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Cleaning the tank isn't all that difficult - Big Orange has pool cleaning equipment that will do the job and will set you up for life to maintain your tank (in high rainfall areas, you can just get a siphon going to pull the bottom crud from the tank and let it drain on the ground) rather than mess with filters and recycling the water.
More important, if you own the system, you would want to install a "first flush" to divert most of the roof debris away from the tank. Even if you don't own the system, you will want to try to maintain pH - baking soda will do the job - and, if you plan to drink the water, maintain some level of chlorination or invest in a flow through UV ($$$) system.
The CTAHR publication mentioned above is the best source for living on catchment.
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I used to have a hot tub when I lived in Alaska and adding the chlorine and other chemicals required a lot of testing and attention, and that was a closed system (water only got added to it if I added water to it). Frankly I don't understand the advice from people that say to dump a package of baking soda this and gallon of chlorine that to a catchment tank when you have no idea how much (or if) water is going to be added to the tank the next day, and without any testing to boot. At least with the hot tub, I was only soaking in it, not drinking it. I guess if you aren't drinking your catchment tank water, or using it to brush your teeth, or wash your dishes, or ever shower or bathe in it with an open wound like a tiny scratch, it would be OK.
I will now give it a name: "catchment tank roulette".
p.s. "catchment tank roulette" is now copyrighted and trademarked by me, but I will allow you to use the abbreviation CTR without paying me any royalties.
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More recent recommendation from DOH is to NOT drink catchment, regardless of treatment methods. Too many hazardous substances being spewed by the volcano.
http://health.hawaii.gov/cab/files/2013/...vog_qa.pdf
"In areas affected by volcanic emissions, catchment systems collect very acidic water that can leach harmful contaminants such as lead from roofing and plumbing materials. Volcanic ash can also get into the water, cause contamination, and interfere with common water treatment methods such as filtration and chlorination.
Even when there is no volcanic activity, extra care should be taken when using water from rainwater catchment systems. For health and safety reasons, homeowners should NOT use catchment water for drinking or preparing food. County water spigots should be used instead as a safer water supply."
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That is good advice, especially considering that rainwater has no minerals (topic for another thread). We get county water in 5 gallon jugs for drinking but do use catchment water for the icemaker etc. It feels good to know that our catchment bathing/dish/etc water is filtered and sterilized, and we do drink it if we have to, but it is a small amount of the water that we consume.
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
Frankly I don't understand the advice from people that say to dump a package of baking soda this and gallon of chlorine that to a catchment tank when you have no idea how much (or if) water is going to be added to the tank the next day, and without any testing to boot.
I will now give it a name: "catchment tank roulette".
Couldn't agree more - but way too many people play "catchment tank roulette" regardless. I wouldn't drink catchment water on a bet, but if you do insist on doing it, at least chlorinate it (and test it on a regular basis to ensure that chlorination is adequate).
The baking soda is more to protect your plumbing - I've seen catchment pH below 3 - not going to be much left of your copper or galvanized plumbing system or pump if you don't do something to neutralize the acid.
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I never drank the catchment water. I would regularly check the system and I could see mosquito larvae swimming in the tank or even in the filter. When the coqui invasion arrived in Mountain View, I started seeing decomposing coqui corpses floating on the surface. Comparing tanks with and without cover frames in the several houses I lived, I preferred the frameless covers because it was almost impossible to seal the areas around the frame pipes to keep out the mosquitoes and coquis. I would put the pipe coming from the downspouts above the cover so that the cover would filter out the big stuff. I noticed that the rain gutters would build up a thick layer of slimy muck and that any droppings from birds, rats, insects, etc had an easy ride to the catchment tank. Although I was able to filter out the big solids with the catchment cover and the finer solids with the pump filter, there is no way to filter out the dissolved juices from all the contaminants. For this reason I regularly added bleach to kill the bacteria and viruses that might make it to my shower or washing machine and also to get rid of the musky smell of decomposing plant and animal tissue. Also, I didn't need much water, so I would regularly disconnect the downspout going into the tank to keep the excess water from diluting the bleached water and to keep some of the contaminants out.
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We have underground water catch,200,000 gallons.We have small water catch above ground also.Deal with it when you get here,you will though need to drain it and refill with trucked in water after cleaning.Never know what is dead in it.
Safety piece of cake,take it to Goodyear in Hilo.
If any kind problems,DMV just around corner,auto parts stores easy access,and lunch you have plenty options.
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quote:
Originally posted by lavarat
I noticed that the rain gutters would build up a thick layer of slimy muck and that any droppings from birds, rats, insects, etc had an easy ride to the catchment tank. Although I was able to filter out the big solids with the catchment cover and the finer solids with the pump filter, there is no way to filter out the dissolved juices from all the contaminants. For this reason I regularly added bleach to kill the bacteria and viruses that might make it to my shower or washing machine and also to get rid of the musky smell of decomposing plant and animal tissue.
I hate to break it to you, but all of those things are in municipal water too. Plus runoff from asphalt and farms. It is usually filtered using sand. In most cities, their drinking water comes from rivers that a city upstream has already used the water and then dumped their treated sewage in, so it also contains a variety of chemicals and pharmaceuticals and hormones from birth control pills. Some cities have several cities upstream from them so the water has been "used" 5 or 6 times already. Watch that episode of "Dirty Jobs" where Mike Rowe is mucking out the sewage treatment plant and specifically the tens of thousands (millions?) of used condoms that have to be mechanically separated from the rest of the goop. Fortunately, Hawaii has nobody upstream from us, but still, isn't catchment water sounding pretty good compared to city water just about anywhere?
I remember telling my wife that if she saw the inside of our catchment tank she might not want to drink our water and she quipped that "in Juneau our water came from Gold Creek. Our dog used to swim there. I'm not afraid of rain water" but then to our surprise when we did look in our catchment tank we couldn't believe how clean it was.
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Municipalities do a pretty good job of filtering their water, chlorinating it and testing it frequently. I've never seen mosquito larvae swimming in city tap water. No, catchment water does not look pretty good compared to any of the cities where I have lived.
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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.
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