songbird wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:
songbird wrote:

there are decent (low tech even) systems which reject
the first amount of runoff from a rooftop collection
system which avoids most of the "gunk".

We drink the rainwater we collect from our various roof surfaces as do
all of our rural neighbours. There is no way known that we would ever
install those 'first flush' diverters. It wastes too much water from
what might be a brief passing rain event.

if i were in that dire of a situation (where i couldn't
afford 1 bucket to be diverted to a garden) i'd be looking
at a filtering system, enclosed greenhouses and other
water vapor preserving methods.

I have my own private well for all my water needs, that water is
filtered for sediment, treated with UV, softened, and for drinking
pre-softened water passes through a Reverse Osmosis filter... thing is
an RO filter makes 3-4 gallons of gray water for each gallon of
filtered water, that gray water is piped to my lawn where it flows via
gravity to water a few shrubs. Were I collecting rain water for
drinking I would definitely RO filter it, untreated rain water is
poluted. Anyone drinking collected rain water is drinking worse
quality water than the gray water from my RO filter. No one drinks so
much water in a day that they can't afford to produce some as gray
water, certainly less than a few toilet flushes. RO filters are very
inexpensive, costs far less than element filters and works a thousand
fold better than any other filtration system. Considering the price
of an RO filter and the cost of water (I still need to pay for my well
water in electric and maintainence) each gallon of RO filtered water
costs five cents... and also saves more than it costs in not having to
buy bottled water... bottled water is just ordinary tap water, albeit
from someone elses tap... buying bottled water is paying for plastic
bottles and transportation, the water is pretty much free... those
plastic bottles are huge polutants.