On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 17:33:19 -0000, Bill Grey wrote:

It's a pity we can't ask the folk who lived in Ystalyfera in the Swansea
Valley circa 1866 ...

Or the around Broad Street, Soho, London in 1854. People of
Ystalyfera had obviously not done a proper risk assesment based on
the discoveries of John Snow 12 years previously.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mar 4, 2:47*pm, Dave Hill wrote:
I just wonder how Homo sapiens ever managed to develop to where we are
today without the aid of Health and Safety


We mostly died young in days of yore.

On Mar 4, 6:04*pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"Moonraker" wrote in message

...

On 02/03/2012 23:35, Martin wrote:
In the late 1950's I worked on an outstation in the RAF. The only water we
had was that collected off the roof, which we had to boil before drinking.
However we had a new M.O. posted to the main station, one of his first
tasks was to analyse the water we were drinking. He soon arranged for a
regular delivery of water to us, for, amongst other impurities, he found
there was a fair amount of arsenic the water garnered off the roof, so I
would not drink yours without careful analysis by a professional.

--
Residing on low ground untill recently and is a common industrialpollutant. in North Staffordshire

Question - Do people often die of arsenic poisoning?

Answer - No only once!.

Bill

Arsenic is a cumulative poison so the answer is yes. You die by
degrees.
There will probably be arsenic closer to you than you think.
It was in widespread until recently use and is a common industrial
pollutant.

In article ,
harry wrote:

Arsenic is a cumulative poison so the answer is yes. You die by
degrees.
There will probably be arsenic closer to you than you think.
It was in widespread until recently use and is a common industrial
pollutant.

Well, even closer than that - your body will contain some. There is
increasing evidence that it is an important micronutrient - see:

http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/...l/7401148.html

The truth is rarely pure and never simple :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"harry" wrote in message
...
On Mar 4, 6:04 pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"Moonraker" wrote in message

...

On 02/03/2012 23:35, Martin wrote:
In the late 1950's I worked on an outstation in the RAF. The only water
we
had was that collected off the roof, which we had to boil before
drinking.
However we had a new M.O. posted to the main station, one of his first
tasks was to analyse the water we were drinking. He soon arranged for a
regular delivery of water to us, for, amongst other impurities, he found
there was a fair amount of arsenic the water garnered off the roof, so I
would not drink yours without careful analysis by a professional.

--
Residing on low ground untill recently and is a common
industrialpollutant. in North Staffordshire

Question - Do people often die of arsenic poisoning?

Answer - No only once!.

Bill

Arsenic is a cumulative poison so the answer is yes. You die by
degrees.


Come now Harry read what is written. No one dies often :-)

Bill

On Mar 5, 2:26*pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"harry" wrote in message

...
On Mar 4, 6:04 pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:





"Moonraker" wrote in message

...

On 02/03/2012 23:35, Martin wrote:
In the late 1950's I worked on an outstation in the RAF. The only water
we
had was that collected off the roof, which we had to boil before
drinking.
However we had a new M.O. posted to the main station, one of his first
tasks was to analyse the water we were drinking. He soon arranged for a
regular delivery of water to us, for, amongst other impurities, he found
there was a fair amount of arsenic the water garnered off the roof, so I
would not drink yours without careful analysis by a professional.

--
Residing on low ground untill recently and is a common
industrialpollutant. in North Staffordshire

Question - Do people often die of arsenic poisoning?

Answer - No only once!.

Bill

Arsenic is a cumulative poison so the answer is yes. You die by
degrees.

Come now Harry read what is written. No one dies often :-)

Bill- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

A common way for gardeners to get arsenic is by burning old pressure
treated fence posts in the garden. The arsenic gets into the soil &
thence into their vegetables.

Also present in smoke and soot from burning coal.
Gardeners used to put soot on the garden. Some still do.

wrote in message ...
In article ,
Bill Grey wrote:

Risk assessment! Now there's a phrase to chill the heart of any
sensible person, and stymie the enjoyment of the most basic pleasure
activity.

It's all to do with insurance and this modern society where ambulance
chasers and claims lawyers with "no win no fee" promises rule!

Boggle. Er, no. It considerably predates that, and is part of
game theory, military strategy, statistics or what have you.
I use it a great deal, including for pleasure activities, usually
to say "What the hell - THAT risk is too low to be worth bothering
with - I'll just do it."

The number of times I have had sloppy thinkers claim that I am
taking ridiculous risks, including recently when I went downhill
skiing for the first time at 64 with no vestibular (inner ear
balance) function at all, is legion. Oh, and no damn helmet.
The risk was negligible, if assessed competently, but they were
still claiming otherwise on the basis of emotional reaction.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Quite right! Live your life as you see fit.

Bill

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 17:33:19 -0000, Bill Grey wrote:

It's a pity we can't ask the folk who lived in Ystalyfera in the Swansea
Valley circa 1866 ...

Or the around Broad Street, Soho, London in 1854. People of
Ystalyfera had obviously not done a proper risk assesment based on
the discoveries of John Snow 12 years previously.

--
Cheers
Dave.

News an information was not so readily available in those days. The
circumstances that prevailed in the mid nineteenth century in Ystalyfera
were not conducive to wholesale revamping of the sewerage system or other
causes of poultion. Your trivial comment on risk assessment smacks of
ignorance and disrespect to a tragic community.

Bill

On Mar 5, 7:52*pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message

ll.co.uk...

