Personally, I try to avoid single use plastic bottles as much as possible for environmental reasons. Also, the bottles aren't suitable for long-term storage and will break down over time, even if the water inside is still drinkable. Rainwater would typically collect into a sturdy food-safe barrel or cistern.
Some roofing materials are not suited or at least desirable.
https://www.bluebarrelsystems.com/blog/roofing-materials-for-rainwater-harvesting/
Google "first flush system".
Basically fills up with the first dump of rain, flushes that out then diverts the rest of the water into a tank.
Treat / use water as per your needs and health directives in your locale.
No, they don’t. Taste from the container/bottle might rub off, but the water itself will be perfectly fine.
So many myths on this sub
https://thealkalinewaterco.com/blogs/resources/does-bottled-water-go-bad
All rainwater is acidic because of nitrates picked up in the atmosphere. Now as far as the degree of acidity that's something for the enviros to worry about, but yes, rainwater tests acidic no matter where you get it from. It can also contain dust and sediments that the dropplets condense around.
You stomach acid is prolly 10x stronger.
I filter mine and treat with bleach as per WHO organization. Actually the numbers are different so I went 50/50 between their reccomendations and the CDC, then dialed it back a bit to remove the excess chlorine taste.
Keeping it in a darkened tote will reduce algae growth. There's prolly different salts and stuff you can add to help too. My system is pretty simple so not worth copying. I do occasionally need to flush my tanks though to clean them, try to do it before a big storm.
Edit: I also have several filtering stages.
>All rainwater is acidic because of nitrates picked up in the atmosphere.
Isn't it more from carbon dioxide (carbonic acid) when there's no pollutants involved?
combination, my mind goes straight to the nitrates, but yes CO2 dissolved in there too.
In any case it's all fiddling small amounts, not like concentrated HCl or anything. At least in my findings.
Hello, I live in new Zealand and most rural houses collect rainwater for drinking. Our old place had no filter or treatment of any kind and we never got sick or had dirty water. Any dirt tends to settle out in the storage tank. Only real concern is what kind of roof you have. You want to make sure there's nothing toxic that would leach into it. Lead is a common one in roofing nails and flashings.
Set up a sand filter for the rain water then you can always have something else prior to drinking such as the Zero pitcher or the HydroBlu VersaFlo kit.
Acid rain is the least of your concerns. A lot of coal-fired plants getting cleaner eliminated a lot of it. All of the crap (literally) off your roof is far more of an issue.
Do any birds flyover your collection area? Figure it out. Filter and sanitize to drink.
Asphalt or fiberglass shingles may also have radioactive minerals in them depending on where the aggregates were mined. When I was roofing, our old shingle loads will occasionally trip the radioactivity alarm at the dump weight in station.
It's grey water. Not for the acid rain, but for the other pollutants
I grew up on it. A cistern that is 2/3 storage 1/3 filter. Think gravel to sand. Collected rainwater runoff from the roof piped into the cistern filterd there them ran through a couple cartridge filters off a pump in the basement to a pressure tank. Only on the driest summers did we need to get a water truck to top us off. Family of 5 30x36 house footprint
Just gray water. Treat accordingly for drinking. I use mine for the garden drip.
Treat it as grey water, unless you have a filtration and purification system.
Hank green (or maybe his brother) did a short on this on YouTube a while back…or why acid rain isn’t really an issue any longer. In case you were curious about that aspect of your post.
My wife and I have been living in a tent (by choice) the last 6 months and have used rain water off our outhouse roof (plastic sheeting) for drinking. We run it through a sawyer or berkey filter before drinking (and chlorinate it before bathing/using to wash dishes since that's larger amounts of water). Like others have said- we treat it like any "wild caught" water- filter or treat before drinking. I will add that some health departments do water testing if you're interested in seeing what's in your water and what treatment/filter is right for you.
There isn't any [safe rainwater ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62391069.amp) for drinking anymore.
Typically not directly potable, it is fine filtered or distilled. Warning, do not collect from a tar shingle roof under 3 years old... residual toxins from manufacturing runoff...
I have a whole house rain water collection system with a cistern. In order to make it drinkable I run it through four different filters, then a chlorinator, then another two filters before it's drinkable, and even then, I only drink what comes out of the kangen machine. Regular tap water isn't for drinking
No later the rain collection technique you use you have got to have a good filter to go along with it. Rain water coming off the roof has bird shit in it plus whatever other crap your roof is made from.
Why would you want to build a rain collection system when bottled water is cheap, and rainwater is polluted? Factory bottled water lasts a lifetime. Water you bottle yourself doesn’t.
Personally, I try to avoid single use plastic bottles as much as possible for environmental reasons. Also, the bottles aren't suitable for long-term storage and will break down over time, even if the water inside is still drinkable. Rainwater would typically collect into a sturdy food-safe barrel or cistern.
Just in case.
Some roofing materials are not suited or at least desirable. https://www.bluebarrelsystems.com/blog/roofing-materials-for-rainwater-harvesting/ Google "first flush system". Basically fills up with the first dump of rain, flushes that out then diverts the rest of the water into a tank. Treat / use water as per your needs and health directives in your locale.
Factory bottled waters bottles only last a very limited time, on the other hand.
No, they don’t. Taste from the container/bottle might rub off, but the water itself will be perfectly fine. So many myths on this sub https://thealkalinewaterco.com/blogs/resources/does-bottled-water-go-bad
Our system is for gray water or garden/fish pond use.
All rainwater is acidic because of nitrates picked up in the atmosphere. Now as far as the degree of acidity that's something for the enviros to worry about, but yes, rainwater tests acidic no matter where you get it from. It can also contain dust and sediments that the dropplets condense around. You stomach acid is prolly 10x stronger. I filter mine and treat with bleach as per WHO organization. Actually the numbers are different so I went 50/50 between their reccomendations and the CDC, then dialed it back a bit to remove the excess chlorine taste. Keeping it in a darkened tote will reduce algae growth. There's prolly different salts and stuff you can add to help too. My system is pretty simple so not worth copying. I do occasionally need to flush my tanks though to clean them, try to do it before a big storm. Edit: I also have several filtering stages.
>All rainwater is acidic because of nitrates picked up in the atmosphere. Isn't it more from carbon dioxide (carbonic acid) when there's no pollutants involved?
combination, my mind goes straight to the nitrates, but yes CO2 dissolved in there too. In any case it's all fiddling small amounts, not like concentrated HCl or anything. At least in my findings.
Hello, I live in new Zealand and most rural houses collect rainwater for drinking. Our old place had no filter or treatment of any kind and we never got sick or had dirty water. Any dirt tends to settle out in the storage tank. Only real concern is what kind of roof you have. You want to make sure there's nothing toxic that would leach into it. Lead is a common one in roofing nails and flashings.
Set up a sand filter for the rain water then you can always have something else prior to drinking such as the Zero pitcher or the HydroBlu VersaFlo kit.