Preparation

Short Summary:

The filtration system is pretty straightforward. It’s the plastic box, the filter candle, the adapter and the water collection container. It requires no hard work. The plastic box was $8 from Kmart, the filter candle starts at $13 plus shipping but you can get better ones for more, the adapter is $7 free shipping and the juice container most people already have.

Then, you need to collect the rain water. I have 4 32 gallon plastic storage boxes from Kmart for about $10 each (I bought some on sale for $8). I also bought a $10 sheet set from Kmart, and some non snag hair ties for $3 because they are rubberbands that are gentler on the cheesecloth and more durable. 4 bags of 2 square foot unbleached cheesecloth was $7 at my coop. Finally, I bought a clean water bucket specifically for lugging the water for $8.

The sheets are great straining material. I specifically use it to filter the water right before I pour it into the plastic box with the filter candle. The filter candle gets clogged really easily so the water must be really clear, and then it will get rid of the microscopic germs.

That’s it.

Longwinded Recount:

This is something i’ve been experimenting with for a while. It’s just rain water. Rain water is natural distilled water- the first- before the boiling method. It is water naturally distilled by the sun temperature in the sky in the clouds.

I realized that the tap water i was drinking, no matter how purified, is always boiled. And the water you can buy in the health food stores are usually boiled too. My friend found an organic rain company in Oregon that bottled water since he knew i liked that but from inquiring I found out that they don’t boil it but they do use a high temperature enzyme destroying high heat method to preserve the water as well. Most companies boil everything to heat it to preserve it as you probably know as a rawfoodist and this is very harmful to the food. And then we have to wait until it’s cooled to a better temperature to even eat it. :)

So, i wanted raw water so i was forced to find out a way to get an abundant supply myself and filter it cleany and cheaply.

So, i bought a rain water collecting bin for $60 and i tried to collect enough rain in a rain fall from the sky. (Directly from the sky is the cleanest water.) It came with a mesh screen on top to keep out the bugs and leaves and stuff. In the first rainfall it only collected enough for me to drink for 2 days. I filtered the water as well in a Wellness water filter because i read up on the www.sunfood.com boards that they were the best out now. I had previously had a Brita but i did ph testing on it and i found out it took tap water that was 7 ph (neutral) from the NYC tap water system and made it 5 ph (acidic) which is supposed to be bad for the body. I had read i should drink alkaline water and eat alkaline food which is between 7.1 and 14 ph. I also had an expensive alkaliine water ionizer and it was amazing when i was using it actually- it halved my appetite so i was eating very little each day but i stopped using it because it stopped working after 2 months because i had to replace the calcium cartridge or something and it stopped seeming natural to me as it is electrified water so i sold the unit.

So my mom came up with the idea to buy the cheap sturdy plastic boxes from Kmart. They have big wide tops so there is a lot of space to collect the water from the sky. So, i bought like 5 of those. They were $8 a piece on sale but 1 collects 16 times as much as the $60 bin because they are bigger on top- the bin i bought first has a small collecting hole and it needs to be big to collect from the sky- the more surface area the more the rain has a chance to fall in.

Next, it needs some sort of mesh to cover the top of the boxes so i came up with cheesecloth i bought cheap on ebay. I’m in the process of buying some raw organic cheesecloth or mesh for the top of my plastic bins. And I’m looking for some appropriate sized rubber bands online to hold them in place on the bins. I will just buy big swatches of organic cotton cheesecloth or mesh fabric and cut them to fit the plastic boxes i have and then hold them in place with the rubber bands. It should be relatively cheap. So, i have 5 plastic boxes like this but i only use 2 right now so it doesn’t fill up too much space in the backyard and look funny and it collects plenty for me at this time. But i have more at my disposal anytime I need.

I also needed a good filtering method. So i found a rain water filtering system specifically made for rain water. It’s for emergencies and you’re supposed to use the cleanest water you can get but it’s made for if you need to use almost any kind of water and it filters everything naturally and effectively. It’s $209. It’s made of stainless steel and it holds 3 gallons of water and filters through a ceramic porous filter. I bought it basically because i wanted all my family and friends to use the raw water safely. But ever since i started drinking this filtered water it’s been much easier to stay 100% raw organic vegan. It’s been much better in general to stay raw since I began raw water but with this ceramic filterer it became much easier for some reason.

