Filtering Rain Water To Drink - Questions???

[Sunshine*]

I live in the Pacific Northwest and want to start collecting rain water to drink. The rain here travels from the Pacific ocean and does not pass any major cities before it falls here. I am wondering about filtering the water and clean collection methods. I am also wondering how complicated it would be to construct my own; or is it best just to purchase a system? Does anyone have any experience with this? I would appreciate any input. Thanks!

[Mahk]

I have no experience in this but thought to point out that when I collected sugar maple tree sap to boil down to maple syrup you would be surprised to find how much else had collected in the buckets hanging from the trees besides sap: bark, insects, dust and sand blowing in the wind, dandelion seeds etc. At least I boiled the stuff after filtering through a sieve so any pathogens from various contaminants would be killed off. Maybe you should plan on boiling too. Good luck.

P.S. There are also things called "fog collecters" which you might also look into.

[august]

I don't have any information on this but I'm really interested in following your thread to learn more about it. I'm still trying to figure out the best drinking water source. I live in a big city and am scared to drink the tap water. We buy bottled spring water in plastic containers but I'm concerned with plastic hazards and I'm concerned with where the water comes from- is it being taken from others who need it- is it good water? I can get spring water in glass containers but it's very expensive compared to plastic containers. I've considered buying a water filtration system but don't know much about them. I really need to do some research and find the most viable water source for drinking.

Anyway, I'm glad you made this thread and I'm looking forward to following it.

[RedWellies]

I've considered buying a water filtration system but don't know much about them. .

There's some discussion here, August, which might be of interest. I have this Franke Pureflow system. It's not a water softener; it removes the dodgy impurities in the tap water. I don't know if it's available where you are. It's expensive to buy but not to maintain.

[august]

RedWellies- thanks a LOT for the info.

[Sunshine*]

Mahk,

Great point! I will check into fog collectors. I have also been reading a little about uv filtering to rid the water of bacteia. Thanks!

[Sarah_]

I'm thinking rain collection would be fine so long as you boiled everything to ensure that contaminants weren't in it. Then again, I've got that Brita thing that attaches to the sink faucet.

[Risker]

The rain here travels from the Pacific ocean and does not pass any major cities before it falls here.

Not that it'll make any difference if it's properly purified but this sounds like wishful thinking to me, you can't be sure where the rain you get has come from and even if you could then not passing any major cities is no assurance that it would be any purer.

Anyway, I wonder if this might help you - http://www.wikihow.com/Purify-Water

Personally I think the best idea would be to collect rain for purposes other than drinking, watering plants etc. I don't see any advantage in drinking rain water over tap water, or if you're avoiding tap water because of flouride or something then once you factor in purification costs it's probably cheaper to get bottled water. (Mind you, if you avoid fluoridated water then you should probably also factor in the extra dentist bills)

[Sunshine*]

Risker,

Thanks for the in put. I believe it does make a difference where the rain water comes from, as far as pollution is concerned. This close to the Pacific, our rain is really clean, naturally. I have seen the Source Test for a rain farm very near where I live, it is pretty amazing. Check it out at www.oregon-rain.com. It seems to me if the water is fairly free of pollutants from the air, it really just needs filtered before consumed. ??

[Risker]

That's quite interesting, my point being though that weather patterns are not the most predictable of things and a slight change could mean that you go from drinking incredibly pure water to very polluted water.

[Mahk]

It seems to me if the water is fairly free of pollutants from the air, it really just needs filtered before consumed. ??

I agree with Risker. Also, as an experiment, try putting out a large bucket of clean water outside where you live. Come back to it a few days later and see if it has collected any foreign material. As I mentioned earlier, if it is anything like my maple sap buckets were, you may also find pine needles, seeds, pollen, dust, leaves, bugs, mosquitoes, mosquito and other insect eggs, alga, and of course you never know if a neighbor's dog had a few laps to quench his thirst or if a bird took a bird bath in it in your absence. It is basically a puddle and very prone to contamination in my view.


