Hmm, I have a 40 gal rain barrel that I collect rain in for my house plants and Bonsai. The hardness of our tap water is well over 20 grains, which is toxic to house plants and especially my Bonsai. They thrive on rainwater. Actually, I don't make an effort to keep my rain barrel sterile, so it's probably not very good to drink.

benjammin, who would have thought our water situation would continue to decelerate like this. Growing up in Fla, we use to drink out of the springs many years while growing up without boiling water or anything. Then as I went from skin diving to cave diving, I began to get ear infections from the higher nitrite levels from agriculture farming. Then the levels kept accelerating year after year and as the water temps begin to rise due to longer summers (global warming or what have you) we began to have the killer amoebas that was killing off the kids. Then more and more pesticides and petroleum entered our aquifer due to over development has made water even more difficult and now the latest threat has been medications, drugs and and other traces have been noted in the PPB (Parts per Billion) range. This is how the nitrides started in the early 90's when we first ran into it. It started in PPB then PPM and now............

Along time ago I boiled my water, then distilled it, then I had to use a carbon filter and distilled and UV'ed it. Now with medicine in it, I'm trying to figure how to solve that equation. I have a Pur 35 and a still to convert sea water to fresh but now our coast has increasing petroleum products in the water as well as feces from the cruse ships providing I don't get bit by a shark wading in ankle deep water.

Any ideas?
Any solutions?
We are at the next level and it's cranked up a notch.

Actually, I am in the water business in a bigger way. I work on major water/wastewater systems. Right now I am working as a consultant for one of the municipalities in central florida. Last year I was in Brisbane Australia working on developing/constructing a recycled water processing plant there. Berfore that I was in New York working on the 20 year dependability project, and before that in Baghdad working on their water problems. Water is becoming a bigger issue globally. Reverse Osmosis still seems to be the preferred water treatment solution for potable water systems with less than desirable intakes. Desalination plants are mostly just big RO systems, and so if I were to start a new business today, it would be manufacturing RO membranes, as the supply is not keeping up with demand at all, and the price for membrane is going through the roof.

Commercial UV treatment plants are becoming more plentiful, along with ozone treatement. In upstate New York they are going to build a $1.2 billion UV treatment plant to treat 90% of the water being supplied to NY metro.

The good news is UV, Ozone, and other treatment processes used to sterilize water also work well to break down and neutralize organic compounds like many pesticides and endochrine waste by-products (hormones, excreted medications, chemo waste products). Colloidal compounds and inorganics can be chemically precipitated or fairly easily filtered, so I wouldn't worry too much about the waste cycle making it's way back into the more modern water treatment systems. I would reconsider dropping a well in a lot of different places now. Unless you want to invest about $10,000 in a home based water treatment system, you might not want to just drink from any source anymore. Those days are going away.

Distillation still isn't a bad alternative. It won't get everything, but it gets all the really bad things. Distillation and then carbon filtering will pretty much get it all. Distillation is expensive, though.

Thanks for the info benjammin, that is interesting to note that UV does neutralize medical waste. I guess I'll stick with my distiller /carbon/UV filter system for now, the only bad thing about my system is it consumes a lot of energy. I need to see if I can convert to solar on that aspect as well. I'll bet down the road RO membrane waste will be an issue unless the membranes can be recycled 100%. Sounds like you have a very secure job for along time, I can only see water issues continuing to be a problem for decades to come.

"Of course now I hear the government intends to regulate the collection of rainwater by forcing inspections and using meters on people's personal tanks. If caught using a collection tank unregulated and unmonitored, the penalty would be significant."

I'm sure that this is just another way to tax rainfall or to control drinking water, just like they want to control the food supply. Enforcing it, however, may be something else entirely. After all, they can't really use the National Guard, because they're in Iraq!

If I understand correctly, in Australia the government already "owns" the rainwater that falls on your property.

Sue

I am getting a bit tired of travelling. I am also tired of being alone. After nine months together, I am sending my wife back to Denver while I stay here in Florida. It sucks, but that's the way it goes sometimes. In the past 5 years, I've been separated from her physically for over 3. Good thing our marriage is strong, but it is taking its toll.

I certainly don't feel special, more like Dirty Harry. When asked once about his monicker, his response was "every dirty job that comes along".

While not exactly to the point of monitoring rainwater collection/consumption yet, as of last year the Queensland government had already mandated that residents could not use the rainwater to water their lawns or wash their cars, as the necessity for conservation still required prudent use of all available water. If their "travelling inspectors" caught a homeowner watering their lawn or washing a car, they would get cited, regardless the water source. Best to have a bucket and washrag handy for one of the infrequent rainstorms.

benjammin:
Question. My pool is clean and filtered (untill the power goes out) and I use tricloro triazinetrione (clorine of a type sold in large buckets in Calif.) buy boiling my pool water is it afe to drink ?

big_al, here's a link to the MSDS (material safety data sheet) for this chemical. Keep in mind the MSDS relates to the concentrated form you buy in the bucket.

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:EUAJu0RiNcMJ:www.bel-aqua.com/MSDS/OMNI/421351.pdf+trichloro+triazinetrione+msds&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6

dougwalkabout:
the MSDS are nice but only show the product in its solid form, there is no information what it is like when it is supended and mixed with water. Still working on this problem.

The link didn't work when I clicked it but what I suspect they're doing is sterilizing the system. In doing this they use a much higher concentration of chlorine. More chlorine creates more trihalomethanes (sp?) & those have a regulated maximum concentration.