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Rain water from tar shingled roof | (Read 214 times) |
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ravis
Posts: 1
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June 20, 2008, 11:16:22 AM |
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In Canada we have a lot of tar shingles, if I collect water off of that type of roof will the water be polluted? If it is, would I have to make a biological water treatment system using reeds?
Has anyone ever tested the water coming off of a similar roof?
Rob
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Ben Souther
Posts: 27
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June 20, 2008, 11:45:31 AM |
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I have no data to back this up but, if I had to guess, I'd say that there would be more pollution coming from a brand new roof than an older one. I would also guess that unusual weather would affect the amount of pollution coming from your roof. I picture a hotter than usual day melting the tar a little deeper than usual, or a real windy storm bending some of the shingles, causing small particles to break loose from them. A long drought might mean more bird poop (we have a lot of seagulls where I am) so the next rain would have a higher concentration of that.
A lot of water pipes are made with similar materials to the shingles on your roof.
They're also made with copper, and PVC, and concrete so I wonder if the water coming off some shingled roofs might actually be cleaner than the water from your tap.
I guess the only real way to know would be to have it tested.
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1331
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June 20, 2008, 04:46:47 PM |
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Yes, that water is nasty. If you aren't sure - taste it!
Mollison's book addresses this and has invented a contraption that throws out the first couple of gallons that will contain the dirtiest bits of water.
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1331
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June 27, 2008, 08:32:53 PM |
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Metal roofs would be a good choice.
Asphalt shingles ... I would be pretty hesitant. I suppose if I set up a sand filter, I might feel better about it.
As for skeeters: the barrels I've seen in use for this sort of thing and have skeeter screen on the top.
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Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 589
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August 13, 2008, 05:39:55 AM |
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but I am hesitant about the quality of the water
I could make the same statement about the water from our municipal system! That being said they certainly aren't ideal. Eventually we will be re roofing our home and building a garage using metal roofing. I am going to wait until that time to begin harvesting rain water. Maye this will help.
http://www.uoregon.edu/~hof/S01havestingrain/data.html
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Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1331
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August 13, 2008, 10:37:03 AM |
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I think there is a new metal roofing that has solar electric stuff built in. Would that be worth looking into?
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kelda
Posts: 263
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August 13, 2008, 09:56:31 PM |
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Tar/Asphalt Shingles, yup they make the water nasty.
I was about to install a catchment/garden watering system for some clients, and then realized they had the wrong roof. According to a local rainwater catchment group, that water should be used only at base of trees/shrubs, and not in the veggie garden.
But hey, that's still something.
Look to the future, replacing it sometime with a metal roof. The fancy green-painted ones are common for rainwater-collector-folks.
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SteveT
Posts: 17
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September 28, 2008, 06:12:41 PM |
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If you have flush toilets, you can use that nasty water for flushing, conserving your good water for the garden.
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WenVan
Posts: 28
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September 29, 2008, 08:24:14 AM |
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I have had rain barrels a long time & used asphalt-shingled roof run-off water I've collected to top off my (ornamental) fish ponds. I've seen no ill effects in the fish as a result of doing this, and I've been doing it for years. 2 of my 4 koi have lived here for 8 - 10 years. Of course the ponds are also topped off by sporadic rainfall (Oklahoma is either wet or dry, not much consistency!) & on occasion (when it's really dry) I'll have to dechlorinated water from the hose to top off the ponds. Roof run-off is not my only source of pond water. The frog population thrives in my backyard & treefrogs congregate around the rain barrels. I've used rain barrel water on house plants, annuals, perennials, etc. also seeing no problems. I wouldn't personally drink the water that's run off of any roof (bird poop, dead bugs/birds & all) unless it was filtered & purified in some way.
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 koi.JPG (93.91 KB, 800x599 - viewed 35 times.)
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SueinWA
Posts: 303
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October 03, 2008, 06:31:55 PM |
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The age of your roof may affect the quality of your rain harvest, for better or worse. The simplest thing would probably be to contact your local Cooperative Extension Office (find yours here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ ) and ask them what you want to know, and ask who could do the kind of test you need.
Also keep in mind that if you have a garage, roofing it with metal would be a lot cheaper (esp if you did it yourself -- if I can do it, you can!). Then run your collections from that roof instead.
Look in your Yellow Pages under 'Roofing MATERIALS'. My local metal roofing materials supply will take your roof measurements and virtually sell you a kit, including instructions, for doing it yourself. Two or three people can usually do most of it in a day.
Sue
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kelda
Posts: 263
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October 13, 2008, 08:06:47 PM |
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i just heard this weekend that portland has okayed Drinking water from asphalt roofs if it's gone through a lot of processing, including UV. So actually this factoid means nothing at all really, because pretty much any water can be drank after that.
Great to see the fish pic! I was just wondering if anyone was keeping fish to cut down on skeeters. I'm assuming yours are in the pond. I'd love to see some fish right in the barrels though, for those super small urban lots. (talk about stacking functions!)
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SueinWA
Posts: 303
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October 14, 2008, 10:20:19 AM |
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Can't you just toss a few goldfish into your barrels? I hear that they're quite hardy for this part of the country.
Sue
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