could everyone check my water treatment system please?

TOO LONG DIDN'T READ: here's the basic setup. I'm certain I'm missing something. I expect to be corrected. Could you please explain why if you correct? I like to continue learning the why and how of what I'm doing. 😁

Raw rain water in Settle tank
--->Output for animal water.

10 micron washable
5 micron washable
---> Output for non-potable basic cleaning. Shower, mopping, etc  (Everywhere but in the mouth or in the food)

1 micron washable
.5 - .1 micron
Aquatru undersink RO https://aquatruwater.com/product/under-sink-water-purifier
UV LAMP VIQUA VH150 UV System https://www.freshwatersystems.com/products/viqua-vh150-whole-home-uv-water-disinfection-system
clean potable water output
---> To small distiller for CPAP use.

Water finishers if I wish
Small water storage for in cabin use, sink, etc. (~5 gallons).


LONG STORY

I'll put the big filter set up ahead of the ro system to get the water as clean as possible for RO system. It feels to me more logical to invest in washable filters so I can reduce the wear and tear on the RO system as much as possible by back washing or swapping rinsed filters periodically. Makes it easier to keep the sensitive RO membrane in good condition.

I have decided on the Aquatru undersink RO for this setup.


I'm using the UV lamp to catch any escaping bacteria from the RO filter. The RO filter should do it's job just fine. The UV filter is a extra precaution. A thorough UV should be rated NSF/ANSI 55 Class A. But since I have so much filtering already done I figure a Class B at 30mj/cm2 won't be a problem. AND. If I can figure out how to run the water through the UV system aat 3.5 gpm it will effectively act as a Class A  at 40mj/cm2.

I do have a solar set up. But my first goal is potable water. I'll figure out how to power it and make adjustments after I solve the water problem.

I couldn't find anything specifically about water treatment. So I hope rain catches is the correct forum area.

I use a system with a 50micron, 10/1 micron, 0.5 micron in series, followed by a Luminor GUV-4S LED UV treatment.

I run it at well under 1GPM, into a 40 gallon stainless tank that gravity feeds the sink. Sink is the only water source in the tinyhouse.

I like the energy efficiency of the very small UV system that I can use with such low flow, and batch filtering keeps power usage super low.


Your system sounds pretty good to me; I haven't used a RO system before for comparison..

I would want to hit the shower water with 1micron/UV, personally. I usually take my mouth with me into the shower, so it just seems less worrisome to treat that water like it might meet my mouth.


Main issue in my system that may also pertain to yours; first flush diverter and coarse filtration before the main storage tank. I have a first flush diverter using a screen at the intake, a float to divert water to tank when diverter full, and a small weep hole to allow it to drain slowly.

It sucks, it clogs in multiple ways, and it runs all the water over the accumulated debris. I will start from scratch on this part of the system next time round.

I am thinking covered gutters, centrifugal first flush diverter, and a barrel sand/gravel filter before storage..  time will tell.

D Nikolls wrote:I use a system with a 50micron, 10/1 micron, 0.5 micron in series, followed by a Luminor GUV-4S LED UV treatment.

I run it at well under 1GPM, into a 40 gallon stainless tank that gravity feeds the sink. Sink is the only water source in the tinyhouse.

I like the energy efficiency of the very small UV system that I can use with such low flow, and batch filtering keeps power usage super low.


Your system sounds pretty good to me; I haven't used a RO system before for comparison..

I would want to hit the shower water with 1micron/UV, personally. I usually take my mouth with me into the shower, so it just seems less worrisome to treat that water like it might meet my mouth.


Main issue in my system that may also pertain to yours; first flush diverter and coarse filtration before the main storage tank. I have a first flush diverter using a screen at the intake, a float to divert water to tank when diverter full, and a small weep hole to allow it to drain slowly.

It sucks, it clogs in multiple ways, and it runs all the water over the accumulated debris. I will start from scratch on this part of the system next time round.

I am thinking covered gutters, centrifugal first flush diverter, and a barrel sand/gravel filter before storage..  time will tell.

Ok. I think I found the same unit. The specs me it
(30 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.6 GPM

(40 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.4 GPM
So it looks good.

