On 12/31/2014 6:50 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Boron Elgar wrote:
On Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:52:16 +1100, Fran Farmer
wrote:

On 30/12/2014 9:10 AM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
Managed to save 2 trashcans full from our recent welcome rains.

Plan to use them for potted plants, indoor & out. They are SO much
happier with clean sky water! You folks that get rain don't
realize how precious this is.

Water may last quite a while. Should I chlorinate it to avoid
--what? Haven't seen any mosquitoes breeding over last [censored]
years...but...

If yes, how much bleach per 32 gal trash can?

TIA

HB


Why go to the trouble of collecting clean water, that you claim is
better for your plants, to then pollute it? What do you imagine
might grow in it that would harm your plants? To repel mossies
hang socks around the rim of the tubs.

:-)) I once saw a question in a newsgroup from someone who asked
whether he could drink rainwater. You can imagine how that made me
roll around laughing.


http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drin...ollection.html


http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-wat...ink-78356.html


http://www.harvesth2o.com/filtration...l#.VKQLoSvF-6U

Sure there are risks involved in anything that you ingest but these
articles are not balanced. There seems to be an unstated assumption in
relation to modern public health (often from the USA) that anything that
is not sterile is a serious risk. We see this in 100 ways, where you
can't eat this or touch that, your kitchen benches MUST be cleaned with
some handy dandy steriliser and you will drop dead if any human hand has
touched the food before you put it in your mouth.

This is a relflection of ignorance, stupid officials covering their
arses, commercial interest in selling 'remedies' and the consequences of
(what seems to outsiders) of endemic poor commercial food handling
practices that result in mass poisoning by strains of E Coli in
supermarket salad veges. This is of course intertwinned with a big dose
of "yuuuuuuccckkkkk how could you possibly (eat, touch, drink) that"
from people who have no idea where food or drink come from nor the
trillions of microorganisms to be found in every part of your house.
This view conveniently ignores the fact that your environment is never
sterile and never will be. You will always need the defences of your
body to keep out foreign organisms.

It is as if a whole generation have compromised immune systems are will
drop like flies of not kept in an airtight bubble.

In country Australia 90% of domestic water is collected from roofs and
aside from gross fitering to keep out solids and insects it is
untreated. It is fine water and there is no pattern of ill health
because of it and no attempt by authorities to regulate it or to insist
on treatment. Such water is never hard and is never over-chlorinated
(because it isn't chlorinated) and you never get transmission of
diseases to millions such as happens from time to time with reticulated
water. I am thinking things like Giardia and Cryptosporidium that have
been found in major city (eg Sydney) water supplies. There is city (eg
Adelaide) water that is so hard that people buy bottled water to wash
their hair.

The last time I was on town water it tasted terrible and every time I
ran the shower I got a coughing fit from the chlorine. To me the health
risks from those things were far worse than the possibility of the yuk
factor from a bit of bird poo. As if city water supplies never get bird
poo or dead animals in them, the difference is you don't see it. Sure
the water is treated but mostly this is chlorine and as the articles say
some bugs are resistant to it.

I am reminded of a very large dinner party where I served dessert and
forgot the garnish of sliced guava. I brought out the dish of garnish
and asked who wanted any. Some said yes others no. One said he would
have some if I used a spoon to serve. So I got a spoon and served and
he had some and ate it with relish. I later explained that I had to
touch the fruit to peel and slice it and in fact every dish that he had
eaten through the night had been touched by those same paws and
consequently if I was infected death would be quick and nasty. He
sheepishly admitted that he knew that there was no real risk but he just
couldn't WATCH me use my fingers and then eat the food I had touched.

So the upshot of it is there are risks to living and you should not
imagine that those risks are eliminated in town water or necessarily
greater in roof water.

But we drift OT as HB never said anything about drinking it. What is
your opinion on treating rainwater for the garden?


Mine, if containers were clean, and when water filled kept covered,
there is no need to chlorinate it if just used to water plants. Trash
cans should have been washed with maybe a little bleach before catching
the water.

No water problem here. I'm on a well but believe those on municipal
water are paying about $60/month. Can't begin to imagine what it costs
in areas like So. Cal. and can't imagine having to ration it.