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I have a catchment tank with filters and UV, and the water tasts okay to me. We do drink county water because it is my understanding that rainwater does not contain minerals your body needs. You can only get these minerals from ground water.
I am amazed at the cost of the catchment system, filters, and UV light. The monthly cost must be more than county water.
Bottoms Up [^]
FNG
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FNG, any chance of a really good citation of this fact? Such citation would of course include a list and amount of each mineral. Would love to read comparative analyses of a variety of ground vs municipal vs catchment. Such analysis would likely point out any missing mineral(s) and by what % of the standard. Would also show how the over abundance of certain minerals in different parts of the country. I know my Mom had an iron deficiency and took some sort of iron pill, we moved to house with well water and her level was so high the Dr took her off the meds. Just this week there was a news report on TV, KITV I think, discussing some of the damage to teeth etc as a result of over fluoridation of municipal supplies. I'd say we are fortunate, in that COH water tastes way better than many municipal versions. My catchment water tastes way better than where I lived in Ga, which was barely drinkable after an in home carbon filter to get out some of the chemicals, then again, I don't pre-treat my catchment through my waste system. I would also have to wonder how much relevance, water as your primary source of minerals have.
As for costs...JMHO, but as a barefaced statement - WOW, would like to see facts, my first thoughts would be a system that is costly on a monthly basis just might not be a good system. If someone is one catchment but drinks county, what is the cost?
David
JTA - These comments are sincere and not meant to challenge FNG habits, just expand our knowledge.
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Nope, I have nothing but a bit of chutzpa to back up my position. Rain water, to my knowledge has no minerals in it, unless it is polution from China, ha ha, another import. Ground water would be exposed to the minerals in the ground that our body needs.
Other than that, I am out of material.
My system cost 6,800 for the tank from Island Catchment (Water Works was 50 dollars difference + or - I cannot remember which), liner, top cover, pump and pressure tank, a reinforced concrete circle they bolted the tank to, and some extra thick piping for a section of my ditch that was shallow. Cory's Gutters charged me 2,300 for my gutters. Monthly filters run roughly 3 bucks for 30 micron filters, and 7.50 for 5 micron filters. The UV tube costs 89 dollars a year for the light. If you amortize the capital costs over roughly 10 years, that comes to approximately 9,100 divided by 120 months = 75.85 + 7.50 + 3 + (89 /12 = 7.42) totaling 93.77 per month. That is kind of expensive, but even if you use 240 months, the stupid tank costs a bunch. County water is free.
If anybody has any comments on this, let's hear 'em.
The thing I like about catchment is that in an emergency I always have water, even if I have to boil it. I paid 6 grand for 2,500 square feet of roofing metal when HPM was the only shop in town, and they knew it too. The good thing is the farthest my tank went down is about a third during the dry spell last spring, otherwise, the tank is running full "all the time."
Nothing is free on an island, actually, nothing is even reasonable.
FNG
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"County water is free" - of course, if you compated the true cost of county water, including administrative overhead for the tax collection system, you might find it coming very close to the same cost. Installing and maintaining an underground pipe system isn't cheap. What the county water does give is a sort of "central control" where just a few people can monitor the water for health issues, without having to come on your property to do it.
Personally, looking at the insides of older underground "drinking water" pipes, I've gotten over the idea that there is such a thing as "clean drinking water" - pure distilled, de-ionized water is definitely not healthy - so then you add back buffer minerals, which are remarkably similar to what water gets from being stored in a concrete tank.
Main thing I don't like about catchment is having to keep vegetation away from the roof, I like having shade trees around the house, but I really don't like the idea of drinking rat-poop.
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FNG wrote "Rain water, to my knowledge has no minerals in it'. Not exactly correct. Rain water has a fair amount of carbonate in it from the CO2 in the atmosphere. It also has measurable amounts of nitrates, sulfates and other minerals. No where close to what ground water has but not deionized either. BTW ground water in Hawaii is also very low in desolved minerals compared to most places. All things considered rain water and well water in Hawaii are very good quality. County water is pretty good as well but it probably is not as good as rain or well water due to being stored and transported in tanks and pipes of questionable quality.
No matter how thin you slice it, its still balony.
No matter how thin you slice it, its still balony.
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Dang, was really hoping for something educational  While it is apparently possible (see previous fluoride comment) to ingest enough via drinking water to cause harm, I'd still be curious if the same holds true for positive benefits. Would have to wonder also what individual water consumption at home would be versus total water consumption (all liquids, all sources)?
A couple comments:
Love it when the cost of something is based on a finite period, kinda suggesting it must go poof the next day and not be used. Now the original question was "The monthly cost must be more than county water" and hence my question.
"County water is free." really???? For that to be true said sufficient water quantity would have to be at the point of usage at no cost in $$$, material or time - I don't think this is possible. Don't we have a water board that sends out water bills? Even "borrowing it from your neighbor's hose would have a cost.
LOL at least municipal water rat poop is processed, but probably best not to believe it was never there. LOL
David
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I found these to be pretty educational:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/rm-12.pdf
^^^ jump ahead to page 28 for the fun stuff... Sadly, many (most?) of the existing systems in Puna seem to match one, if not several of the "do not" pictures.
I have hated chlorine in county water ever since I killed a tank full of fish with tapwater when I was 9. I'd really like to have a system that doesn't need it, but that would seem to be dangerous without running a continuous culture of the water looking for nasty beasties.
Also helpful:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/wq/publicati...ectory.pdf
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I've suspected that the recent reports of excessive fluoride effects has a lot to do with the penetration of fluoride toothpastes in the U.S. on top of the municipal fluoridation over the several decades that communities have been adding it.
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quote:
Originally posted by peteadams
I've suspected that the recent reports of excessive fluoride effects has a lot to do with the penetration of fluoride toothpastes in the U.S. on top of the municipal fluoridation over the several decades that communities have been adding it.
Actually, I think there really was a Communist plot to rot your teeth with floride.[  ]
FNG
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Haven't you seen Dr. Strangelove? Flouridation is a Commie plot to corrupt Our Purity of Essence, it gives old men problems in bed. The latest twist is that the Communists now run the drug companies and they're selling Viagra to counteract the effects of flouridation.
That lid on your catchment tank isn't there to keep out rat-poop, it's there to keep out the commies [:p]
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