Note what that company you linked us to does after rain collection:

"After our water is collected on our rain farm, we run it through a .35 micron filter, an activated charcoal filter and ozonate it in the bottle; but the point of this purification is not to make it taste better, as it already tastes wonderful from the source. This secondary purification process is completed as a safety precaution for you the consumer."[emphasis mine]

Ozonation or UV light purification to kill bacteria, like E. coli, by a consumer like you or me is "possible", but just plain boiling for a couple of minutes should amount to the same I'd think. Also I'll warn you that quite literally 9 out of 10 "water ozonators" on the internet are marketed by scum bag, scam artist, snake-oil peddling, fake, quack, "doctors" out to rob you and sell you a toy that doesn't do a thing but lighten your wallet. I don't know why, but the internet is teeming with water purification scams.

This would be a good introduction to these A-holes if you haven't heard about them: Wonky Water

Here's one device not to buy.

Good luck.

[Sunshine*]

Risker,

I see your point, although from what I have read about our weather patterns, no matter the "pattern" we always get dumped on by the Pacific. I suppose it would have to be an incredibly abnormal weather pattern change. But I am sure thats always a possibility!

Thanks for the info on water purification. The LifeStraw is especially interesting!

[Sunshine*]

Mahk,

I am definetly going to try filtering the water and then boiling it. We have a lab fairly close to send a water sample to, they test it and send you the results. It is fairly inexpensive, so I may just go that route the first go around.

Thanks for all your input!

[john4703]

I've had three different experiences of drinking rain water.
The first was in the Middle East where the rain from the roof was collected in a massive underground cistern and pumped into tanks on the roof during the summer. This water was used for all purposes, drinking, washing, food preparation etc. The building was a hostel with about 10 staff and 60 guests and no-one had any problems.
The second place was on the West Coast of Scotland where a friend had his house. His water supply was simply a pipe from a stream than ran down the hillside and straight to his taps.
The other place had a mixture of the first tow. It was a Victorian house that served as a conference centre. It was too high up the hill for the mains supply to reach it. We used the original supply that was a massive underground tank; I'd guess about 20 meters square and 15 meters deep. The supply was rain water that had seeped through the ground from a nearby stream. I can say that the water was very very cold, on one occasion I had to swim down and clear the outlet, lucky that the tank was only about half full at the time. I did not tell the guests how I had restored their supply!
The main thing in common with all these is that there was absolutely no filtration or chemical treatment. My children had no tooth problems despite the lack of fluoride in the water.

[Mahk]

The main thing in common with all these is that there was absolutely no filtration or chemical treatment.

Drinking untreated stream water sounds very risky to me. You did not fear fish poo bacteria?

http://www.epa.gov/volunteer/stream/vms511.html

"If you plan on drinking water from a natural source, be sure to boil or filter and chemically treat the water (for general guidelines, see "Treatment of Drinking Water"). Even though fresh water from a stream or river looks clean, it may contain germs that can make you sick."

Source.

[gogs67]

Drinking untreated stream water sounds very risky to me. You did not fear fish poo bacteria?

http://www.epa.gov/volunteer/stream/vms511.html

I'd be real surprised if there were many fish in a West of Scotland mountain burn.
I'd be more worried about sheep shit actually, lol!

[Risker]

Mmmm... Weil's disease...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis

[john4703]

I agree that sheep are a bigger problem than fish and I think the biggest problem with sheep is the chemicals they are treated with.

[Mahk]

Mmmm... Weil's disease...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis

Oh Risker, you are such an alarmist. Although it is true that there are also thousands of other microscopic pathogens, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasites that are spread through un-treated water (mostly in developing countries), a mere 25,000 people die from them per day, so statistically we should all feel quite safe to drink any old water we choose.
Of the 1,800,000 annual deaths (2004) from diarrheal disease alone, only 88% are thought to be from drinking water, according to the WHO.