I'm wondering if I set up a low flow rate UV system, how would it affect the physical filters? If I recall correctly the standard Culligan candle style filters need at least 20gpm to work properly? Maybe I need some sort of flow/pressure regulation between the prefilters and RO. And between the RO and UV.

Dakota, I have a lot of experience with rainfall collection for domestic use.
I also believe that in many cases treatment of the water is not necessary if certain conditions are met initially.
- Primary storage tank is at least 5000 gallons.
- You store at least 3 months supply of water.
- First flush filters are used to exclude the initial flow of dust and bird poo.
- Have leaf traps on each tank also.
For improved water draw from the top of the tank with a floating outlet.

Some questions about your plans;
- what size primary tank do you plan to use?
- Will you have leaf guards along the spouting?
- will you have agricultural spray allied in the area near your house?
- look at my signature for more details.

There is not enough information here to make any suggestions. You have to test the water first and tell us what the issues are.

Where I live any sort of non-drilled well source typically has bacteria. This is easy to solve with boiling, UV post-filtering or distilling, but if the water has high amounts of heavy metals then boiling or distilling only concentrates the metals and makes the situation worse. UV does nothing for it either. But it gets worse because if you have arsenic in your water, that literally CAN KILL YOU. Where I live, arsenic is hit or miss in drinking water sources, but so is radiation from uranium.

As I said, I cannot in good conscious give you a suggestion on what to do with your water because "it is just a guess unless you test".

That being said, I would look into a whole house Reverse Osmosis system and not waste my money on an undersized, under the counter reverse osmosis system. I am still not sure if the situation is anal, for animals, or annual but point-of-use RO is cheap because it is so limiting. Without testing your water, you do not even know if RO will take care of the issue. Typically RO only takes out 12 mg/liter but what if you have more? My water has 37 mg/liter of iron, but I only know that because my water has been tested. That would mean I would need (4) RO systems in series to get my water to allowable levels (here it is .5 mg/liter and I have 37!!)

Again, not enough information here to give any feedback that is meaningful.

John C Daley wrote:Dakota, I have a lot of experience with rainfall collection for domestic use.
I also believe that in many cases treatment of the water is not necessary if certain conditions are met initially.
- Primary storage tank is at least 5000 gallons.
- You store at least 3 months supply of water.
- First flush filters are used to exclude the initial flow of dust and bird poo.
- Have leaf traps on each tank also.
For improved water draw from the top of the tank with a floating outlet.

Some questions about your plans;
- what size primary tank do you plan to use?
- Will you have leaf guards along the spouting?
- will you have agricultural spray allied in the area near your house?
- look at my signature for more details.

That's some good ideas. I won't have a large enough tank. I'll have a 1800g tank, maybe a second one. That's way more then three months supply. Not sure what first flush filters are, I'll look it up. I'll have leave traps and such to keep the settle tank as clean as possible. A floating outlet is a good idea. I hadn't thought of leaf guards. I just bought the gutters, hadn't installed them yet. I live way out in the woods. 45 mins from anything, right up against wild land. The do logging in this area occasionally.

I have a submersible pump. Not sure how useful it really is in my situation.

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/pumps-tanks/utility-sump-pumps/barracuda-reg-1-4-hp-thermoplastic-submersible-utility-pump/91250/p-1444428713624-c-1489153238832.htm?srsltid=AfmBOooYWXhVO1ZAmFByPjpasBnaO76l1JyjTA-NUjxksLSL1TV29evX

I'll probably buy something smaller. I don't need massive amounts of pressure or flow personally. If 8 get a system that gives me three gallons a day I'm happy. 10 gallons is sublime.

Steve Zoma wrote:There is not enough information here to make any suggestions. You have to test the water first and tell us what the issues are.

Where I live any sort of non-drilled well source typically has bacteria. This is easy to solve with boiling, UV post-filtering or distilling, but if the water has high amounts of heavy metals then boiling or distilling only concentrates the metals and makes the situation worse. UV does nothing for it either. But it gets worse because if you have arsenic in your water, that literally CAN KILL YOU. Where I live, arsenic is hit or miss in drinking water sources, but so is radiation from uranium.

