Water, Continued

I will continue on water today, because a very valid question was posted on the site yesterday. There are many ways to obtain water for filtration, Just make sure you DO NOT use pre-treated/tap water,.. even gardens and plants don't like it. Pre-treated/tap water contains chlorine bleach, and you do not want to introduce chlorine bleach into the filter as it will kill the good bacteria, you want growing in the top of your filter to eliminate the bad/harmful bacteria, and will disable proper filtration, it  also contains fluoride, which the fed govt (FG) has the treatment plants add to the consumer water. Some of it is good for your teeth in occasional doses but too much was proven to actually be harmful and causing tooth rot a couple years ago, when I was still in Indiana. Because of that they lifted the requirement to add it, only for the fed govt to decide to put it back in a couple of years later, for whatever goober reason. You can set up a rain catch system (if you get enough rain, this is one of many examples I will try to provide) to build up free water supply to filter. If you decide to do this, there are many ways you can set it up, you can use the gutter drainage (Don't forget to clean the gutters, and roof for good water to start with)  around your homes roof, the large area of the roof will catch quite a bit of water. If you have a home like I do, that doesn't have gutters, (I rent a home) you can set up your own catch system like I plan on doing. I plan on hang a large tarp from the trees that are on my property and letting only one side droop in to a "V" to funnel the rain it catches to one area for me to harvest and store for Pre- and post-filtered water. If you do something like that, you will need something in the path of the water running down the tarp (or whatever you decide to use) so you don't overshoot your catch target area.. You can build lightweight louvers in the "V"  focal point of the tarp out of most plastic parts you may have laying around the house i.e... junk electronics, trash cans, shelves or many other things you can re-use instead of sending to a landfill, and funnel it into a catch can or whatever you have to catch it with. Remember by letting water you catch sit outside too long after catching, it will enable many things to inhabit the water you don't want in it mosquitoes, algae, even frogs to lay eggs  in it, and many other things you don't want. When you store water before, or even after you filter it, you want to keep it in as cool and dark of an area you can get it in. 40*-60*F would be a good start. The direct sunlight is one of the worst places, because it will not only heat it but, like our skin, it will absorb other vitamins and more. that anything trying to grow in it will thrive on. Once I am able to start building these things that I describe, I will be more able to demonstrate more, with visual aid in doing so. I will cover cleaning the plastic holding tank to remove plastic or any other unwanted tastes in my next entry.

Until then be safe, and Happy Prepping!