posted 6 years ago
Around me, most people drink rainwater. It's called catchment water here. Most folks catch rain off their metal roofs, use raingutters and pipes to direct it to a holding tank. By far, most people treat the water in some fashion....but not all. Just about everyone has a filter, basically to protect their pumps. But I've been to a few places where the water goes to the house via gravity, thus no pump, thus no filter. Those places rely upon gravity to settle the debris out. When debris builds up too thick on the bottom of the tank, they clean it out.....perhaps every few years.
Truthfully I've not seen one house having a water divertor to channel the first few minutes of rain from entering the holding tank. It's a nice idea, but when you live in an area with limited rainfall, every drop counts, so water isn't thrown away. With no divertor, dirt from the roof and gutters can enter the tank more so than if a first flush divertor is used. Most people make an effort to keep leaves are large dirt particles from entering, but the dust and small stuff which goes right into the tank along with the rain.
Santitation.....most people do something, but again, not all. The county health department is constantly reminding people to sanitize their water, but I know of many families who don't bother. In fact, I've accidently drank water at their homes and survived unscathed. But there is a real risk of leptospirosis, rat lungworm, and other diseases from untreated water. Knowing that, most people use either chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, or UV lamps to treat their drinking water.
People who have been raised on piped in water tend to be appalled by the idea of catchment water. I've overheard tourists declare in shock when they discovered that they were drinking rainwater when they visited our Volcanoes National Park. Some claim that it made them sick. I have to laugh, because that water is cleaner than they drink back home in their cities. Clean rainwater is drinkable, of course! But city folk don't seem to know that. By the way, the park has a sophisticated water treatment system.
It's never too late to start! I retired to homestead on the slopes of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. I relate snippets of my endeavor on my blog : www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com