As I said, I cannot in good conscious give you a suggestion on what to do with your water because "it is just a guess unless you test".

That being said, I would look into a whole house Reverse Osmosis system and not waste my money on an undersized, under the counter reverse osmosis system. I am still not sure if the situation is anal, for animals, or annual but point-of-use RO is cheap because it is so limiting. Without testing your water, you do not even know if RO will take care of the issue. Typically RO only takes out 12 mg/liter but what if you have more? My water has 37 mg/liter of iron, but I only know that because my water has been tested. That would mean I would need (4) RO systems in series to get my water to allowable levels (here it is .5 mg/liter and I have 37!!)

Again, not enough information here to give any feedback that is meaningful.

I don't have a whole house for a whole house system. I have one sink and an out door shower bucket. The RO system I chose is rated NSF/ANSI 58 and 53. So arsenic is taken into account.

I live way out in the woods. So my biggest concern is microorganisms and TDS right now.

NSF/ANSI Test results for undersink system
https://cdn.builder.io/o/assets%2Fcafce28af4f64574b23f990b9ecf2680%2F8af4250d8cac46f59d390c1c4defe65c?alt=media&token=107779aa-8a85-4a78-996f-d657dcadf668&apiKey=cafce28af4f64574b23f990b9ecf2680

Are you seeing contaminates my system can't remove?

I am not seeing your water testing results.

A RO system that takes care of 12 mg/liter is great if you have 7 mg/liter, but if you have water that has 23 mg/liters you got contaminated water after you treat the water.

All the builder placard shows is the percentage that is removed at a certain level. I have no idea what your actual levels are: it may be higher, it may be lower?

You are putting the cart before the horse. You test your water to find out what you have for bad stuff in it. Then you obtain a water filtration system to take out what you don't want. You may not need any filtration system. You may need far more than you think. But if you overfilter then you end up drinking foul tasting water because the good minerals are not left in it and your own health suffers. Same thing for animals that you may have.

It is all just a guess unless you test and it costs just $150. There is zero reason not to test. It could save you tons of work and money, or even save your life.

Dakota, Steve is making a very important point about testing the ground water.
- your 1800 Gallon tank sounds perfect for you at the moment.
- leaf traps are important
- Have a look here, this equipment is available in North America. https://rainharvesting.com.au/learn/
- A submersible pump will draw from the bottom, maybe an external small even 12V pump will work for yourself at the moment.
- Look at RV supplies they have very good expensive pumps.
- A small particle filter should be all you need.
- Rainwater will not have problems with these as Steve mentioned, "arsenic is hit or miss in drinking water sources, but so is radiation from uranium."
Can you load some pictures.

Steve Zoma wrote:I am not seeing your water testing results.

A RO system that takes care of 12 mg/liter is great if you have 7 mg/liter, but if you have water that has 23 mg/liters you got contaminated water after you treat the water.

All the builder placard shows is the percentage that is removed at a certain level. I have no idea what your actual levels are: it may be higher, it may be lower?

You are putting the cart before the horse. You test your water to find out what you have for bad stuff in it. Then you obtain a water filtration system to take out what you don't want. You may not need any filtration system. You may need far more than you think. But if you overfilter then you end up drinking foul tasting water because the good minerals are not left in it and your own health suffers. Same thing for animals that you may have.

It is all just a guess unless you test and it costs just $150. There is zero reason not to test. It could save you tons of work and money, or even save your life.

12mg of what? Per liter. I'm still not sure what contaminate you're worried about or what hole is in the system.

Ok. So perhaps I need a water purifier that is specifically designed to treat unknown water during emergencies or wartime. I was considering a watermaker for my permanent property. Maybe I should buy that early?

What I don't want is to drink water that has contaminates I'm not aware of because the water was recently dirtied and I haven't sent in my annual water test yet. And then have a system that's dead in the water while I spend two months asking reddit and reading forums trying to figure out how to update my system. Because I didn't bother to set it up from the get go, because I'm only thinking about that ONE contaminate. I want to be able to filter that canister of water I was given without asking the one who gave it to me what the test results were. If I want to send in a 150$ water test every time I haul in water from another source, then I'm definitely putting the cart before the horse.