To read up on this water filter and to buy it is at www.yellowstonetrading.com. Buy from there as it’s a lot cheaper than to buy directly from the Aquarain water company. :) But it’s dropshipped to your house from their factory anyway.

So, this is where i am at in my rain water tales. It snowed a couple days ago and i tried to collect snow water but a lot of snow water evaporated into very little actual drinking water. So that is not very cool. But if it was really blizzardy and snowy i could always buy a new big plastic garbage bin and set it outside to collect the snow and then from the 90 gallons or so it collected of snow it could probably give me 3 gallons to fill my Aquarain filter for a couple of days for myself. i drink about a gallon of water a day. I was really excited about collecting snow becauses the only bad thing i read about rain is that it is is slightly acidic and snow water is alkaline supposedely and in beautiful perfect crystals.

This is my current solution. I would eventually love to power my whole house on rain water. I’ve read up on people doing that and not having to pay the water system anymore. I could just hook up a gravity system outside to the water line and the same faucets can be used in the house to use the water. Then i don’t have to lug water from the back of my house every couple of days. Plus rain water is supposed to be great for the skin and probably would feel better on my skin than the current water i use and better preserve it..

also, i bought a cheap plastic mop bucket- clean- especially labeled for collecting water- it’s 3.5 gallons- to make it easier to lug water to my house- it takes a second to fill and then i walk back. Previously I was using a cup to slowly pour the rain water into my small filter and walking back to the house a couple times a day.

Anyway, there are some precautions. If the water is yellow or the snow is yellow or any other color it is probably polluted and not good to drink. I think this is the healthiest water i can get but if i could get the water from really pure regions in like Oregon like the rain water company it would be even better for me. There are people who use wells or spring water or mountain/glacier water and it doesn’t go through the boiling process and they are benefiting from this good water. Like i bet the water at Eden Hot Springs in those hot springs are very raw water. Plus it’s a great temperature to make tea! and i would love some tea without needing the sun. I read that there is a steeping in the fridge method that takes a day which i will try. I’m looking into water warmers and food warmers that don’t go above 118 degrees and they happen to be a little expensive. But just as expensive as a good raw blender.

Edit: Here is some new info I have written on another forum

Raw water will make staying 100% raw vegan organic SO much easier.

Here’s what to do to start simply, easily, and cheaply collecting your own raw water.

I bought those cheap plastic boxes from Kmart- or Walmart or Target etc.- with lids. They were on sale for $8 a piece. I bought 5. They hold 38 gallons each, I believe. They have wide tops which makes collecting water from the sky ( which is one of the purest waters) easier and you get more. I find I only need to leave 2 containers out and that is more than enough to supply my water needs.

Next, you need cheesecloth to filter out the bugs and leaves etc. I would like organic cotton but could not find any. The next best thing is unbleached. A looser weave than for straining is recommended so the water can get into the box easier but it still filters out stuff your eye can see. The cheapest I found is for a 75 yard roll of unbleached cheesecloth at $60. That is more than enough for your boxes and then you can share or save it for replacing the cheesecloth (when you wash the old ones). You can cut the cheesecloth to fit the box mouth with a scissors neatly- looks best to other people and they may be drinking your water. http://www.raglady.com/detail_CC5066cheesecloth_cotton_washable_white_bleached.html

Next, you need rubber bands to hold the cheesecloth in place but be easily removable and reusable. You can get a dozen 72 inch rubber bands (about the size of any large box top) for under $15 at http://www.cameronpackaging.com/rubber_bands.html

You’ll want a really good filter. This removes bacteria and other pathogens that you can’t see from the water and improves the water’s taste. I bought mine for $209 at http://www.yellowstonetrading.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&id=60094&product=5

It holds 3 gallons of water! It’s a big, family sized filter. Plus, it adds nothing to the water to kill the germs. A lot of filters add something acidic, which is most likely cooked, and it lowers the ph of the water to acidic and we should eat things that are alkaline. It is simple. Made of steel it filters with ceramic pores etc. It’s the greatest filter I’ve ever used. I mean the quality of water that comes out of this filter is the best. It is for rain water, it can take almost any water and filter out all the bad stuff. However, they always recommend using the purest water you can get with it. I love it.

