drinking rainwater

[billi]

Hi

after  installing a filtersystem  for our whole watersupply , feeded by a little stream  and contained the water in a concrete tank , we sent a sample to the water testing crowd and they said  our water meets

the EU  standards  i start to drink the water  ,still ok  just have to figure out how to cope with the Hydrogen Sulphide Or and  manganese . I guess  O2 is the answer 


billi

[The Slow Old Man]

Hi Billi
How about a ultra violet bug killer just in case something unpleasant happens upstream.

[billi]

hello brian
no need for that.... bacteria , virus is filtered out without energy use  by the filter (hopefully    )

[The Slow Old Man]

Wow thats one hell of a filter then . How often do you need to change it. your average bacteria is about 10 to 1 micron viruses tend to be 1 micron to 500 nanometers although the human parvo virus is only 20 nanometers.

[billi]

intresting !

filter claims to remove 99.9 % bacterias


ceramic cartiges inserts for tapwater filters  ( can be bought  everywhere )claim the same

but cannot be back flushed 

billi

 

[Shay]

My water supply system is a energy guzzling disaster-
152m deep bored well. I
It consists of an iron/manganese brown soup.

Treatment system as follows:
Rag filter
Iron/manganese ion exchnage system
charcoal filter
UV lamp
and a Reverse Osmosis with further UV under sink for drinking water.
I have just measured the power consumption of the UV...43 watts at 24 hours = 1.03kWh.....feck

[The Slow Old Man]

Expensive in electricity i agree but Eleanor's parents neighbours turned there UV off to save money and they all went down with a  nasty stomach upset , must of cost them more in toilet roll .

[djh]

When I was a lad, the rule was to check a mile upstream from anywhere you wanted to drink water - to make sure a sheep hadn't died in the stream. So I guess in that situation there's a lot of UV filtering but not much mechanical filtering 

[billi]

hi

my desition upto now was  ( because same as shay describes)  save the money for a bored well ( about 2000 euros) save the money for a 100meters high pumping pump ( 500 euros) and then have to deal with unclean water needing a manganese , iron filter  (another 1000 euros i guess)

I am against deep bored wells any how , strange enough but i have the feeling it changes the waterlines, waterways , tables in the ground to lower the levels of available water ( perhaps kuku  )

so what to do with 3500 euros  spare.... to invest into a waterfilter

UV ok but running costs 40 Watt an hour allways on and each year a new bulb ?  (tough case for my pv array  )  over 100 euros the bulb

reverse osmoses i guess would be the most safe idea ( costs about 3000 euros for a normal house) and i nearly went for it--- perhaps later

i went for a filtration idea thats called ultrafiltration (seems to work upto now ) main concern were bacterias.....

common system to recover graywater/wastewater  , to use the overflow of septic tank and (belive me or not ) bring it back to the house for  flushing toilets again

the iron or manganese problem or the resulting Hydrogen Sulphide that is causing a problem in our hot water storrage tank , i hope to solve by adding O2 with a areating pump to the water befor the filter ....

will see  ( did work befor with a 12 volt air-compressor and one of my 100 watt pv panel  )


I know there are health risks , but because others have mains water it doesnot mean its 100% save either


Billi

the water we collect is coming from not farmed land and of our own land , because i have no roof to collect rainwater
But thoughts are to place 100 sqm pondliner on the land and channel it to a containor ( but again 100 sqm of pondliner is 1000 euros = more money for a filter)

[Shay]

Billi,

Ring these guys in sligo, they use Ozone to sterilise rainwater. I talked to them a while back their Ozonator consumes very little power compared to UV. The problem with UV is that it has to left on 24/7.


http://www.eil.ie/rainwater_harvesting.html

[billi]

thanks Shay

ozone is a very intresting idea


for our  main tap for cooking , washing salat- vegetables etc.. we have this ozone waterfilter powered by the water pressure  (little waterturbine inside)  called ozoneboy  (martin thats a chinese product not a sunnyboy from allemania )


cheers billi

[Paulh_Boats]

Billi,

Here's a suggestion:

Put up a large greenhouse, grow spring and winter crops inside to extend your home grown food season and collect water from its roof which you feed into the UV filter system.

In Ireland a greenhouse roof should collect enough for drinking/cooking and it should be good quality? 

Then use the other water sources for washing/flushing.

[billi]

cheers but my water is fine    its EU standard  without paying 

all test results are ok  , beside manganese

I do not have many neighbours here with their deep bored wells  that do better 

billi


But Paul you are right use the greenhouse roof water for showers washing, toilet
and the inside condensing or swetting water of the plants for drinking  ,  no uv needed

[dhaslam]

Billi,

The problem with UV is that it has to left on 24/7.

http://www.eil.ie/rainwater_harvesting.html

I wonder if it is necessary.   Would it be possible to link it to the pump and turn it on at the same time or just before? 

[Shay]

Billi,

The problem with UV is that it has to left on 24/7.

http://www.eil.ie/rainwater_harvesting.html

I wonder if it is necessary.   Would it be possible to link it to the pump and turn it on at the same time or just before? 

There was a logical reason that it has to left on....cant remember why.