Using rainwater

Misty Moon

Hi

I've done a quick search but didn't find anything so hope this question hasn't been covered before.

In a friend of a friend's house a couple of years ago I saw a rain barrel which had a tap fitted to the side of it. So rain was stored in the barrel and could then be poured through the tap into a bucket or watering can. I can't remember what the top of it looked like though. Presumably you can't just leave an open barrel full of water around (remember that ad from when I was a kid where someone fell into an open barrel of water and drowned - used to scare me to bits!). Does anyone use something like this? Where to you get one or is it just a case of making one out of whatever materials you can get your hands on?

I never bother asking at the time because I never had anything much to water but I moved house last year and have a nice garden going now and am growing courgettes, which need a huge amount of water. Would be interested to hear what other people do rather than using water from the tap. I do leave the watering can out and use whatever rain is in that first but would like to not have to use tap water at all.

Pocari Sweat

Misty, the barrels are called "water butts" and new 200 litre units can be bought from garden centres for around 40 euros with secure fitting lids and taps at the bottom.

You could get a much sturdier 200 litre used blue "chemical" barrel that has been used for food grade products, and these are for sale in some rural markets for around 20 euros each, with the top of the barrel cut and modified with a lift off lid. The barrels have wall thicknesses, several times that of the new garden centre water butts.

You will then need a 1/2 inch brass tap or a "hose bibcock" from a plumbing supplier which should only cost 4 euros but prices vary wildly. Also a 1/2 inch tank connector and 1/2 inch threaded socket fitting for a few euro extra.

Water collected from the roof has bird shyte in it, so don't drink it, and then it goes stagnant whilst it is sitting around.

Pocari Sweat

Cheaper still you can get good condition new looking, used blue chemical barrels from most coops and marts for around a fiver, but flush them through thoroughly getting out any contents still left in, and read the label to see if there is any nasty stuff in them before you buy.

If you want a lid, get a jigsaw and make a cut around the top at a 45 degree angle so the lid stays in place, or safer still make a semi-lid that is hinged in the middle, by cutting a semi-circular cut half way around the circumference of the top of the barrel, and drill a series of 5mm holes between the diameter to weaken the hinge flap joint, and then pull the half lid up and down along the line of holes a few times to create a moving hinge.

GG66

can't point you in the direction of a barrel but...

if you have lead flashing on your roof, you certainly shouldn't drink the water as lead poisoning is worse than swallowing bird s**t

I've also read that watering your garden with same water can lead to long term lead poisoning. Your courgettes absorb the lead, you eat the courgettes....

air

Surely the amount of exposure due to the small volume of water that would actually come into contact with the lead flashing would be pretty minimal?
Given that water was once widely delivered in lead pipes it cant be THAT serious a concern surely?
Then again better safe than sorry i guess.

More on topic, i think you can also get devices that are designed to stop debris - sticks, leaves etc from entering the barrel.

Pocari Sweat

Yes the roof lead issue is infact as much to reported accuracy as getting a written quote from a roofer with a full breakdown of materials and hourly labour and a refund at the end of the job because it took quicker to do than expected.

No, roof water may have large chunks of bird shyte which would not be tasty.

RiderOnTheStorm

I would not advocate drinking rainwater from a butt (but its ok to open your mouth and look up ;-) ) but the amount of bird poo is negligable. Consider all the bird / fish / rat droppings (not to mention boots / shopping trolies / oil-petrol waste from boat engines) that go into the resevoir that feeds into your house.

Rainwater in a barell is fine for garden watering. Afterall, birds poo directly onto your plants, dont they? Fine also for washing cars / windows / etc

Pocari Sweat

RiderOnTheStorm wrote:

I would not advocate drinking rainwater from a butt (but its ok to open your mouth and look up ;-) ) but the amount of bird poo is negligable. Consider all the bird / fish / rat droppings (not to mention boots / shopping trolies / oil-petrol waste from boat engines) that go into the resevoir that feeds into your house.

Rainwater in a barell is fine for garden watering. Afterall, birds poo directly onto your plants, dont they? Fine also for washing cars / windows / etc

Yeh, fine for waterin the cabbages. If some contaminants found in drinking water are way below safe parametric limits, they are fine. Bird shyte has e.coli in it though, and this is a self replicating contaminant, breeding to many times its original level. Also the safe drinking level for any bacteria is a plate count of zero. A plate count of 10 in any 100 ml sample of e.coli is considered gross contamination, and even just 1 is a fail with regard to health board tests for potable water.

Pocari Sweat

RiderOnTheStorm wrote:

... Consider all the bird / fish / rat droppings (not to mention boots / shopping trolies / oil-petrol waste from boat engines) that go into the resevoir that feeds into your house.

Drinking water from any source that has to be made fit for human consumption including reservoirs, does not end up in people's gobs with the stale smell of boots and the like. Its not that simple.

Drinking water gets sorted out by being put through a series of filtering and flocculation processes, and then gets sanitised by a finite level of chlorination and then is monitored by sanitary authorities to be able to pass all the parametric limits of 53 different core contaminants listed in EU drinking water regulations.

Bottled water found in any supermarket is ultimately more of a concern in terms of health and well being compared to municapal reservoir fed supplies.

Oldtree

We're on a group scheme where the intake pipe is at the edge of a lake, (septic tank overflows and slurry and nitrogen runoff, and birdy poo) and is not yet upgraded to eu standards. 40% of group schemes tested positive for fetal contamination and nitrogen contamination.
I used to get lots of bottled water, but the kettle furred up very regularly, so didn't want the mineral buildup inside me.
I have a barrel (and overflow pipe) with a standard filter attached, followed by a britta filter. The kettle never furres up. There has been no stomach upsets in the two years. I cannot abide the taste I now get of chlorine in bottled water.
I empty the barrel every month or so to stop stagnation, and clean it out of sediment.
The only long term problem is that a copper based collection system would be far better for me than a PVC one. I havn't yet run out of drinking water during the summer.

Pataman

If you contact BEL in sligo, they have a rainwaterharvesting system that includes a treatment system to make it potable.

Pocari Sweat

Using bottled mineral water in a kettle will raise the temperature of the water past 72 degrees which is the point at which the dissolved mineral calcium carbonate (lime) precipitates out of the water to scale the heating element or end up partly as scum on the surface of the water.

Boiling water therefore softens the water in tea and coffee. A kettle is a mini water softener as such. To avoid the mineral lime getting inside you, simply boil your hard tap water or bottled water.

Rain water falls from clouds as soft water, and does not reach the limescale rock bands found over most parts of ireland and percolate through the lime based rocks and become hard, if the rainfall goes straight off a roof and into a barrel.

You may not need to go to the 5,000 euro expense of a BEL system with ozone and UV, if you use a combination of simple GAC granular activated carbon and Ultra Violet costing a fraction of the price combined, usually just a 1,000 euros.

Lab test both water samples, (BEL 5,000 euro v's GAC+UV 1,000 euro) and both will achieve Health Board certifications for compliance with drinking regulations if properly specified and installed, the latter also being simpler and cheaper to service with as long a life, with periodic carbon refills.

Add a reverse osmosis unit for around 500 and a Doulton ceramic filter at point of use for drinking at 100 euros and for 1,600 euros total you can have an exceptional level of purified drinking water well above the quality level of the BEL system with a TDS level (total dissolved solids) usually in single figures and a numerical likelyhood of passing at least 10,000 Health Board bacterial water tests as zero coliforms in concurrent succession.

canboy

Any ideas about collecting rainwater and pumping it up into the header tank in the attic for use in toilets and washing etc.

djpbarry

Old thread is old.