Finally, you will want a cheap plastic mop bucket. This you can also get at Kmart. Label it and keep it especially for getting water. This makes lugging water to fill your filter simple, fast and easy. It take a minute to fill my 3.5 gallon bucket with rain water by tipping a plastic box of water into the bucket or dipping the bucket into the water. Then, I carry it to the house and pour it into the filter. My bucket is really nice looking- it’s blue, and rectangular shaped instead of round. I think I spent about $7 on it.

So, that’s about it to get started collecting and filtering your own rain water! Trust me when I say this, this water will taste good and look good, and be very pure and your family will want to drink some. But the best part is how drinking raw water makes eating healthy so much easier. And who wants to eat healthier here?

Next lesson will be converting your whole home to rainwater the cheapest, fastest, easiest and using the least space possible. My ideas on this is to get a water holding tank. However, my backyard is very small and we want to use it so it has to be a very small footprint but very tall. I found a 15,000 gallon tank like I want. Then, you connect it somehow to your rain gutters on your house and everytime it rains the water will be collected into your tank. Most roofs collects more than enough rain water for our needs. We just have to learn how to harvest it cheaply. Otherwise, we give that beautiful water away to the city to “purify”. One needs to filter this water somehow because a roof is kind of dirty. I don’t know how to do this yet. And then you simply connect this tank as an addition to city water to your plumbing. I have to find out from a plumber how to do that. Then, when you collect and store enough water, you can use the same pipes you have already been using but out will come rain water.

Rain water is not only good for the outside, it’s really good for the skin. Rain water is moisturizing, promotes healthy blood circulation, reduces acne, is great for getting that shine for the hair, preserves skin best and promotes healthy hair growth.

I live in New York. So, it’s supposed to be kind of polluted. However, i just try to get the purest water I can get. For now, it’s this water collected n this way. Rain water is slightly acidic. The best water is alkaline. Rain water does meet pollutants in the air in the city. However, you are right, it’s FAR, i mean FAR, better than tap water. The benefits outweigh the negatives. And I’m choosy about what water I put in my body. Like if it rained and it turned my water yellow, I’d think twice about using that water. I think I’d fast from water and just eat fruits and vegetables until I could get a better quality of water.

Oh, i also recommend storing water in glass. Glass is usually better than plastic for storing anything, even if there is air space in the glass container, your food and drink will still preserve better insealed glass. I usually put the plastic bag of food inside the glass container and seal it up in the refrigerator. Anyway, having different size glass containers are really helpful, I believe. I’m getting the 4 gallon glass containers on amazon to store filtered rain water so I don’t have to wait for my filter to filter water when I am thirsty every couple of days. Plus, I can carry it on short trips to other states with me, especially if i’m traveling in a car, and I can bring extra for others.

Edit: At the beginning I was collecting rain water but I didn’t really filter it very well- i had the cheesecloth but not a very good way to keep it on the container so it blew off in the wind a lot. So, there was a couple of leaves and stuff in the rain water. I would filter it would the aquarain filter, though. However, I realized that keeping the water pure is of high importance. The purer the water you put in your body, the easier it is to eat 100% pure raw organic vegan and to water fast! I mean, no cravings. I hang around my family talking at mealtimes all the time now and I don’t crave their food. I would eventually love to convert them to raw foods with the amazing recipes on this site, though. Anyway, so, filtering and storing this water is very important. Keep the cheesecloth clean. Wash them when you feel they are dirty and if you’ve bought the cheesecloth roll, you’ll be able to cut another piece to fit the box in the meantime. Use organic detergent to clean the cheesecloth- more pure to filter your water. Organic raw soap nuts, I heard, are great soaps and detergent and I have to buy some to test and I will soon. They are natural raw soap that grow like fruit off trees. Search www.google.com for the website that sells the “raw organic soap nuts”.

I think the great things about rain water is it is evaporated by the sun so it has sun kissed energy and it is evaporated at a raw temperature- not boiled or distilled or reverse osmosis (RO) which all cook water at too high of a heat. There’s a lot of other benefits. So, rain water that falls directly from the sky is VERY pure- it is the original distilled water. Keep it pure. I was letting the leaves and bacteria marinate in the water and filtering it later and although it was easier to stay 100% raw vegan, it’s even easier now that I always make sure to put that clean cheesecloth on top. Although the filter eliminates most bacteria, it’s better if there is none there in the first place, for our health and the filter life.

