Recycled Water Safety
Water is vital to life. Like sunlight, without water we would cease to exist. Unfortunately our water is becoming scarcer all the time. Right now the world battles over oil. As that fight is ending, a new one will begin. This time the resource that everyone must have is water. Water comprises 70% of the human body during old age, 80% as a healthy adult, and 90% as a healthy child. Obviously water is critical to life on earth. It also appears that a lack of it is a precursor to natural death. Is that what our planet faces as we exhaust our water supplies? Hopefully that is not the future we will create together.
Can We Fix the Problem?
Preferably we will apply human ingenuity to a human problem and tackle water shortages head on. This means we must begin to recycle our water. We can’t just continue to waste it while living like there is no tomorrow. Humanity has to pull together to share the worlds resources or we will become extinct.
Recycled water is not to be used as drinking water unless of course one is faced with a crisis of some huge proportion where the option is to die of thirst or drink contaminated water. In this case, most of us would choose to drink the recycled water.
Recycled water is not “bad”. It can be used by humans in a wide variety of ways. In fact it could be the salvation of our water supply.
Recycled Water Risks
The uses for agriculture and gardening for recycled water are staggering. Captured rainwater could be funnelled into a rainwater tank and be piped out to water crops. Rain water does run some risk of contamination. A roof that is painted with a lead based paint could capture water that could be hazardous to human or animal health.
Precautions should be used along with common sense to determine if the rainwater you are gathering into your rainwater tanks poses any risks. This is mainly based on any contaminates found on the roof from the roof itself or in the city from pollution. If one lives near an airport then collecting rainwater from the roof to use for growing food may not be wise if it contains jet fuel that is dumped prior to landing.
Overall the benefits of recycling water far outweigh the risks. The long term risks involved with water shortage is far more frightening than recycling water usage. The collection of water in a rainwater tank allows many of contaminates from the roofs to settle. Even if the water is unfit for the watering of food or food crops it could be used to beautify the flower garden.
Helping Humans Help Themselves
The issue at hand here is the absurd waste of a precious resource. We must find a way to work together to solve this problem. The makers and installers of rainwater tanks are on the cutting edge of a technology that could save humanity, if we are smart enough to embrace it.