01-22-2013, 12:26 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MarkP
I have pondered how much difference the first flush system makes, given that rain is so frequent and evenly distributed in Puna. Granted there are times when the rain is almost continuous but most of the time it is intermittent. The question not yet addressed is how and when the contaminants are applied. Do the birds perch on your roof more when it is not raining? If so then a first flush is a good idea since the contaminant cycle dovetails with the rain cycle even if there are several cycles per day. Other contaminants such as leaves are wind driven. During storms wind and rain go together but what about our normal daily rain?
Consider an "average" municipal water supply. The rain hits roofs, agricultural sites, roads, basically all the nasty crap you would never want to rinse off and drink. Then it gets a rough filtration, is treated with chemicals, and then delivered to your tap. There it gets used, flushed into the sewer system, where it is mixed with poop and urine, including all the chemicals and hormones that people take or use, "treated", and then dumped into a river. The same river that other communities downstream use for their water supply. Those communities repeat the process. On longer rivers it can be repeated several.... maybe dozens of times!
Your catchment water is cleaner than that. Sure birds might poop on your roof. They poop everywhere. Water is everywhere. Catchment water is really the only water where you are getting "first crack" at drinking something pure. Filter it, sterilize it, and it will be better than any water you get in the southern United States at the end of those long rivers of filth that is "treated", used, "treated", used, "treated" used, over and over again. Remember that almost all "bottled water" comes from a spigot in a major city that is treated (again) and dumped in a plastic bottle. There is no reason why your catchment water can't be better, and a whole lot cheaper than that.
The thing that made me think of this- I told my wife that if she saw the sediment on the bottom of our catchment tank, she may not want to drink the water. Her response: "When we lived in Juneau, the city water came from Gold Creek. Our dog swimmed there. Our water is cleaner than that."