is rainwater potable?

Question

which treatment would be needed to make it potable

Answer 1

These days there are devices which divert the first bit of flow, which contains dust and dirt, but you still need a good filter to keep out insects, vermin, etc. It is safe to drink, but I would prefer a secondary microfilter, just to be sure!

Answer 2

I once caught rain water in a pan set outside in the Los Angeles area and then drank it. It had a strong metallic taste. I did collect it in a metal pan, but I expect it was not the pan that caused the taste. It was probably acidic, as in acid rain. Not dangerous to drink, but not good tasting. You just have to be sure that anything that it touches is clean. A clean dish set outside where the rain falls directly into it without first hitting a roof or tree is potable. But rain collected from a roof is as dirty as the roof. You could collect rain from your roof, filter out the dirt and then put those camping tablets in it to kill bacteria. But the best use of rainwater is to water plants. In that case, just collect it from the roof and keep it to water plants. Most people use far more water in the yard than in the house anyway.

Answer 3

As long as you don"t contaminate it when you collect it.
Rain water could pick up contaminants from the air but in the same environment you would probably pick up more yourself.
Rain water is fairly pure like distilled water,it does not contain minerals that are sometimes a good thing to ingest.
Don"t worry you can drink rain water.

Answer 4

It's not drinkable in the Chicago area. I tried collecting some and tasting it. Terrible. That's pollution for you. I wouldn't know how to purify it. Turn it into steam and then cool the steam? Nature's was is to let it filter through soil and flow into fresh water lakes and rivers.

Answer 5

Bird poop on the roof. About 3 PPM will kill all the problems . Get u a pool tester for chlorine will work at the bottom end. Boiling also works fine.