Drinking from rainwater tanks may mean of unacceptable levels of lead, according to scientists from the University of Technology, Sydney.
They assessed the water quality of water stored in household tanks around Sydney, and found 45% - almost half of them contained lead exceeding the amount considered safe by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
That wasn't all; turbidity (murkiness) exceeded acceptable levels, as did pH levels. (Why am I not surprised; people have been telling us for years that their water tanks are acidic!)
The researchers weren't sure where the lead came from . Perhaps I can help them out. I had a man from Nimbin come in with a water test of his roof runoff tank water. He was livid; it had jet fuel in it. Yes, Nimbin is under a busy Brisbane-Sydney flight corridor. So surely it's not unreasonable to expect that lead in the atmosphere, plus all the other contaminants floating about, would be washed into our water tanks?
In my view, it's unreasonable to expect anything else! The Darling Downs in Queensland has long been a pollution hotspot, caused by agricultural chemicals from aerial spraying drifting onto buildings that conveniently provided a large area collector in the form of a roof, which all washed into water tanks with the next downpour.
So a water filter that removes lead, pesticides, chemicals, and jet fuel is not a luxury; it's a necessity for water tank water drinkers. And if you can bring the pH back to a more health-supporting alkaline, all the better.
Check out my solution here
Read the report here
Study published in Water Science and Technology Journal
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