Is All Rain Water Drinkable

Use a tank you already have or measure out gallons of water for everything to see how much water you use.

Is all rain water drinkable. Water used for household purposes for drinking food preparation or bathing should meet water quality guidelines in order to protect you and your family s health. The public drinking water supply in many parts of the world is often laced with fluoride and chlorine for the purpose of killing off germs in the water. However rainwater is not quite as pure and clean as you may might think so never assume the rain dripping down from your roof is safe to drink. Collecting rain water at home or in a survival situation may well be your only choice for drinking water.

Since the rain has to pass through the immediate atmosphere of an area before eventually falling to the ground you might find yourself dealing with a couple of contaminants that could potentially make the water more harmful than good. The supply of clean water has depleted thus an alternative method is harvesting rainwater. For emergency or short term use of rain barrel water for drinking boiling is the best way to purify it because boiling kills viruses parasites and bacteria that cause diarrhea. Due to population growth global warming and climate change water has become scarce in many countries around the world.

Thus drinking rain water that has been properly harvested and adequately filtered is an acceptable form of drinking water in many cases better than tap water or bottled water. Cisterns that are intended for drinking water should be properly maintained 8 11. In this article we will tackle the four methods on how to filter rainwater to make it safe for drinking. Most rainwater is safe to drink.

Keep in mind rain does pick up low levels of bacteria as well as dust and occasional insect parts. The common misconception is that all rainwater is safe to drink but unfortunately this is not the case. Calculate how much water you and your family use on a month to month basis and build your rainwater storage accordingly. However sometimes too much of these minerals are put in the supply and this can cause various health problems like headaches gastritis and damaged body organs.

Water intended for drinking needs to be filtered disinfected and tested regularly 9 12. Rain water is similar in ph to demineralized waters like distilled and reverse osmosis. Actually rainwater is the water supply for much of the world s population. Consider adding a screen to the water inlet or emptying the rain barrel in less than 10 days to prevent mosquitoes from using the rain barrel as a breeding site 9.