safety checks for car and also catchement Q

[MarkP]

I don't mean to minimize the issues with catchment water. I agree that municipal water generally starts out just as dirty as any other source. I think that the fact that river water that has had sewage dumped in it a few miles upstream can successfully be remediated and filtered to the point that it meets DOH standards in a developed nation puts things in perspective. If that can happen then rainwater can be made fit to drink. Generally speaking people tend to react emotionally about most everything and it is easy to lead people to an erroneous conclusion such as that catchment water is dangerous. That said I do believe that municipalities, on average, do a way, way better and more thorough job of treating water for domestic use than does the average Puna resident. How many times have we seen junk or trash dumped because some Puna residents can't be bothered to drive it a couple of miles to the dump, or should I say a mile out of their way to the dump since they would often be passing by the turn-off anyway? The county's recommendations have to factor in the lowest level of competence in their target audience and if I were responsible for telling such people how to filter their water I would say just don't try too. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is way too easy to shock people by saying "Eww! Bird poo in the water!" There is that and more, always has been and always will be. There are specific threats that are worse than others. Rat droppings are worse than bird droppings because we share more diseases like leptospirosis with rats than we do with birds.