Now the direction of setup you're taking makes sense if the person has a isolated steady supply of water, like a, spring a well or municipality. I won't argue you're wrong at all. But I'm not working from the angle of what in this raw water. I'm asking is the water I get out of my system going to be potable regardless of what I put in it? What are the actual chances of coming across THAT contaminate where I'm at. I'm not concerned about filtering out irradiated aluminum dioxide.

There a plenty of situation where people purify their water without knowing the source contaminants. Soldiers, sea farers, long distance/long term hunting and hiking, disaster areas, immersive camping, boondockers in Huston Texas. Granted they could bring water, but that limits how far and long they can go. I thinks it's a bit odd to say you can't filter water successfully without sending in a lab test to see what in the stream you got your water from 5 days into a 5 week wilderness hike.

I'm aware an long camping trip or cross ocean sail is different then a cabin set up. But the mechanics are the same. How does that sailor get water from the ocean, because he can't always take enough water with them, or the stored water becomes sickly. They have backup filters to filter unknown water. They have no way of sufficiently testing for contaminants. How can I setup that system here.

I already intend to test my rain water before this post. But I already know what it will likely contain because it's rain water hitting a metal roof, draining down a roof gutter, sitting in a storage tank.

Also pure water doesn't leach minerals from your body in 99% of circumstances, that's the kidneys job. Those that suffer water demineralization need to have a very very mineral poor diet, AND excessively pure water, over a very very long time frame. A pinch of sea salt solves that if I'm really worried. Mineral deficiency is almost always lack of diet rather then excessively pure water.

I'm not posting my water results because I didn't have it yet. Let just assume it got all the basic yuckies.

John C Daley wrote:Dakota, Steve is making a very important point about testing the ground water.
- your 1800 Gallon tank sounds perfect for you at the moment.
- leaf traps are important
- Have a look here, this equipment is available in North America. https://rainharvesting.com.au/learn/
- A submersible pump will draw from the bottom, maybe an external small even 12V pump will work for yourself at the moment.
- Look at RV supplies they have very good expensive pumps.
- A small particle filter should be all you need.
- Rainwater will not have problems with these as Steve mentioned, "arsenic is hit or miss in drinking water sources, but so is radiation from uranium."
Can you load some pictures.

Yeah knowing what's in the water is good. I don't disagree with Steve. And I'll be testing my rain water run off before the system is finished install. But I need to have a system that's flexible enough to purify most anything. So asking what's in my rain water should be unnecessary with the system I'm trying to build. There are toxins that can't be purified by any known system. So I'm not looking for perfection, I'm looking for reasonable expectation.

Thank you. Yeah I don't have anything built yet. I really don't have pictures. I hadn't considered RV supplies. Good idea. So I think I can mount everything on the wall and put everything on standard PVC pipe. I despise PEX, thank you. But someone mentioned elsewhere that every device needs to have the proper water pressure to function? I'm still trying to figure out how to address that. I've had pressure regulator before in my old RV I used to live in. But they kept failing. So I'm not sure how to approach this.

Should I collect raw water for testing from the tank input drain? Or the settle tank itself?

Steve Zoma wrote:I am not seeing your water testing results.

A RO system that takes care of 12 mg/liter is great if you have 7 mg/liter, but if you have water that has 23 mg/liters you got contaminated water after you treat the water.

All the builder placard shows is the percentage that is removed at a certain level. I have no idea what your actual levels are: it may be higher, it may be lower?

You are putting the cart before the horse. You test your water to find out what you have for bad stuff in it. Then you obtain a water filtration system to take out what you don't want. You may not need any filtration system. You may need far more than you think. But if you overfilter then you end up drinking foul tasting water because the good minerals are not left in it and your own health suffers. Same thing for animals that you may have.

It is all just a guess unless you test and it costs just $150. There is zero reason not to test. It could save you tons of work and money, or even save your life.

You’re absolutely right — without actual water test results, everything else is just guessing.

