Rain water cleanliness

[Gingerbeard]

Is rain water sterile or sanitary when it comes down? I'm talking germ wise. I'm not talking about particulate matter and other nasties because that would answer the question. You can't have sterile or sanitary product with often large amounts of particulate matter. Just germs. Maybe bacteria, too.

[Rwise]

I myself would not call rain water sanitary! But I live where there are tornadoes, and they will go over water (ponds, lakes, tanks) and suck it up! Whatever went up will come down somewhere, including the fish etc. that were sucked up with the water, yes I have seen it rain fish! Dogs and cats no,,,

[MDR]

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/rainwater-collection.html

Sounds like boiling the water would ensure germ free rain water. From what I've read, it's not the rain drops from the sky that can be contaminated. It's when the rain drops roll down roofs and pipes that it can pick up parasites and germs.

[PRIMO]

You don't have a black car, huh?

[stump]

the plants love rain water. I use rain water every summer for my indoor plants. Mother nature has been watering plants with rainwater for millions of years. I wouldn't drink though lol.

[stump]

ya I am from the north. Ph of the rain is around 6.2 or so here. It seem when I let the water sit for a spell it rises a touch though. I have a rubber roof and use rain water every summer with good results. my well water seems about the same ph. as the rain so I really don't see different results with either one to be honest.

[lafnian1990]

Not all rainwater is good.

[AngelaLifman]

Nowadays, one cannot be sure that rainwater will be safe. Many rivers and lakes are now polluted by human activities. I just recently read about water pollution. Here on this site https://envrexperts.com/free-essays/water-pollution/ if you are interested in the topic. So sometimes it is better not to get into the rain or water the plants with it. Otherwise, you can get into trouble.

[Greengringo]

kingfish my thoughts exactly

[Gingerbeard]

You (I) would have to think BGS either didn't get evaporated with water or was killed in the whole evap, rain, evap, rain, thing. Else, maybe, we'd all be catching cold all the time. And the plague. That's worse than a cold.
Rain water has been collected and stored in cisterns for a long time. Right from the sky, and directed to storage. Dismissing pollution and water barrels from 5,000 years ago, the water that came down was drinkable on the surface it fell. The cisterns kept water good for storage without going bad. Maybe that's part of the answer? Water that can be stored is pretty clean or it would get bad pretty quick?

[PeterMatanzas]

If you buy water in a bottle at the grocery store - the damn thing has an expiration date on it.

[Greengringo]

Gingerbeard wow that's very interesting ..maybe temp controls and vibration could prevent microbiol life to form or pantheons just starting to research rain water very interesting.. I've been walking around like a zombie for years.

[Jsao32]

I would imagine it all depends on where you live. I live in northern Alberta, Canada where let's face it, it's not exactly the most polluted place in the world. I've tested the water that's been collected in my reservoir and it's consistently pH'd at 6.7. I've looked into the issue of whether or not micro-organisms are present in the area and haven't come across anything worth crying about. I wouldn't recommend collecting water that runs off the roof or through the eavestrough as shingles are a petroleum laced product which can be collected by the water thereby contaminating it. Overall though, it keeps well, it works well, and it's free.

[YYCannabis]

How far north? I’m near calgary. (Not really North in Alberta terms) 😁

[Jsao32]

Edmonton...Not super north, but north enough. I was born and raised in Airdrie though.

[YYCannabis]

I would think the drops, as they are falling, are collecting particulate from the air. So not the cleanest, but the cleanest it will ever be...until it hits the ground.

As for collecting from a rooftop or some other large surface area collection, I think it would need filtering and sterilization. Bird poop, bugs, and dust/dirt would be the concern washing down with the water collection.

I had looked into this when I did fish keeping and realized that the cost of cleaning the water @100gallons/wk was too cost prohibitive and time consuming.

[Greengringo]

There are rain roof designs to collect clean rain water at ground level..depends where you live ...storms and such.

[Spidermite]

Well here we have a lake with drainage keeping the lake filled which we use to water 80 plus acres. If you test ppm of the rain water here it is between 0 and 3. This makes it impossible to get a true ph reading. Now after the water is pulled from the lake the ppm are way higher but still well under 50. I dont know what this means as far as the drinking but it works great with plants. But at least it doesnt have flouride in it.

[Gingerbeard]

The original question is morphing.
Lets say I go around and collect rainwater from puddles in a big bucket. I whip out my camping/emergency water filter and filter the rainwater. The filter would remove BGS as well as particulates, to make the water potable.
With all that removed, is rain water still as good for plants or might the filtering remove some goodness? And what makes the water so good?
I pulled this off a 5 second google:

--Rainwater frees nutrients and minerals in the soil the

plant

needs to survive. As the soil absorbs rainwater, a film forms around soil particles, according to Bellevue College. Roots then absorb these particles in a process called diffusion. These nutrients are carried to the rest of the

plant

.--
That being said, plain rain water wouldn't be good for coco since there aren't any nutrients to be absorbed like soil?

[MDR]

What about melted snow? When I had Chinese Water Dragons, I asked the vet about using melted snow in my misting system. He advised against it. I wonder if his warnings don't apply to veg.

[Gingerbeard]

Snow grows stuff and collects particles on the ground. Something about red or pink snow? Not yellow snow. That's good for neither veg or flower.

[YYCannabis]

Snow fleas would be present.

[Gingerbeard]

By gum! There is such a thing! I am such a technically desert environment kind of guy. Sand fleas, yeah, I know about those.

[MDR]

Gingerbeard - perhaps. With misting systems, te main clogging culprit is usually calcium.

[lafnian1990]

Rainwater is hardly sterile. But all plants in nature are watered with rainwater and everything is fine.