Drink Rain Water
Rainwater can be a good source of drinking water if necessary. You must have a viable and clean method of collecting enough rainwater to drink. Cleaning rainwater may be necessary before you can drink it, if it contains pollutants such as car exhaust or building smog collected in the clouds. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Collect rainwater directly from the sky, before it touches buildings, trees or the ground. Use a child's 6-to 8-foot play pool to capture rainwater as it falls. A pool surface of 6 feet in diameter would collect about 17 gallons of water if it were raining at 1 inch per hour. An 8-foot diameter pool would collect 31 gallons of rainwater if it were raining one inch per hour.
2. Collect rainwater using a clean, solid tarpaulin. Secure a 12-foot tarpaulin, using rope, between two walls or trees where it slopes downward into a collection bucket or barrel covered in screening to prevent debris from entering. Continue to empty or switch the barrel, because as long as it is raining you can collect fresh rainwater. This method is very effective in your backyard or while you are camping.
3. Collect rainwater from your rooftop. Make sure your roof is made with non-toxic materials and preferably not painted or fire proof treated. As it rains, the water runs down the roof and into clean rain gutters made of plastic, or galvanized metal so it won't rust. The rain gutters drain into a clean barrel or other storage container that is covered with a screen to prevent leaves and twigs from entering.
Collect rainwater from your rooftop only after you have let one hour of rainwater clean the rooftop and gutters. Divert this first rain away from your storage tank.
4. Store your collected rainwater in clean barrels meant to hold and dispense water. Use a method of siphoning the water from the play pool into the barrels. The barrels should have a secure lid and a method of dispensing the water.
5. Treat your stored rainwater with liquid chlorine bleach. If you will be storing the water long term in sealed containers, pour 1 tsp. of liquid chlorine bleach per every 10 gallons. Re-treat the rainwater with chlorine bleach every 6 months. If you will be drinking the rainwater immediately, wait at least an hour before you drink the water after adding the bleach.
6. Clean your rain water so it is safe to drink. Boil your water for approximately 2 minutes to kill bacteria, pathogens and protozoa in water. Boiling is the best method for cleaning water to drink. Let the water cool off before you drink it. Stir the water to add back in oxygen bubbles so that is is more palatable to drink.
7. Clean your rainwater with 16 drops of iodine per gallon. Make sure the iodine has not expired.
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