You can safely drink rainwater if you have a clean collecting container. The water itself is clean, but it can get infested with all types of bacteria in contact with a container or with the ground. Most days, you can drink safe rainwater if you properly collect it in a barrel or any other clean container.
Collecting rainwater in old containers is not ideal. Bacteria and even rust pose a tremendous threat to clean drinking water and to your health. If you want to drink rainwater yourself, you need to collect it in clean containers.
You should know that rainwater is clean as long as it falls directly from the sky in the container. If it comes in contact with other objects such as the roof of your house, it might get infected with bacteria, rust, and other pollutants.
You should also avoid drinking water from the ground as it comes in contact with plants, earth, and other possible chemicals such as pesticides you use in your garden.
How to make rainwater safer?
You can make rainwater even safer at home. For most areas of the world, simply using a clean container is sufficient. But here are 2 extra safety measures you can put into practice.
Consider a water filter
Water filters can be the easiest method to ensure rainwater is safe to drink on the spot. There are various types of filters you can choose from those which filter out sand particles to nano-filters which are known to eliminate most bacteria. You can attach one to your rainwater collection container.
Simply boil the water
Boiling water is one of the best options to kill off any bacteria. You can boil rainwater at home to make it drinkable. However, you should only consider boiling it if you have a clean collecting container as impurities might still be present after boiling.
Both of these methods are used across the world for drinking and washing water. You can collect rainwater in the backyard for drought periods. But traditionally, rainwater is also collected around the world for agriculture. If you want a lush green garden, you can collect rainwater in large barrels which can then be used as sources of water in drought periods.
Is acid rain dangerous?
Acid rain has been on the news several times over the past few years. This type of rain is formed in the interaction of water with carbon dioxide in the air. However, acid rain is mostly a problem in volcanic areas. If you don’t live next to a volcano, you don’t have too many reasons to worry about acid rain yourself.
Rainwater used to be the only source of clean water for human consumption. You can consider this type of water for consumption as it can even be cleaner than other types of public source water that reaches your home through old rusty pipes.