A spec sheet showing “removes up to X% at Y mg/L” doesn’t tell you what’s really happening in someone’s home. If your source water is 7 mg/L, a system rated for 12 mg/L might be fine. If it’s 23 mg/L, that same system could leave you with levels you’re not comfortable with.

Testing first makes sense. It tells you:

What contaminants are actually present

At what concentration

Whether you even need treatment

And if so, what type and capacity

Overfiltering is a real issue too. Stripping out everything can impact taste and remove beneficial minerals, which affects both people and pets.

For ~$150, getting a proper water analysis seems like the smartest starting point. It removes assumptions and helps you choose a solution based on data — not marketing claims.

Test first. Then treat accordingly.

Dakota Miller wrote:

D Nikolls wrote:I use a system with a 50micron, 10/1 micron, 0.5 micron in series, followed by a Luminor GUV-4S LED UV treatment.

I run it at well under 1GPM, into a 40 gallon stainless tank that gravity feeds the sink. Sink is the only water source in the tinyhouse.

I like the energy efficiency of the very small UV system that I can use with such low flow, and batch filtering keeps power usage super low.


Your system sounds pretty good to me; I haven't used a RO system before for comparison..

I would want to hit the shower water with 1micron/UV, personally. I usually take my mouth with me into the shower, so it just seems less worrisome to treat that water like it might meet my mouth.


Main issue in my system that may also pertain to yours; first flush diverter and coarse filtration before the main storage tank. I have a first flush diverter using a screen at the intake, a float to divert water to tank when diverter full, and a small weep hole to allow it to drain slowly.

It sucks, it clogs in multiple ways, and it runs all the water over the accumulated debris. I will start from scratch on this part of the system next time round.

I am thinking covered gutters, centrifugal first flush diverter, and a barrel sand/gravel filter before storage..  time will tell.

Ok. I think I found the same unit. The specs me it
(30 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.6 GPM

(40 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.4 GPM
So it looks good.

I'm wondering if I set up a low flow rate UV system, how would it affect the physical filters? If I recall correctly the standard Culligan candle style filters need at least 20gpm to work properly? Maybe I need some sort of flow/pressure regulation between the prefilters and RO. And between the RO and UV.

There are more small UV filtration options becoming available over time, I haven't compared lately. I don't much like the connection style on this one, but it has been working without issue for a couple years so far.

I am using 10" 'big blue' style filters, which are generally specced for a suggested minimum of 1gpm for 'efficient operation'. But I don't see any mechanism that should make them cease to filter at a lower flow rate.

I am using an RV water pump with a small pressure tank. Then I manually flow limited the system with a ball valve, with new filters. Flow falls over time, I can recalibrate if I care to bother.. the pump is noisy as heck and clearly doesn't love this way of using it, I will seek a more appropriate pump for the next iteration.

Personally I would absolutely not want to use untreated rainwater, at one point I was cleaning gutters and discovered I had a rat or chipmunk hanging out on a gutter doing his business extensively.. yuck.

How does that sailor get water from the ocean, because he can't always take enough water with them, or the stored water becomes sickly.  

from google
Sailors in the 1700s primarily obtained water by filling large wooden casks at ports, supplementing this with collected rain, and rationing it strictly.

Distillation may be the only way that will work for you.

Hannah Shaw wrote:

Testing first makes sense. It tells you:

What contaminants are actually present

At what concentration

Whether you even need treatment

And if so, what type and capacity

Overfiltering is a real issue too. Stripping out everything can impact taste and remove beneficial minerals, which affects both people and pets.

For ~$150, getting a proper water analysis seems like the smartest starting point. It removes assumptions and helps you choose a solution based on data — not marketing claims.

Test first. Then treat accordingly.

Oh ok.  So any contaminant parts per liter. I'm on it. I'm going to go look and see.

Hannah Shaw wrote:

Steve Zoma wrote:I am not seeing your water testing results.

A RO system that takes care of 12 mg/liter is great if you have 7 mg/liter, but if you have water that has 23 mg/liters you got contaminated water after you treat the water.

