Drinking collected rain water

[pandaman]

Shortly here I'll be building a little cabin on my property here in Eastern Missouri.  I want to go off grid completely if possible.  I found out digging a well will be cost prohibitive to say the least and I'm not too keen on getting city water hooked up.(not even sure that's possible)  I've looked at some basic rain water systems that uses the roof on your house and then collecting the water run off from the down spouts in plastic barrels.  My question is, can you drink the rain water collected?  I remember my dad telling me to never drink rain water cause it could be polluted...(sometimes I wish I had grown up in an earlier time...sigh)  What do you all think?

[rocking23nf]

How about just bringing a large water jugs like in an office with you, I would think that would last quite a while for around 2.99-3.99 a jug. Even cheaper if you fill from home.

[pandaman]

How about just bringing a large water jugs like in an office with you, I would think that would last quite a while for around 2.99-3.99 a jug. Even cheaper if you fill from home.

I've thought about just hauling water in.  That might be a possibility.  I'd rather not because to me it's not really off grid or at least sustainable.(gas to drive to the water station etc)  My grandfather lives close and he has well water I may be able to tap into but I don't know much about that and close you have to be to do it.

[gandalfthegrey]

Rain water can be used for drinking, it should be filtered for safety.  The earthship communities in Taos New Mexico use collected rain and snow melt in thier homes. It is captured in cicterns and then pumped into the water systems as needed.

[MountainDon]

Nothing wrong with rainwater as far as I am concerned. You should catch it off a metal or maybe concrete roof though, no composite or wood shingles.

Is this to be a permanent residence or recreational property? If it is full time and you need laundry water, well, that increases your needs a lot. You'll likely need a large cistern to store up enough water in that case, unless you live someplace with extremely regular and dependable rainfall.

You will also need a diverter device that directs the first water off the roof someplace other than the cistern. That prevents a lot of crap (bird), pollen, leaves, twigs and so on from entering the system. In years past many people used rainwater exclusively and all they fi was toss some bleach in the tank every so often. Not that I'm recommending that approach. There are perfectly fine filters and UV or Ozone purifiers available.

Another concern with filtration and purification systems is if there is freezing weather.

Our mountain cabin has no well at present. We haul water from the wells of a couple friends or from home and keep it in an underground cistern.

[Bill Houghton]

I had the same thought about collecting roof water and putting it in a holding tank. We direct our city drinking water to a distiller that then directs the distilled water to our refrigerator.  I have a second distiller that I am thinking about taking to our cabin/cottage should we ever get it built.  You could put mud puddle water in there and it would come out perfectly safe for drinking.  Could you just use the filtered water for the shower, clothes washing, etc.. and distill the drinking water?    Freezing would be an issue though and the distillers arn't cheap. 

We have this brand:
http://www.purewaterinc.com/

[pandaman]

Nothing wrong with rainwater as far as I am concerned. You should catch it off a metal or maybe concrete roof though, no composite or wood shingles.

Is this to be a permanent residence or recreational property? If it is full time and you need laundry water, well, that increases your needs a lot. You'll likely need a large cistern to store up enough water in that case, unless you live someplace with extremely regular and dependable rainfall.

You will also need a diverter device that directs the first water off the roof someplace other than the cistern. That prevents a lot of crap (bird), pollen, leaves, twigs and so on from entering the system. In years past many people used rainwater exclusively and all they fi was toss some bleach in the tank every so often. Not that I'm recommending that approach. There are perfectly fine filters and UV or Ozone purifiers available.

Another concern with filtration and purification systems is if there is freezing weather.

Our mountain cabin has no well at present. We haul water from the wells of a couple friends or from home and keep it in an underground cistern.

Thanks all for the replies.  It seems that I'll be ok setting up a rain harvesting system on my roof and then through a filtration system as suggested.  I also read about the diverter you mentioned.  Seems like it all shouldn't cost too much.