Water filter system for rainwater

Kilgallb · Monday at 10:38 PM

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.

mshchem · Monday at 10:55 PM

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?

mpirie · Tuesday at 3:31 AM

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

loccdor · Tuesday at 6:58 AM

That's an interesting rainfall pattern for Calgary:

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

Ian Grant · Tuesday at 8:56 AM

mpirie said:
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

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

loccdor · Tuesday at 10:47 AM

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.

snusmumriken · Tuesday at 11:13 AM

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.

Europan · Tuesday at 12:12 PM

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.

loccdor · Tuesday at 1:19 PM

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.

koraks · Wednesday at 9:25 AM

loccdor said:
I know that drinking water can be treated for storage in emergencies with 2-4 drops of household bleach per gallon.

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.

pentaxuser · Wednesday at 12:45 PM

mpirie said:
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

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

Kilgallb · Wednesday at 7:56 PM

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.

pentaxuser · 2026-01-08T10:00:04-0500

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.

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

Water filter system for rainwater

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