All the builder placard shows is the percentage that is removed at a certain level. I have no idea what your actual levels are: it may be higher, it may be lower?

You are putting the cart before the horse. You test your water to find out what you have for bad stuff in it. Then you obtain a water filtration system to take out what you don't want. You may not need any filtration system. You may need far more than you think. But if you overfilter then you end up drinking foul tasting water because the good minerals are not left in it and your own health suffers. Same thing for animals that you may have.

It is all just a guess unless you test and it costs just $150. There is zero reason not to test. It could save you tons of work and money, or even save your life.

You’re absolutely right — without actual water test results, everything else is just guessing.

A spec sheet showing “removes up to X% at Y mg/L” doesn’t tell you what’s really happening in someone’s home. If your source water is 7 mg/L, a system rated for 12 mg/L might be fine. If it’s 23 mg/L, that same system could leave you with levels you’re not comfortable with.

Testing first makes sense. It tells you:

What contaminants are actually present

At what concentration

Whether you even need treatment

And if so, what type and capacity

Overfiltering is a real issue too. Stripping out everything can impact taste and remove beneficial minerals, which affects both people and pets.

For ~$150, getting a proper water analysis seems like the smartest starting point. It removes assumptions and helps you choose a solution based on data — not marketing claims.

Test first. Then treat accordingly.

However. I'm still trying to understand how those seafarer survive without dying. They can go from port to port in countries with sketchy water. Depend on their watermaker for drinking water. And somehow they live life just fine. It's impractical of not impossible for them to test every new bay/dock water. Even deep open ocean has different levels of contaminants in different areas. This is where my brain stops braining. HTF are they getting along purifying Ocean water without the constant water checking? That I apparently MUST have in order to succeed in providing potable water. Go into a marine forum, their water source vetting is simple. Look over board. Is the water look nasty or red? No? Your good to go. Test you batch of clean water before putting it in the storage tank. If the clean water water test foul, dump the water, check the system, back wash, move on down the line and try a different spot. Rarely does the clean water actually come out bad.

Life straws.

For goodness sake. I'm already going to test the rain water. Why do I feel like I have to defend myself.

Why do I feel like I have to defend myself.

I dont believe anybody is asking you to justify your quest.
In australia, water off metal rooves are generally not tested because of common prior knowledge.
Bird, rat and possum detritus is dealt with by the first flush and storage time in a big storage tank.

John C Daley wrote:
I dont believe anybody is asking you to justify your quest.
In australia, water off metal rooves are generally not tested because of common prior knowledge.
Bird, rat and possum detritus is dealt with by the first flush and storage time in a big storage tank.

Well I working on a set up that uses candle style housing instead of the entire RO system. Anyway. If I can figure that out I'll just start blind, and problem solved until I get it right. I've learned a lot about water production in the last week.

Does storage time get ride of the detritus somehow?

Does storage time get ride of the detritus somehow?

Detritus is the lumps, poo, leaves, nuts twigs etc, they are best removed with first flush diverters and or course filters such as leaf traps.
Water sitting in a sheltered tank with access to oxygen will clean itself.
Fine particles called fines, will simply settle to the bottom.
Most other issues just improve with time and oxygenisation.

John C Daley wrote:

How does that sailor get water from the ocean, because he can't always take enough water with them, or the stored water becomes sickly.  

from google
Sailors in the 1700s primarily obtained water by filling large wooden casks at ports, supplementing this with collected rain, and rationing it strictly.

Distillation may be the only way that will work for you.

Yeah I'm considering destillers. At least the limitations are pretty inarguable. I know exactly what will evaporated and what I need to physically filter.

1700s sailors were built different. Lol. Most modern boats have a BEEFY RO system. (That's why I chose RO instead of destilling) Plus any other add-on filter they like. I'm looking very critically at the katadyn survivor 40E. It's over built and over priced for ground water. But it's built to be used as a complete system. The company expects that their customers will drink the water straight out of the system. They can't afford to cut corners and play with false claims because they'd end up with very sick, lawsuit-happy, customers. But apparently it a go-to in the long distance ocean traveling group when storage is only a temporary solution. You can repair most the parts yourself with common tools and such. They generally use an RO system to purify sea water. Dump it in a holding tank and test it on boat. If it tests good they put it in the main tank to drink. The only thing they have to be concerned about is oil and red tide. And those can be seen visually in the water.