I would love a glass or glass lined box to collect water but have not found a suitable one yet so my next best idea is to immediately filter and store the water in glass jars. Glass will preserve the water the best. I don’t like the thought of the water marinating in the plastic boxes- I think the plastic could leech into the water. Also, I want to seal the water up as soon as possible in airtight glass, not leave it exposed to air in the plastic box with the cheeecloth until I feel like filtering it and let it lose enzymes- which I believe even water has. So, immediately after it rains, I filter the water in my aquarain and put into glass storage jars. I use 4 gallon glass jars from www.goodmans.net called Ideal jars. 4 gallons is easier for me to carry right now, their lid is also glass, it is airtight, cheap- especially if you buy several, and the top is wider than most 5 gallon glass jars. From juice fasting and needing to preserve juice for a week or so for easier juicing I learned that the best way to preserve liquids is to fill the glass mason jar to the brim and put the cap on and if some liquid spills out you know you have a perfect airtight seal. Once air gets to the juice, it loses color and taste and nutrients etc. So, I bought 8oz. and 16 oz. glass mason jars to fill so I would have a small serving of juice each time. Anywayz, get as much of those multiple gallon sealable glass mason jars as you can afford and in different sizes for water and food storage. Finally, one should use a glass drinking container too. I prefer 32 oz. I could not find a suitable empty one on the internet so I just went to the organic store and picked out several 32oz. organic water and juice bottles to empty and wash .

Some more benefits of purely gathered and bottled water is water fasting becomes much easier, I think. My previous best water fast is only 2 days. I will update soon with how long I am able to water fast in peace. I’m losing more weight, have more energy, my skin is looking clearer and more glowy.

Edit: I found cheap all glass collection boxes- go to www.amazon.com and search for “glass aquariums”. It needs to be more long, and wide, than tall so it has more space to collect water from the sky. One is twice the price of a plastic bin from Kmart or Walmart but it will give you much purer water and last much longer.

Edit: Since I’ll be collecting the water with glass aquariums, I don’t want to have to tip it over or lift it to drain out all of the water, like I did with the plastic boxes. So, there is actually a water pump that is made by the same company that sells the glass aquariums on www.amazon.com. It’s called the “Aqueon Water Changer”. It comes in 25 foot and 50 foot sizes. I think I will get the 25 foot one as it’s cheaper ($34.95) and I don’t need an extra long pump because even the 50 foot one wouldn’t extend from my backyard all the way to my kitchen. :) So, I’m just using the pump to drain out every little last drop of water in the aquarium easily into a glass 4 gallon jar or bucket for carrying to pour into the water filter. I think I also have upgraded to using one 4 gallon jar marked specifically for carrying unfiltered raw water to the filter instead of the bucket. This way I use glass for purer water and it also pours into the filter a lot easier than tipping a bucket.

Edit: A possible source of organic cheesecloth: �Yuna Solon wrote: Hi, i�m looking for natural, unbleached cotton cheesecloth. Which one of your fabrics can be substituted for cheesecloth? It would be a normal grade, uncolored and unbleached, natural fabric, with a weave that�s relatively tight and suitable for straining, etc.. Thanks! Yuna

Hi Yuna,

You might want to use the natural whisper fabric # 1508. It is the most like cheesecloth that we carry. I hope this helps.

warm regards, Winnie www.nearseanaturals.com”

Edit: Ok, if I can�t get a filter that I know won�t harm the raw water, then I should not use a filter at all. Only certain filters are raw friendly. The Brita and Wellness filters are obviously NOT. When I use the Wellness filter with raw water, I can’t stay completely raw. On the other hand, when I use the Aquarain filter or I just filter the water with a piece of cloth so it’s clear, I can. I don’t know what happens in the Wellness water filtering process but it’s not raw friendly. If you really need to take out big particles in the raw water, using a simple piece of cloth as a filter, any that you can get, whether it’s a clean shirt or a pillow etc. is better, I think. The water will be raw. You’ll be able to stay 100% raw, most likely, although depending on your area the water may have an off taste. The aquarain would eliminate that. But the simple cloth is good for emergencies.

Also, tap water is local rain water! Springs are fed by the rain, aren’t they? And the movement of the water and the earth acts as a filter, I think. Rain water is our natural water, I think. Even snow is icy rain. Haha! :)

The advantage of raw water seems to be that it helps me make the most positive food choices instead of being ruled by my instincts or cravings. But I still get tempted a lot, just I can pick the positive food choice more.

