Rainfall Harvesting & Acid Rain

I hear about acid rain, and I hear about rainfall harvesting. But I don't hear how acid rain affects rainfall harvesting.

I live in the PNW, and we get rain 9 months of the year, so collecting rainfall is very viable.

I've heard of hanging a net bag of limestone inside a collection tank... does that affect acid rain? Does it modify it?

Does anyone have an info or tips?

Sue

Well, I can't really offer you much in the way of advice, other than: keep the 'Skeeters outa there! I'm in Florida, and around here, any standing water turns into breeding grounds for mosquitos. If anyone knows how to keep them out and keep the water drinkable, lets hear it!
-Kyle

how harmful is acid rain to your body if you drink it? its not like theres a way to distinguish regular rain and acid rain.....at least i wouldnt think.

Limestone is a base, so it should neutralize the acidity, although it might leave an intersting taste until you get used to it. However, the PH of acid rain isn't super low, if it did you'd be burned just by being out in it. Our bodies will be able to manage our internal PH pretty well, plants can't, thats why they get slowly killed by acid rain.

This post reminds me of a episode of the simpson's: Homers satelite dish was melting because of acid rain,and he was missing a football game. So he runs out to go fix it but runs back inside like 20 times because of the rain melting him. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> i found it hilarious ,but you had to see it.(funny even though acid rain would'nt burn you).

If you go Here you will get some info on drinking acid rain. Below is the important part...

"Acid raid doesn’t do too much to affect the water supply. However, some folks, either at home if they do not have a well or when camping, use the rain water catch method. Obviously, drinking water right after it is collected would be a bad idea. Boiling the water and perhaps using a disinfectant will make the water safe for consumption."

Wikipedia is your friend. It says rain is already naturally acidic (pH~5) from dissolved CO2 and "natural" acid sources, so the limestone might be helpful in any case.

Aloha Packman,

Two ideas for mosquitos. The first is to put a drop or two, depending on the amount of water, of dishwashing liquid into the water. I am told the detergent changes the surface tension of the water, expediting the insects' drowning. Water surface changes from a lens shape to flat. And that is supposed to make it easier to get into the pores that insects breathe through.

The second idea is to put fish in there.

You could test the pH (acidity) of the collected water with some pH paper. In reality "acid rain" isn't all that acidic. Soft drinks and orange juice are significantly more acidic and the body handles them just fine. Besides, the amount of acid rain failing has been dramtically cut over the last 25 years. Harvest the rain, treat it as you'd treat any "wild water" and you'll be fine.

Oh, and I second the fish method of keeping mosquitoes at bay. I have three 55-gallon plastic drums which I catch rainwater in. One has a metal mesh screen over it and the other two use $1 goldfish from Walmart. I haven't seen a mosquito larva in years and the goldfish are are more fun to watch than the mesh screen.

-Blast

Sounds good. The fish would also make for a stable body of water too. no matter what you do to it, prudence still dictates that you'd have to boil/treat it somehow before comsuming it. I guess you could also cover it with something like window screen to keep critters out...

Aloha, out of curiousity, which island are you on? I spent a week in Kauai and 2 weeks on the big island this past summer. It was great....I'd go back to Kauai in a heartbeat. Truely beautiful. Enjoy your Paradise!
-Kyle

"Obviously, drinking water right after it is collected would be a bad idea. Boiling the water and perhaps using a disinfectant will make the water safe for consumption."

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Is this true for rain water? I would think there wouldn't be any biological contamination in rain water.

Well, there shouldn't be much, if any, contamination in rain water. But, if you're storing it in big drums like we're talking about in this thread, then you run the risk of critters getting in while it's sitting waiting for use. If it's fresh, I'd probably drink it, but if it's been sitting for any length of time, I'd treat/boil it to be safe. If you get into a situation where you're needing that water, you really don't want to get sick. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
-Kyle