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Flushing toilets with rainwater is one thing, outhouses and drinking rainwater another. We have health codes for a reason. We modern people have no memory of

Flushing toilets with rainwater is one thing, outhouses and drinking rainwater another. We have health codes for a reason. We modern people have no memory of what cholera is like. It and all its nasty friends are out there waiting for us to make a mistake.

dtgriscom 5y ago
You don't get cholera from drinking rainwater, unless it's contaminated by something terrestrial.
tharkun__ 5y ago
What is t he problem specifically with drinking rainwater? Sure, I don't want to drink rainwater that fell on my asphalt shingle roof. I also don't really want to drink the rain water the ultimately ends up in the river I live near to and which the city sewers empty into (including upstream cities) but that's what they do. Sure that water is treated before it arrives through pipes into people's houses. I'd take properly collected and treated rainwater directly from my own property any day over that.
- sandworm101 5y ago
  It's great when it comes strait from the clouds. What did it land on? How was it stored? How did it get from one to the other? Rainwater isn't pure water. It will contain dust and pollen. The system it lands on (ie a roof) will also have other things land on it (birds/insects etc). So by the time it gets to the storage tank the "pure" rainwater might contain a wide variety other stuff. Drinking it without treatment isn't always a great idea.
  - tharkun__ 5y ago
    I never said it was pure and I never said I'd drink it "pure" and even gave a specifically bad example (the asphalt shingle roof runoff) and mentioned proper treatment and catchment. This is not the kind of system you'd probably find doable on a small city lot and yes I guess people would be tempted to just drink their asphalt shingle roof runoff - until they see the water. But the context presumably is acreage type off-grid living. The landscape can also help. Dunno if you saw a recent-ish article here on HN on some South American farmers directing rain water such that it flows slowly through various layers on slopes until it reaches the bottom even having it re-emerge as natural springs in some places. Won't work if you live on the prairies, sure. Could work in other locations.
dreamcompiler 5y ago
Drinking rainwater is easy and healthy. Yes it's best to filter it and let the sediment fall out and treat it with UV (all of which is reasonably inexpensive, and necessary to remove the dirt and bird poop that was sitting on your roof) but it's quite soft and free of chlorine and fluoride. It's essentially distilled water. For the benefit of your teeth you should use a fluoride toothpaste, but other than that there's nothing unhealthy about drinking rainwater.

dtgriscom 5y ago

You don't get cholera from drinking rainwater, unless it's contaminated by something terrestrial.

tharkun__ 5y ago

What is t he problem specifically with drinking rainwater? Sure, I don't want to drink rainwater that fell on my asphalt shingle roof. I also don't really want to drink the rain water the ultimately ends up in the river I live near to and which the city sewers empty into (including upstream cities) but that's what they do. Sure that water is treated before it arrives through pipes into people's houses. I'd take properly collected and treated rainwater directly from my own property any day over that.

sandworm101 5y ago
It's great when it comes strait from the clouds. What did it land on? How was it stored? How did it get from one to the other? Rainwater isn't pure water. It will contain dust and pollen. The system it lands on (ie a roof) will also have other things land on it (birds/insects etc). So by the time it gets to the storage tank the "pure" rainwater might contain a wide variety other stuff. Drinking it without treatment isn't always a great idea.
- tharkun__ 5y ago
  I never said it was pure and I never said I'd drink it "pure" and even gave a specifically bad example (the asphalt shingle roof runoff) and mentioned proper treatment and catchment. This is not the kind of system you'd probably find doable on a small city lot and yes I guess people would be tempted to just drink their asphalt shingle roof runoff - until they see the water. But the context presumably is acreage type off-grid living. The landscape can also help. Dunno if you saw a recent-ish article here on HN on some South American farmers directing rain water such that it flows slowly through various layers on slopes until it reaches the bottom even having it re-emerge as natural springs in some places. Won't work if you live on the prairies, sure. Could work in other locations.

dreamcompiler 5y ago

Drinking rainwater is easy and healthy. Yes it's best to filter it and let the sediment fall out and treat it with UV (all of which is reasonably inexpensive, and necessary to remove the dirt and bird poop that was sitting on your roof) but it's quite soft and free of chlorine and fluoride. It's essentially distilled water. For the benefit of your teeth you should use a fluoride toothpaste, but other than that there's nothing unhealthy about drinking rainwater.