Edit (March 26, 2008): quote:

Originally posted by Herbalraa: Narz,I am surprised you didn’t bring a little hand pump water filter for the stream. I ocne camped out in the national forests of Humboldt county for 10 days all by myself miles from any people way off the trail and drank filtered stream water and it was great. Someone told me to bring grapefruit seed extract in case it gotme sick(if I didn’t filter it) so I did and now I always eat the grapefruit seeds LoL.

---

That’s some great advice. I guess grapefruit seed extract would be like how they use iodine- to kill germs in water?

Because of Narz and thinking about how one could filter water on a camping trip, I researched portable water filters. The best one I found is the MSR waterworks. It does the best job of eliminating 99.99% of pathogens from any kind of ground water. It’s made of ceramic pores and activated carbon like the Aquarain home emergency water filter i use now. To make it work best, in needs to used in conjunction with msr siltstopper to take out the big particles before the filter removes the microscopic ones. I’m really glad i got this idea because the home filter is kind of slow sometimes when i am really thirsty so to be able to pump 1 liter in only one minute to tide me over will be very useful. Also, if i don’t collect enough rain, i can go into nature with a 5 gallon empty water container and collect some water to filter at home. Like, i’m going to use the hudson river near manhattan, new york where i live because i can easily reach it with transportation and it already supplies some of the cities drinking water so it must be relatively clean, i think.

*Why don’t people post in the comments section what are the cleanest springs, streams or rivers in their area that they use for emergency ground water in case someone who lives in your area wants to know?

I think plastic is veyr useful. Glass breaks so easily and is not allowed in some government building because it can be used as a weapon. Of course, there are leaching issues. to address those, i think a hard plastic is preferred. Also, plastic is cheaper. I think people should get the raw water any way that they can and if they can’t use glass at first, then don’t. Plastic is a natural vegan resource, just like glass. Oil is in short supply but it is natural and vegan. If we used up a lot of sand then glass would be classified as a nonrenewable resource, i think. it takes a long time to make sand and oil.

Edit (April 4 2008): I think i’ve found the cheapest way to filter the best. You need 1. a ceramic and carbon filter candle $13 plus s&h (I’m going to try the one available here as it seems the least expensive http://www.h2ofilters.com/maacecewafi.html2 but it is high quality and effective at removing 99.99% of pathogens) 2. Style A Siphon adapter $7 free shipping (http://www.pwgazette.com/gravity.htm) 3. A plastic container like shown in the picture (Walmart or dollar store etc.) 4. a water bottle (any leftover juice bottle rinsed out.) Follow the instructions under “un-vesselled” http://www.pwgazette.com/gravityinstructions.htm

This can cost as little as $30 if it works. I am going to get the supplies today. I was looking for a really inexpensive but really effective filter and this fits the bill. Compared to $209, $30 is great, to me! I like this method because it means that i don’t have to poke holes into containers, I only have to buy 1 container instead of 2, and it filters even faster than the aquarain. The aquarain filters 3 gallons every 3 hours, but this method is supposed to filter 3 gallons in 1 hour. Best of all, it’s cheap to replace, which is what i was looking for because I’m not rich- yet! :)

I’ll update with how easy it is to use as soon as i start using it.

Edit: April 5, 2008 You can also use regular rubber bands to hold cut to size sheets onto the boxes as an alternative. You would need 2 rubber bands per box and you would use them to tie the ends of the cloth around the box really tightly. This is more widely available and cheaper than cheesecloth and the large rubberbands.

Actually, i find cheescloth to be an ineffective barrier. Too much particles get into the rainwater. I think something with smaller holes like a regular sheet will catch much purer water.

Edit: April 15, 2008 I got the siphon adapters. I bought 2 to have a back up in case one breaks. They totally fit the filter candle I already have perfectly. I will buy the matrikx filter that i recommend next month just to be sure. I’ll filter water today and report back.

Also, for durable rubber bands to hold the sheets on the boxes, you can use hair ties or heavy duty rubber bands from an office supply store like Staples.

If you want to set up this whole water collection system cheap for one person, if you price shop, you can spend $100 max! And it will filter just as well as the more expensive options that I recommend. Try it and see. :)

If you collect raw water with a lot of big particles in it, secure a piece of cloth over the top of the box that you use to put the filter candle in with rubber bands, and pour the raw water from the bucket through this sheet before you place the filter candle in it.

