Is rainwater safe to drink?

[constanze]

@madmonk28

If you are going to drink it, you should boil it first.

I’m a bit surprised at this: I thought that with scarcity of heating fuel, and the tests done on plastic bottle UV sterilisation*, this method would be taught to people in 3rd world?

• They tested putting a clear plastic bottle, like the 1.5 l soda comes in, filling it with contaminated water (from an open slum river for example) and laying it in the sun for 4 hours, and the UV in the sun light had made it safe to drink.

[Polycarp]

@ZenBeam

Polycarp, can you find a cite for the pH of 1? I’d believe that if it was due to some kind of mining leftovers, but for snowmelt, I’m just not seeing it.

Well, I realize this response is only 4.5 months late, but here goes: The figure comes from field work conducted by a college environmental studies program in the mid-1970s. I don’t at this late date recall whether it was Cornell, Syracuse U., or SUNY CESF. It was cited in a position paper on the effects of acid rain in the Tug Hill area prepared by the NYS Tug Hill Commission. That paper, unfortunately, seems to be no longer listed as publicly available, but there will be copies in at least those three schools’ libraries and the state library. I’d hoped to chase down the datum for you back when you asked, but got sidetracked and apparently never answered. Not the greatest cite in the world, but the best I can do.

[Hari_Seldon]

If I can breath it, I can drink it.

[madmonk28]

@constanze

I’m a bit surprised at this: I thought that with scarcity of heating fuel, and the tests done on plastic bottle UV sterilisation*, this method would be taught to people in 3rd world?

• They tested putting a clear plastic bottle, like the 1.5 l soda comes in, filling it with contaminated water (from an open slum river for example) and laying it in the sun for 4 hours, and the UV in the sun light had made it safe to drink.

In Indonesia, where I set up the water collection points, heating fuel scarcity wasn’t an issue. Again, I’m not an expert, I was just the manager making sure the project got done. Our funder, UNICEF, required that we put signs up and conduct trainings for the community informing them that they should boil the collected rain water prior to drinking, this likely had to do with the fact that it would sit for long periods and collect debris, mosquito eggs, etc.