Are Plastic Rain Barrels Safe to Drink From?

Rain barrels are containers that collect and store rainwater falling in your rooftops during rainy days. This rainwater will flow through your gutters and down to your rain barrels

Having rain barrels installed in your home would mean a lot of savings. It is also a means of returning this valuable resource (the water) back into Mother Nature and money back into your pockets since you would be cutting off your water bills.

Having rainwater stored in your rain barrels would mean that you don’t need to open your tap water faucet to get water supply to nourish your lawns, clean your car and windows and even to flush your toilets. Instead of tap water you can now use the rainwater from your rain barrels. Rainwater is suitable for watering plants since it is without chlorine and what’s more, it’s absolutely FREE! Normally this rainwater should have gone through your gutters down to roads and pavements catching lots of pollutants like oils, animal wastes, bird drippings, dust, sediments and many more which it comes in contact during its transport before it deposits itself in to storm drains or other reservoirs, which it can be treated in order to become suitable for use for human consumption. With rain barrels in your home, these pollutants are lessened because the rainwater goes no further than your rain barrels.

There are many types of rain barrel that you can choose from. There are the plastic rain barrels, wooden rain barrels, galvanized metal rain barrel and the ceramic clay or stone rain barrel. All of these types have their own advantages and disadvantages, and it is only you who can decide what to choose according to what you specifically need. So if you’ll choose the plastic rain barrels, you would probably ask: Are Plastic Rain Barrels Safe to drink from? Plastic rain barrels are the most commonly used material in a rain barrel installation. They are a popular choice by most people because they are affordable, weighs lightly and have a variety of color and shapes.

However, using them requires extra caution and careful consideration on its uses. Make sure that your rain barrel comes with the needed thickness and is provided with a suitable UV protection since there is a tendency for this material to deteriorate when exposed to the sun and other elements in the environment.

You must also consider that plastic rain barrels could contain BPA (bisphenol-A) which is a component in manufacturing of this product. BPA is considered a contaminant to the environment. Thus, it is recommended that rainwater collected from rain barrels should not be used to water the leaves of your green vegetable plants in your garden.

Rainwater from your rooftops could contain animal drippings, dust and other pollutants from the environment. Most of these will be stored with your rainwater in your rain barrels. And if not treated this kind of water would not be fit for drinking. So, to be on the safe side it is best not to drink the water from your rain barrels.

Hopefully this would address your question on Are Plastic Rain Barrels Safe to drink from?

References:

http://www.uri.edu/ce/healthylandscapes/Rain%20barrel%20bro.pdf

http://www.rainbarrelresource.com/2009/05/rain-barrel-food-safety-are-rain.html

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