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Rainwater is an excellent source of drinking water whether you’re living on a homestead or surviving after a disaster. However, it’s not as simple as setting out buckets when it rains. You need to set up a proper rainwater harvesting system. And even then, you have to be careful not to make any serious mistakes.
In this video from the Youtube channel, Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead, Starry goes over 7 common mistakes people make when harvesting rainwater. Look over this list of mistakes and make sure you’re not making them or you’ll live to regret it.
Here they are:
- Forgetting to make sure it’s legal in your area.
- Using the wrong kind of barrel (the wrong kind will leach dangerous chemicals into your water).
- Buying expensive barrels. If you’re search hard enough, you can find them used.
- Not setting up a system for getting your water out (such as a spigot or pump).
- Not keeping your barrels covered (with sheets, screens, or even cooking oil).
- Forgetting to let rain rinse your roof for 10 minutes before collecting rainwater.
- Using a small system. It takes a lot of water to live.
Be sure to watch the video below where she expands on all of these points.
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How do you stop your rain water from getting algae growth when you collect large amounts?
Algae needs light to grow, consider trying to black out whatever you’re collecting in.
How do you wait before you collect the water? Do you have a cheap way to do that automatically? My rain gutters are attached to my barrels through a diverter. What should I use as a timer? How would that work? And, since my rain system is only for my garden, should I even care?
If it’s just for your garden then don’t worry about it. But if it’s for drinking, you can just cover the opening to your rain barrel and let the water spill onto the ground for about 10 minutes.
For drinking water you could boil it or filter it through an AquaRain or Big Berkey system, though even a Survivor Filter or LifeStraw would work.
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