If the filter candle is not flowing well, it might be clogged so scrub it just until it is clean with a brillo like pad.

IT WORKS! :D My $30 filter system works like a charm! :)

In order to start the filer, always suck through the end of the tube until you taste raw water and then put it in the collection bucket to drip. Always make sure it is dripping consistently before you leave it.

April 16, 2008: I take back my earlier statement about cheesecloth. They are preferable for catching rain water to bed sheets. The bed sheet holes are too small, I’m realizing. The sheet is great to filter the water before it enters the box holding the candle because if there are too many big particles in the water the filter will get clogged too easily.

I think I need cheesecloth with smaller holes, instead. I got the unbleached cheesecloth last time. The company that I recommend even sent me a whole $60 swatch for free! How nice is that?! :D Now, I recommend the grade 60 or grade 90 cheesecloth on the page that is bleached, because their holes are smaller. If you want to make sure no bleach enters the water maybe you can wash it first? I will get some next month. Here’s the link again: www.raglady.com/items_66.html

Sorry to anyone that bought the unbleached cheesecloth and find that it is doing a poor job of filtering the water. The cloth that strains from the sky can’t be as tight as a bed sheet but it can’t be too loose either. One of the 2 I recommend should be perfect and I will try both in the near future. :)

Edit: April 21, 2008 For the cheesecloth, I’m going to buy the ~ $3 a piece 2 square feet cheesecloth available at my coop, for now. I think they will fit my boxes. I think they are available at a lot of organic supermarkets or really good supermarkets. Like I said, for the purest water, filter and bottle all of the water right after it rains.

Edit: April 22, 2008

I bought 4 bags of unbleached cheesecloth at my coop for 1.73 each which makes the total about $7.

This system is so cheap, now. I’ll always have raw water because in case I have to replace the whole system, it is only $100 total. And usually I only have to replace one or two pieces so it is even much less. My problem before was that each part was so expensive to replace- especially that $209 filter. And the replacement filterheads are $150 for a set of 4. As I am not rich yet, and I don’t have a job yet, that was seriously stressful. Now, raw water is no problemo! :D

Update: June 19, 2008 I’ve made a mistake and recommended some things I have not tried personally and they have not worked out right. Therefore, from now on I’ll only recommend things that I have used and I’ll specify that some things are ideas until I try them out. so, I’ll put either experience: or idea: in front of each comment so that people know the difference. Lastly, the cheap filtration system is a personal system if I am low on money and the aquarain is for friends, family and myself when I want the most purity, I think. I will soon start reselling the aquarain, I think.

Experience/Ideas- I have used the aquarain filter candle in my first cheap raw water filtration set up and that worked fine. I had the ceramikx as backup. However, there are tricks to using it, I think. Even though it says ceramikx it is mostly a carbon filter, I think. Therfore, it floats more than mostly ceramic filters. It may take days for it to sink. I tried holding it down like the adapter instructions said but it started floating again as soon as it got suction. So, I think the key to using the ceramikx is to let it saturate in the water as long as it takes to sink naturally.

I got impatient and used it before it finished sinking to the bottom although it was covered and it worked up to a point when the water level got too low. To avoid that I think I should wait until I’m sure it has sunk all the way to the bottom before I use it. Next, you can’t let it dry out, I think. So, as soon as you finish filtering your first batch of raw water you should refill the top box with more raw water and let the candle soak in it until you are ready to filter again.

Idea- I’d like to avoid the problems associated with the ceramikx so I looked for a cheap mostly ceramic candle. The doulton candles available at www.filtersfast.com are pretty cheap, I think. If you remember, the site that sells the $7 adapter also sells doulton candles. I have my eye on the Doulton super Sterasyl Ceramic filter Candle on that site for $35. It is mostly ceramic with a carbon inner core to improve taste and odor and impregnated silver for sterilization. There is an even cheaper Doulton candle for $30 without the carbon but I like a little carbon, I think. There are probably more expensive Doulton candles at that site that do an even better job? Like, the $35 one only removes 50% of chlorine out of the water and I bet there are ones that remove 100% but I figure rain water doesn’t have chlorine in it and I want to save money right now.

I have not compared the prices of the doulton candles on the adapter site and this site. Maybe the more expensive candles are about the same price? I’ll see. You could also support the adapter site for bringing you the adapter information so graciously and pay a little extra, I think, depending on what you can afford?

