Is Roof Water Drinkable

Preventing illness if you collect and store rainwater for drinking you have a private or individual water system and are responsible for ensuring that your water is safe.

Is roof water drinkable.

Only later did i woke up did i discover that capturing rainwater for drinking purposes from an asphalt shingle roof will have too many toxins in the water making is questionable as to whether it s safe to drink long term. Contamination from animal feces dead insects engine oil. The rain that falls in cities or flows across outdoor basins roofs and other open air surfaces on its way to a barrel is another story. However still this water can be used if the first flush of water is diverted from the roof tops.

Well if you re made of money an authentic copper roof would be about as good as you can get considering that s what is used in many homes to deliver drinking water. Yes rain water is perfectly safe for drinking purpose and qualifies all who tests till the time it hits your rooftop where it interacts with the dirt stored there. The quality of water coming off of a roof during a rain tends to improve as the rain continues. Drinking water from your roof carries a significant risk of illness according to a five year study from massey university.

Water intended for drinking needs to be filtered disinfected and tested regularly 9 12. If done with care and maintenance roof catchment of rainwater is a very good source of drinking water. Also petroleum hydrocarbons are present in roof water from the composition roof in the study in potentially harmful amounts if consumed over a long period of time 2 9 parts per million by weight. It is important to find out if the material or the paint used on your roof or in your gutters could contaminate your rainwater.

Fecal coliform can be well above guidelines all government guidelines regardless of roofing material. Safe roofing materials for rainwater harvesting. Zinc is an herbicide so even if you won t be drinking the water you ll want zinc levels to meet that standard to avoid hurting your plants. Check out the spot where your downspout currently drains or where rainwater releases from your galvanized roof.