Is It Safe To Water A Garden With Roof Runoff

Other uses for roof runoff.

Is it safe to water a garden with roof runoff.

Having a standard against which to compare the level of contaminants in the roof runoff is important for determining the safety of the water for irrigation. You can buy a flush first addition to your rain barrel setup that will hold the first flush of. Using a simple device called a first flush diverter to remove the first water that comes out of the system which may have been sitting may help avoid some of these contaminants 8 10. The untreated runoff quickly killed the salmon while the fish in the rain garden treated water survived.

Roof runoff has many outdoor uses. Young building room 233 1376 storrs road unit 4134 storrs connecticut 06269 4134. Boiling the water will kill germs but will not remove chemicals. Well i would have normally dismissed any danger of using runoff water especially if the shingles had been on the roof for any length of time.

I have recently started growing vegetables in my garden and wonder whether it would be safe to use collected rainwater from my garage roof to water them with. Coli indicates the potential presence of human pathogens i e bacteria and is important information if rain barrel water is used to water a vegetable garden. Rain gardens however are designed to slow down the flow of runoff water but do not hold the water for long. Most of the contaminants are in the first 5 to 10 gallons of water that runs off your roof.

The garage roof probably dating back to the 1950 s is made of asbestos sheeting. Unless the zinc content is particularly high it is safe to use on lawns and ornamental gardens. So watering the soil instead of pouring it directly on the veggies provides an opportunity for the soil to work some of its purifying magic before the water is taken up by the plants. And if runoff water is applied to the foliage it would be wise to rinse the vegetables with clean water before consumption.

Watering the soil with water than has run off from an asbestos roof is not the same thing at all. By means of a soaker hose or drip irrigation for example. But a recent article over at ncmg addressing the potential dangers of drinking from garden hoses that contained lead made me think twice about the possible risk of using roof runoff to water an edible. The presence of e.

Rain gardens are not retention basins because the water that collects in them is expected to slowly seep into the ground within a day or two and.