John C Daley wrote:

Does storage time get ride of the detritus somehow?

Detritus is the lumps, poo, leaves, nuts twigs etc, they are best removed with first flush diverters and or course filters such as leaf traps.
Water sitting in a sheltered tank with access to oxygen will clean itself.
Fine particles called fines, will simply settle to the bottom.
Most other issues just improve with time and oxygenisation.

Nice 👍

I'm able to build a 1600gal tank. With fence and plastic. I can send the link to what I found. I'm hearing that may be to small a tank Will 1600 work?

EDIT: seems I can get it up to 3500gal tank.

Dakota Miller wrote:

John C Daley wrote:

How does that sailor get water from the ocean, because he can't always take enough water with them, or the stored water becomes sickly.  

from google
Sailors in the 1700s primarily obtained water by filling large wooden casks at ports, supplementing this with collected rain, and rationing it strictly.

Distillation may be the only way that will work for you.

Yeah I'm considering destillers. At least the limitations are pretty inarguable. I know exactly what will evaporated and what I need to physically filter.

1700s sailors were built different. Lol. Most modern boats have a BEEFY RO system. (That's why I chose RO instead of destilling) Plus any other add-on filter they like. I'm looking very critically at the katadyn survivor 40E. It's over built and over priced for ground water. But it's built to be used as a complete system. The company expects that their customers will drink the water straight out of the system. They can't afford to cut corners and play with false claims because they'd end up with very sick, lawsuit-happy, customers. But apparently it a go-to in the long distance ocean traveling group when storage is only a temporary solution. You can repair most the parts yourself with common tools and such. They generally use an RO system to purify sea water. Dump it in a holding tank and test it on boat. If it tests good they put it in the main tank to drink. The only thing they have to be concerned about is oil and red tide. And those can be seen visually in the water.

That is NOT correct.

I live on an island far out to sea where my well's are compromised by sea water and can be affected by red tides. None of that can be visually seen in the water.

I have looked into RO for seawater because of the sea water in my house-system, but what RO system I use for desalination is very different. If the water is over 2000 mg/liter it is considered sea water and takes a special robust filtration system, and if under that it takes another. As desalination is being carried out, it constantly has to be adjusted, and that is just for desalination. Too much pressure and it strips the water of minerals, not enough and you get salty water. This is a VERY real issue for me and I have conducted a lot of research on how I can get good water here. The quote I got from professionals has been the most expensive system they ever saw: $45,000 with (3) whole house RO systems to get out all the problems I have to go from undrinkable to drinkable.

If I just had sea water issues, I would distill, but sadly I also have incredibly high iron so distilling would actually make my water worse.

You do not have it quite that bad, but you can use the information that I have learned to set yourself up to be better off. Water is life and it pays to do things right.

My neighbors do not treat their well water because it is too expensive to filter so they instead have rain catchment systems. But they test their water. I am on the east coast so may be different than you, but the rate of cancer here is the highest in the nation per capita. I myself have cancer, and it is because of the topography and jet stream. In short, bad shit comes here when it rains.

Yes, water testing will change with every rainfall, but you get an average of what is in the water.

No one person on this forum is smarter than all of us put together, but you are indeed right. You do not have to justify your water filtration system to anyone. I am not affected by what you do with your water system, but when I hear of blanket statements like "you would see bad water", for the sake of others who might read this thread, I feel obligated to say in a kind manner, "I'm not sure that is the case". Myself and others can explain this in many different ways, but we cannot make you understand it. However, we can only hope that others who read this thread do and keep themselves safe.

Drinking water is the key of life. Best to do things right, not guess.

Steve Zoma wrote:If I just had sea water issues, I would distill, but sadly I also have incredibly high iron so distilling would actually make my water worse.

Steve, I don't understand that -- can you explain how distillation makes your iron situation worse?

Steve Zoma wrote:
That is NOT correct.

