Yellow-Ish Water from Rainwater Tank

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  [Deactivated] on 30/08/2017 - 21:11

  +3

  i guess someone pee'd in your tank

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    BigLeviathan on 30/08/2017 - 21:35

    Sure…sure…they take the high ladder and pee on it every day…

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  mskeggs on 30/08/2017 - 21:23

  If there are leaves and things getting into the tank (especially gum leaves) they can stain the water. I would have expected there to be a screen to stop this. What do you think is causing this? Does your tank have a "first flow" diverter?

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    BigLeviathan on 30/08/2017 - 21:33

    There is gum tree on the neigbour side, but it is around 8-10m from the rainwater tank itself.

    Ah, first flow diverter, something like this? I don't think so, as it goes straight away from the gutter to the tank inlets

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      mskeggs on 30/08/2017 - 21:42

      +2

      Did you find leaf matter when you emptied the tank? You should expect a layer of sludge at the bottom, but usually it is very fine and settles there like the bed of a river.
      Gum leaves are a bit like tea leaves, they leach colour into the water if they sit in it a long time. My tank, which admittedly only gets used in the garden, has a metal screen on top and the pipe from the gutter pours through open air to the screen. Any leaves there are held up out of the water and blow away or are easily brushed away.
      I don't know how tanks directly hooked to the gutter pipe screen leaves etc. out.

      The first flow kits can be installed easily (and even quite easily home made from pipe connectors on the shelf at Bunnings).

      In any case, I think a $500 'filter' is a silly idea. You don't need it filtered, just keep whatever is staining the water out and it will be fine for laundry/toilet.

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      Euphemistic on 31/08/2017 - 09:40

      Gum leaves are most likely your problem. Have you ever seen the brown stains on concrete from gum leave? Other than the colour it wont harm your toilet.

      If you don't like it, get some sort of first flush system and an inlet filter. There are all sorts of leaf diverters available for down pipes. You should be able to get something that requires minimal maintenance, you don't need a drinking water solution, just a way of stopping leaves getting into the tank.

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  pegaxs on 31/08/2017 - 07:42

  I would not drink the water that comes from a collection tank directly. Everything that falls out of the sky and lands on your roof end up In that tank. This includes dirt, dust, pollution, sticks, leaves and bird shit. The most common cause I f the yellowing is the break down of organic matter such as the leaves and dust that get washed into there.

  Unless you are going to get up on your roof and hose the gutter clean every week, it will just continue to happen. Things I did to minimise the yellowing was to fit a screen in the top of the tank to stop the large debris from getting in the tank (if it doesn't have one already) and cleaning that out regularly. Also, fitting of water filters if you want the water to be clear and as clean as possible.

  There is no magic $5 fix if you want clear water out of that tank. Your roof is just too big of a crap collection area and rain water collected like that would never really be drinkable right out of the tank.

  It's a new house and a few hundred to get some filters fitted would give you years of usage. Considering how much you could save using rain water for things like washing and toilets, they would pay for themselves in not much time at all.

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  vinni9284 on 31/08/2017 - 09:24

  I also built ~ 25kms from the city and have a 2K litre water tank.

  The water in the WC and En-suite toilets are pretty clear. .. and this is my 4th year here.

  Over a period of time (I am talking 1 year+) you will see residual dirt surrounding toilet inner top-bowl.
  The tank does pick up some dirt over a period of time but I can tell you the water is not the way you describe, murky, yellow, etc.

  If I were you, I would hire a building inspector to inspect this and the remaining of your house considering it is only 6 months old.

  In my situation, even after the 3 month maintenance inspection, I hired a building inspector and after his visit, the builder had to knock-down and rebuild the garage wall (as it had no 5 course brick retainer on zero boundary)

  ROI = $500 building inspector for $10K repair work.

  Not many people would hire a building inspector after handover.

  Don't trust what the builders say, if they have a chance, they will wriggle out of paying. They have got their money now so they would probably put this issue on the bottom pile.

  This is going by my experience.

  • 

    BigLeviathan on 31/08/2017 - 14:10

    Likewise, I hired building inspector on all the building stages including prior handover;

    Unfortunately, he didn't pick up this thing (perhaps this is not a construction-related issue that you can see on the day).

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  seraphim2017 on 31/08/2017 - 09:46

  would you drink water that had been sitting in a ditch? I've never heard of anyone drinking rainwater, people who think they're drinking rainwater actually drink runoff from their roof, that WAS rainwater, before, as said, it picked up the shit in the air and bird crap/leaves.

  1. Fit a screen filter
  2. Fit a first flush diverter
  3. clean your tank regularly (just think , how often do you wash your dishes?, now, how often would you wash them if you stored the food in them? ) check it regularly and clean it PROPERLY (not just a whizz round to stir up shit) every couple of years at a minimum, Some people are disgusting and don't clean them for years, never accept food from these people unless the back of your toilet door is REALLY interesting!
  4. Clean your roof every now and then, and consider trimming back overhanging trees (less leaves + less possums)

  Sounds like leaf rot and animal poop, easy to do, and until its cleaned, you might want to add chlorine to prevent a nice case of gastro, it's dirt cheap and if you do it properly, it won't taste different, chlorine will get used up reacting with contaminants (if water column is low turbidity) and the tiny residual will be nothing, maybe 0.2mg/l.

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    Euphemistic on 31/08/2017 - 10:41

    HAve a re-read of the OP. only used for toilet flushing.

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      seraphim2017 on 31/08/2017 - 11:56

      True, but OP also said goes to WC "at the moment" (indicating they might connect other things up).

      Also says that water should be drinkable, indicating this is a possible end use in future.

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    Slippery Fish on 31/08/2017 - 14:40

    Actually possums mostly travel over powerlines in suburban areas, so asking As there is trees near by it's no help.

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  Nutrino on 31/08/2017 - 13:12

  What colour did you expect it to be? Serious question.

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    BigLeviathan on 31/08/2017 - 14:12

    I'm expecting a clear, or at least close to clear and won't stain the toilet within two weeks…