On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 17:33:19 -0000, Bill Grey wrote:

It's a pity we can't ask the folk who lived in Ystalyfera in the Swansea
Valley circa 1866 ...

Or the around Broad Street, Soho, London in 1854. People of
Ystalyfera had obviously not done a proper risk assesment based on
the discoveries of John Snow 12 years previously.

--
Cheers
Dave.

News an information was not so readily available in those days. The
circumstances that prevailed in the mid nineteenth century in Ystalyfera
were not conducive to wholesale revamping of the sewerage system or other
causes of poultion. *Your trivial comment on risk assessment smacks of
ignorance and disrespect to a tragic community.

Bill

More likely, whoever owned the housing didn't give a toss/didn't
believe it/won-appen-ter-me-guv..

"harry" wrote in message
...
On Mar 5, 7:52 pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message

ll.co.uk...

On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 17:33:19 -0000, Bill Grey wrote:

It's a pity we can't ask the folk who lived in Ystalyfera in the
Swansea
Valley circa 1866 ...

Or the around Broad Street, Soho, London in 1854. People of
Ystalyfera had obviously not done a proper risk assesment based on
the discoveries of John Snow 12 years previously.

--
Cheers
Dave.

News an information was not so readily available in those days. The
circumstances that prevailed in the mid nineteenth century in Ystalyfera
were not conducive to wholesale revamping of the sewerage system or other
causes of poultion. Your trivial comment on risk assessment smacks of
ignorance and disrespect to a tragic community.

Bill

More likely, whoever owned the housing didn't give a toss/didn't
believe it/won-appen-ter-me-guv

Wrong Harry - you're living in a different century.
People then simply didn't know the dangers, or the cause of their illness.

Bill

"AL_n" wrote in message
...
What is the best way of keeping rainwater-butt-water clean and unpolluted
so that it remains safely drinkable? The rainwater will be collected from
the roof of my house via the guttering downpipe.

Thanks...

Al

Why do you want to drink rainwater out of a butt?
Just interested.
Do you not have perfectly clean and safe water coming through your taps?

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"AL_n" wrote in message
...
What is the best way of keeping rainwater-butt-water clean and unpolluted
so that it remains safely drinkable? The rainwater will be collected from
the roof of my house via the guttering downpipe.

Thanks...

Al

Why do you want to drink rainwater out of a butt?
Just interested.
Do you not have perfectly clean and safe water coming through your taps?


I think there is a mistaken belief that if you have a septic tank sewage
system and disconnect your mains supply, that you will have no water bills,
sadly not true as you still have to pay a standing charge of around 8-9
pounds per quarter, this is a so called environmental charge.

Its a lot easier to set up a bore hole or well (a lot of older properties
will have a well if you can find it) but the OP wanted to know how to make
it safe to drink rain water from a butt, which in my view is either by
boiling or a UV filter but I think they may have lost interest with the
thread as it got sidetracked!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in news:9rp2o3Fgu4U1
@mid.individual.net:

the OP wanted to know how to make
it safe to drink rain water from a butt, which in my view is either by
boiling or a UV filter but I think they may have lost interest with the
thread as it got sidetracked!

Still somewhat interested in the thread. Having read the helpful comments,
I think I have a much better grasp of the (fairly low) risks involved in
drinking rainwater-butt water. If the water becomes too cruddy-looking with
too many low-life squatters swimming around, I'll probably boil it. Then I
won't have nightmares about Alien IV bursting out of my gut at some
inconvenient moment. :-)

Al

"AL_n" wrote in
:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in
news:9rp2o3Fgu4U1 @mid.individual.net:

the OP wanted to know how to make
it safe to drink rain water from a butt, which in my view is either
by boiling or a UV filter but I think they may have lost interest
with the thread as it got sidetracked!

Still somewhat interested in the thread. Having read the helpful
comments, I think I have a much better grasp of the (fairly low) risks
involved in drinking rainwater-butt water. If the water becomes too
cruddy-looking with too many low-life squatters swimming around, I'll
probably boil it. Then I won't have nightmares about Alien IV bursting
out of my gut at some inconvenient moment. :-)

Al


PS..
And I am thinking of buying a ceramic 0.5 micron ceramic water filter which
will give me about a gallon of clean water to hand - which is more than
enough for my needs. Although the air in my part of the country is very
clean, my gutters still accumulate some dirty sediment, which is not
something I'd like to be ingesting - even in small amounts.

Al

In article ,
says...

"AL_n" wrote in
:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in
news:9rp2o3Fgu4U1 @mid.individual.net:

the OP wanted to know how to make
it safe to drink rain water from a butt, which in my view is either
by boiling or a UV filter but I think they may have lost interest
with the thread as it got sidetracked!

Still somewhat interested in the thread. Having read the helpful
comments, I think I have a much better grasp of the (fairly low) risks
involved in drinking rainwater-butt water. If the water becomes too
cruddy-looking with too many low-life squatters swimming around, I'll
probably boil it. Then I won't have nightmares about Alien IV bursting
out of my gut at some inconvenient moment. :-)

Al


PS..
And I am thinking of buying a ceramic 0.5 micron ceramic water filter which
will give me about a gallon of clean water to hand - which is more than
enough for my needs. Although the air in my part of the country is very
clean, my gutters still accumulate some dirty sediment, which is not
something I'd like to be ingesting - even in small amounts.

A filter will remove sediment.But it's probably not fine enough to
remove any bacteria growing in the sediment.

Janet.