I live on an island far out to sea where my well's are compromised by sea water and can be affected by red tides. None of that can be visually seen in the water.

I have looked into RO for seawater because of the sea water in my house-system, but what RO system I use for desalination is very different. If the water is over 2000 mg/liter it is considered sea water and takes a special robust filtration system, and if under that it takes another. As desalination is being carried out, it constantly has to be adjusted, and that is just for desalination. Too much pressure and it strips the water of minerals, not enough and you get salty water. This is a VERY real issue for me and I have conducted a lot of research on how I can get good water here. The quote I got from professionals has been the most expensive system they ever saw: $45,000 with (3) whole house RO systems to get out all the problems I have to go from undrinkable to drinkable.

If I just had sea water issues, I would distill, but sadly I also have incredibly high iron so distilling would actually make my water worse.

You do not have it quite that bad, but you can use the information that I have learned to set yourself up to be better off. Water is life and it pays to do things right.

My neighbors do not treat their well water because it is too expensive to filter so they instead have rain catchment systems. But they test their water. I am on the east coast so may be different than you, but the rate of cancer here is the highest in the nation per capita. I myself have cancer, and it is because of the topography and jet stream. In short, bad shit comes here when it rains.

Yes, water testing will change with every rainfall, but you get an average of what is in the water.

No one person on this forum is smarter than all of us put together, but you are indeed right. You do not have to justify your water filtration system to anyone. I am not affected by what you do with your water system, but when I hear of blanket statements like "you would see bad water", for the sake of others who might read this thread, I feel obligated to say in a kind manner, "I'm not sure that is the case". Myself and others can explain this in many different ways, but we cannot make you understand it. However, we can only hope that others who read this thread do and keep themselves safe.

Drinking water is the key of life. Best to do things right, not guess.

Of course you can't see the water in your well. I was speaking of the conversation the seafarers were having. I didn't say those things at all. And I'm sure they would use a different system if they were in your situation, than if they were out on their boat.

I'm going to test my rain water once in the beginning. Then the output purified water regularly. If that's not good enough I don't know what to say. Don't drink the water in my house.

Dakota Miller wrote:TOO LONG DIDN'T READ: here's the basic setup. I'm certain I'm missing something. I expect to be corrected. Could you please explain why if you correct? I like to continue learning the why and how of what I'm doing. 😁

Raw rain water in Settle tank
--->Output for animal water.

10 micron washable
5 micron washable
---> Output for non-potable basic cleaning. Shower, mopping, etc  (Everywhere but in the mouth or in the food)

1 micron washable
.5 - .1 micron
Aquatru undersink RO https://aquatruwater.com/product/under-sink-water-purifier
UV LAMP VIQUA VH150 UV System https://www.freshwatersystems.com/products/viqua-vh150-whole-home-uv-water-disinfection-system
clean potable water output
---> To small distiller for CPAP use.

Water finishers if I wish
Small water storage for in cabin use, sink, etc. (~5 gallons).


LONG STORY

I'll put the big filter set up ahead of the ro system to get the water as clean as possible for RO system. It feels to me more logical to invest in washable filters so I can reduce the wear and tear on the RO system as much as possible by back washing or swapping rinsed filters periodically. Makes it easier to keep the sensitive RO membrane in good condition.

I have decided on the Aquatru undersink RO for this setup.


I'm using the UV lamp to catch any escaping bacteria from the RO filter. The RO filter should do it's job just fine. The UV filter is a extra precaution. A thorough UV should be rated NSF/ANSI 55 Class A. But since I have so much filtering already done I figure a Class B at 30mj/cm2 won't be a problem. AND. If I can figure out how to run the water through the UV system aat 3.5 gpm it will effectively act as a Class A  at 40mj/cm2.

I do have a solar set up. But my first goal is potable water. I'll figure out how to power it and make adjustments after I solve the water problem.

I couldn't find anything specifically about water treatment. So I hope rain catches is the correct forum area.

I'm scrapping this idea all together. To many people saying it won't work. If someone else wants to take the idea and run with it, is be interested to see where it goes. Bye. 👋