how potable is roof rain water?

[doelake]

fecal bacteria can be fatal if ingested....dysentery would be the mildest form of intestinal infection. In Walkerton, Ontario, dozens of people died do to complications of a contaminated town water system when nearby farm fields covered with cow manure leached into the drinking water.
Chlorine must be added to your water cistern for a lengthy contact time to kill the bacteria, UV helps but it is not residual, stored water can see organisms re-develop....charcoal filters remove sediment and tastes but not bacteria
The safest drinking water system is the deep well, not under the influence of ground water.
Good Luck

 

[Ken45101]

The safest drinking water system is the deep well, not under the influence of ground water.
Good Luck

The local horse clubs put in a 150' deep well at a state park for horse water. The water quality is so bad, even the horses won't drink it!

Ken

 

[doelake]

The local horse clubs put in a 150' deep well at a state park for horse water. The water quality is so bad, even the horses won't drink it!

Ken

Is that from bacteria, a serious health issue, or from smell such as sulfur? Deep wells are the safest, but by no means infallible. that is why water treatment has become such an important part of our everyday lives....natural water quality cannot be trusted as decades ago.
I have 3 wells, 1@ 250', 1@350' and the deepest is 500'. Water quality is often perfect, but a spider of fallen leaf can affect the bacteria count. Wells use the natural strata for filtration, but minerals can still affect smell, taste and quality

 

[kleetus]

As a kid, I remember a family friend who used rainwater for drinking. They had a diverter on the downspout to flush to first part of a rainstorm. Being back in the 1950's, I'm sure they didn't have any high tech gadgets.

Our current house has two cisterns fed with rain water, no diverter, directly into a pump in the basement. However, county water was put in before we bought the place.

For your RV, you could do what we do with our camper: bring some water jugs from home (1 gallon to 5 gallon) for actual drinking/cooking water. We don't usually sanitize the RV tank and we just use it for washing dishes, washing hands and showers.

Ken

bringing jugs is what I have been doing and just drinking that, but I wanted to see if drinking the roof water was an option.

btw the reason we arent digging a well yet.. our neighbors well who lives at the same elevation as us is a few hundred yards away, and his well is 1100 feet deep.. so its going to be expensive. im guessing somewhere in the 35-40k range.

 

[teg]

Would your neighbor let you tap into his system for $$$. Maybe install a hydrant at his property line that you could fill your jugs or hook up a garden hose to?

 

[moored4]

............................................................

btw the reason we arent digging a well yet.. our neighbors well who lives at the same elevation as us is a few hundred yards away, and his well is 1100 feet deep.. so its going to be expensive. im guessing somewhere in the 35-40k range.

Sometimes this can be a very good Ideal :thumbsup: and other times A very VERY bad one :thumbdown: !

Talk to your neighbour and see if sharing a well would be posiable! Offering him 20K/or 1/2 of a well his depth would cost today to drill! He would get half for him and half would go in a account that could be drawn off of to maintain the well but at the time of withdrawel he would have to match the maintiance upkeep money on a equall at the time of use! Make sure a lawyer is involved and bouth parties are protected!
Hope I made that clear!

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Moose was not a typo, just a test to see who was paying attention.

 

[DAY]

If you ever went to Bermuda, you drank rain water off the roof- it is the only source they have. A roof washing system is easy to make, and in many parts of the world (and USA!) rain water is safer than what the city supplies.
But stay away from Yellow Snow. . .

 

[kleetus]

If you ever went to Bermuda, you drank rain water off the roof- it is the only source they have. A roof washing system is easy to make, and in many parts of the world (and USA!) rain water is safer than what the city supplies.
But stay away from Yellow Snow. . .

whats wrong with lemon snow cones.....

 

[tawilson]

Moose was not a typo, just a test to see who was paying attention.

Oh, I thought you meant to say goat.:thumbsup: