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Well, the name roof water was taken, but I don't believe the idea has been mentioned: water filters instead of roof shingles.
I have a flat roof with skylights that constantly need repairs. Since the water wants to get into my house so badly, I think I should let it. Filter, divert, and use.
It
seems to me that because every household needs water for drinking, washing and sanitation, it doesn't make sense that we work to keep the water out. As with rooftop solar panels for electricity, this idea brings the resource closer to the household, and reduces reliance on utility companies.
Although the filters would certainly be larger than the standard pitcher filter, they should be small enough for easy removal so that they can be cleaned and eventually replaced.
(??) "How we treat your water"
http://www.nwl.co.u...mestic/waterhow.asp
[angel, Nov 21 2006]
Harvest the Rain
http://www.motherea...vest-Rainwater.aspx
Wrangle water from the sky for watering, washing and even drinking, no matter where you live. [Bdsman64, Jul 15 2009]
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Might I suggest it would be more resource efficient and easier to divert, filter and store? Ie collect the water in the same way as most other rain collection tanks do (using existing gutters) then filter the water before it goes into the water tank. You could use a multistage filter with a screen to keep out large foreign bodies like leaves, sticks, dead birds, etc, then a sand or fabric element or carbon, etc element to filter other nasties. In fact, I'm all for filtering rainwater from your roof and using it. Where I live we get a few metres of rain per year, but over a 2-3 month period. I'd like to see everyone having a rainwater tank (it's easier to keep the water clean and viable for long periods if you filter it well first). |
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So bun for the thought of using rainwater storage. |
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I would suggest you include the addition of chlorine to your "filtered" water and the installation of a UV unit as close as possible to the drinking points (kitchen sink?).
Water filters as shingles would be tremendously expensive to maintain, as dust, bird droppings, rodent droppings and other contaminants would get to them all the time (current design allows the first litres of water to bypass the rainwater collection system so the roof, gutters and downpipes are flushed). |
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With all of the stuff from the birds and the environment that ends up on my roof I doubt that I would drink anything from it. Filtered roof water is not filtered enough if it is full of bird droppings and chemicals from the roofing materials. |
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ah, but by filtering you *remove* the droppings and, (if you put enough pressure across the activated carbon filter) remove the chemicals too. Oh hell, put a reverse osmosis system in and get chemically pure water.... |
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-You think they filter your tap water?- |
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Go read up on your local drinking water minimum contaminant standards. It's a scary read no matter where you're from. |
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//-You think they filter your tap water?- //
They certainly filter mine (linky). |
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Oh allright then. A lot of public supply water isn't however. Serve me right for making absolute statements. |
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Do what Custard' said in his first anno but instead of the hassle of Cl and storing it clean, store it dirty and filter between tank and tap. |
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Also, rainwater is relatively pure, do we really need to filter? |
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You are right, Custard', most supply water isn't charcoal filtered (it may be particulate filtered though as in Angel's link) but the adding of chlorine or chloramine has the same efect, it kills all the "nasties" that you would otherwise consider filtering out. Incidentally, filtering after it comes out of the tap is quite often mainly to remove the chlorine that was added. |
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Incidentally, where Angel and I come from (the UK) we have what is reported to be some of the cleanest, if not the cleanest water in the world. An exception to this may well be countries with a lot of desert as you can't get much cleaner than water distilled in desalination plants. |
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Thanks for all the replies, esp Custardguts. |
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Chefboyrbored, I can't dig a well, I live in a city. |
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apart from the theory being baked, I wouldn't want to be the one to change several thousand water filters in my roof. Just a grate for leaves and twigs, a filter for dust and maybe some pH balancing should be enough to make it toilet or even shower-ready depending on where your rain has been on its travels. You may be lucky enough to have drinking water but I'd still tend to use a commercial drinking-water filtration system to deal with birdshit etc. |
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In Bermuda, the house roofs are designed to channel the
rainwater into a holding tank, is it filtered? I don't know.
When I was there (in '92), I was told there was no public
water supply, and everyone used the rain. |
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Bermuda isn't surrounded by industrial smokestacks and automobiles and I'm guessing the shingling doesn't contain poisons for weatherproofing or longevity (note: I have no clue if they do here). |
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also the rains are frequent and adequate to keep constantly fresh that collected water. Not true for many places. As to the industrial waste and air pollution factors, likely (statistically) you drink 100% unfiltered water from a surface water source if you live in North America, pollutants and all. Pollution is so ubiquitous that they are starting to find traces of pharmaceuticals in shallow well water. "better living through chemistry". Or as i like to say "it didn't make a very good hormone, lets try it as a plastic additive for food containers and interior paint" |
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