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Water filter system for rainwater

Kilgallb

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Oct 14, 2005
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Calgary AB C
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It has happened again, My city of 2-million people (Calgary) is close to being out of water. For now we don't flush (If yellow let it mellow, if brown flush it down.) Showers are 3-minutes. No partial wash loads.

The mayor tells us this will repeat for years until the main line is replaced. It may take two years, or more. My darkroom is out of commission for now.

The last time I mentioned this many suggested collecting rain water and filtering it.

Maybe APUGers can help and suggest ways of making a filter system for rain water (or snow). I guess following the ILFORD method is mandatory for now in Calgary.
 
Put in a cistern. Rain water was desired for laundry because it's soft. A lot of the houses had cisterns c 1900. Today you could find a pool liner, make it leak resistant.

I'm assuming you have a backhoe. Doesn't everyone in Canada?
 
What about using a barrel as used in the garden?

Mine collects rainwater and has the take-off tap around 4 inches above the bottom, so any insoluable material that finds it's way into the barrel will settle and allow only clean water to be drawn off.

Mike
 
That's an interesting rainfall pattern for Calgary:


Seems to be an inversion of the Mediterranean / Californian pattern.
 

I have 3 barrels, 2 off the garage roof, 1 the darkroom roof. The water is fine for watering plants, but you would need a filtration system for most other uses. There's plenty online on how to make DIY systems for the OP. I would use tap water for any final rinse.

The infra structure issues of Calgary have been known about for quite a long time, my nephew is a civil engineer in the city. He oversaw the first high rise buildings.

Ian
 
Can you drive a reasonable distance to a body of water and fill up a water tank? Then you could use a siphon to unload it into barrels at home.

Or, if the water restrictions are seasonal, fill up your tank with the local supply when the season isn't dry.

I use a Brute 32-gallon trash can to store water for my garden. I fill it up with the hose a few times per year. It handles outdoor conditions well and was less expensive than alternatives. Don't know if it's safe for drinking water, but I don't use it for that.



I also have three 5-gallon glass carboys I used to use for winemaking. If I ever get around to making a darkroom in my shed I might use those mounted up high along with a vinyl tube siphon.
 
If you store rainwater it will quickly be colonised by algae and small animals, so I would think filtering is essential.

I can recommend the use of an under-sink unit with replaceable cartridges. Because I have a reliable piped water supply, I only use mine only when processing film, connecting it to the tap using click-on garden hose fittings. You would obviously need to create some kind of gravity-feed. Given the small water volumes required for a home darkroom, the filter cartridges last for years.
 
When I had the lab I used a synthetic resin filter after experiments with various distillators. Everything costs something, so you will have to collect information and weigh up. For photographic baths reverse-osmosis or resin filtered water is good enough. I had even learnt how to wash films with plain tap water without problems (mind you, as a commercial film processing services provider), so rain water or water from snow can well be used.
 
I know that drinking water can be treated for storage in emergencies with 2-4 drops of household bleach per gallon. If it's safe enough to drink for a limited amount of time, it may be fine for photographic use as well.
 
loccdor said:
I know that drinking water can be treated for storage in emergencies with 2-4 drops of household bleach per gallon.
Click to expand...
But I expect this will only work well if it's stored in hermetically sealed containers. The chloride evaporates out of the water; within a day or so it's gone.
 

I wonder where the OP might store the rainwater after collection My rain barrels have in the past frozen solid and split even in a moderately cold middle England winter after a few days . Isn't winter in Calgary much worse?

pentaxuser
 
I will need to store water. The last time this happened in the summer anyone could bring barrels to the river and draw water. But in January that is not possible due to the river freezing over.

River water needs filtering, as does rainwater to get the sediment out.

I could buy water from the grocery store but that would be expensive.
 
Kilgallb said:
I will need to store water. The last time this happened in the summer anyone could bring barrels to the river and draw water. But in January that is not possible due to the river freezing over.
Click to expand...
Just curiosity on my part but how would you stop a barrel collecting rainwater, assuming there is even rain in the winter months, from freezing almost immediately at Calgary temperatures? While the late spring, summer and autumn would be fine, isn't that a lot of water and a lot of work to store it somewhere in the winter that's warm enough to prevent freezing

Thanks

pentaxuser
 
I won’t develop in winter when it is below zero. Last week we were in the minus 12 range. Tomorrow we will reach +9.

The melt water from the roof will get me 100 litres.
 
pentaxuser said:
My rain barrels have in the past frozen solid and split even in a moderately cold middle England winter after a few days
Click to expand...

My water barrels don't split over winter. I think this happens only with certain materials and if the water doesn't have room to expand upward.
 
snusmumriken said:
If you store rainwater it will quickly be colonised by algae and small animals, so I would think filtering is essential.
Click to expand...
This reminded me of an Australian Government Recommendations site about using roof run off roof water for domestic use.
All sorts of information about disinfecting the tank periodically, testing quality, and the procedures to be taken after you find a dead rodent decomposing in the tank.
An interesting idea mentioned is to have taps to divert the water away from the tank so that debris and dust can be disposed of in the early part of a downpour. After a suitable period of time has elapsed the taps are operated to divert the relatively clean roof water to the holding tank.
If interested have a search for Australian Government advice on the subject.

I wonder how much water could be saved if you all gave up using ice cubes in your G&Ts.
 

The OP is from Alberta.
Rye and water would be more likely
 
I would use the rain water for flushing toilets, laundry etc.

Find more efficient ways in the darkroom.

My father spent the first couple decades of his life pumping water for cooking bathing etc.

When we were camping every evening Dad would fire up the Coleman gas stove, heat up a coffee pot full of water and give himself a "basin bath" I have done the same. Nice and clean, including washing hair, less than a gallon. Save your basin bath water to flush the toilet.
 
My winter backpacking trick was using a small hot water bottle meant for babies cots. On snowy days it kept the damp out of the sleeping bag lovely.
I then started the day by using the still warm water from the bottle for a pleasant wash.
 
  • BobUK
  • Deleted
  • Reason: duplicate post.
Yes to Rye, but no water.

We are letting the shower run for thirty seconds to warm but collect the water in a bucket to flush.

Good idea, collect the warmup water for the darkroom, use rainwater to flush.
 
We have a rainwater catchment system for our primary source of water. We use the rain water for everything but cooking and drinking, for which we use reverse osmosis water from our local grocery store. No darkroom yet but that’s in the plans and yes I’ll use rain water complimented with RO and distilled water.

A couple of points, storage is important, you want an opaque tank so that you don’t have algae growth, it also needs to have a good lid to keep rodents out. it should be vented and that needs to be screened to keep mosquitos out. It is also helpful if the cistern is either partially buried or fully underground. That will keep the water from freezing and will keep it cooler in the summer which helps with bacterial growth. We do dose our cistern with chlorine beach to prevent bacterial growth. If it’s not practical to bury the cistern it would certainly be helpful to at least shade it in the summer and let it get sun in the winter.

As far as filtration our system is pretty basic. We have LeafEaters on each of the down spouts and then a good particulate filter right before the pump. We don’t a “first flush filter“ which diverts the initial water from the roof which will have most of the dirt and debris, but it’s certainly a good idea.

There’s a lot of info on rainwater catchment on the internet so if you’re serious, time to start doing your research.

Roger
 

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