Idea- I think you can use narrow electrical tape you can buy from a hardware store like home depot to tape the tube to the side of the collection container so that it drips really fast. If you let the tube sit in the raw water, it will drip amazingly slow. Especially if you want to bottle a whole rainfall at once to prevent evaporation in the summer, you want it to drip and filter fast, I think. That goes into my next idea…

Idea- I need to bottle each rainfall because the summer heat causes a lot of the raw water to evaporate and I want to ensure my supply. Therefore, I found some ”$10.95” 5 gallon water bottles on amazon with free shipping that I really want. I think 7 is the minimum to bottle one rainfall. I’l purchase them soon and if I like them I’ll purchase 7 more and then I’ll have enough, I think.

I like that these bottles are so cheap, have free shipping, are a white see through color so that I can see the water level and see if there is anything that should not be inside in it. Other benefits is that they have a removable spigot on the side and they are collapsible. That they are collapsible makes me question the plastic quality but I think it is better than nothing, although I will not use that feature much in order to not stress out the bottles. Collapsibility is probably because water bottles take up a lot of space.

It is the Coleman expandable water carrier http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000088O9Y/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Once I use them I can recommend them in the ingredients list. Cheers! :)

June 20th Update: I was wrong about Reverse Osmosis water. I thought it was boiled but it not. I think the purest system would be ceramic/carbon filtered raw water that is then raw temperature distilled. I�m looking into raw temperature distillers right now. This is an article about the difference between ro and distilled water. http://www.aquatechnology.net/frame85879.html

Side note: My rawfoodist friends Tony (aka Narz) and Jaime will be welcoming a new baby sometime soon. As a group baby shower gift and because it would be supporting rawfoodists would you please purchase through their amazon affiliate store at www.rawlovers.com? All of the amazon purchases cost the same, just a percentage would go to them. They only get a percentage when you actually use the shopping cart available at their site to order. Many blessings! :)

June 21 Update: Purely philosophical idea: I change my mind about even raw temperature distillers. You know why distilled water can make you feel bad but help you eat so well? I think it’s because you are drinking completely burnt water. Therefore, it needs more of a balance causing one to crave better food to feel better, I think. Why would you take water that has gone through nature’s distillation process and do it all over again? If you filter and bottle the water immediately after it rains it’s pretty clean, I think. I still want a raw temperature distiller because the army uses those (regular distillers however) to make sea water into water for drinking and bathing.

July 14 2008 update: I finally bought the $35 Super Sterasyl Ceramic filter Candle on www.filtersfast.com. I read that it really has 95% chlorine removal in gravity systems and 50% in pressure systems and these are more like gravity systems, I think. I was considering the $55 one just for increased chlorine so I’m glad I saved $20 by finding this out. Still have yet to test it out- will soon.

The Ceramikx seemed to sputter back to life on and off but it is still not reliable so I won’t purchase it again.

July 23, 2008 Update: I bought 7 coleman water carriers to filter an entire rainfall. They work and are the cheapest I could find although I would like better quality. You have to blow into it like a ballon to expand it but remember this is the personal cheap system. Your saliva gets on the end of the suction tube but you’re the only one using it for now, I think.

The doulton filter works like a charm, I think.

Some tips: - Put a brick around each side of the plastic box or groups of plastic boxes to prevent them from faling over in the wind when empty.

- You can easily clean out the plastic boxes by rinsing them out with your garden hose, then spraying some preferably eco cleanser unto the empty boxes and then hosing them out again, I think.

- Take care of carrying the water buckets inside before doing minor stuff like rinsing off equipment because that takes the most work, I think.

- Rinse everything as soon as you finish using it, especially the water filter candle, so it doesn’t cake on dirt, I think.

- The top container needs elevation to filter. I used to use a tv stand, now I use a chair, for the unfiltered water and place the water collection bottle or container for the filtered water on the floor. I would like the perfect cheap stand for both of them, though.

I now recommend filtering all of the rain water collected directly after a rainfall and bottling it. If you let the water sit too long it becomes moldy and that is a poisoning risk no matter how much you filter, I think. However, filtering all the water should take very little time. It’s basically only maybe 1 1/2 hours of physical work carrying the bucket, a MONTH, for me. The filters do most of the work, I think.

I’m exploring filtering tap water. Right now, if I don’t have rain water I at least filter the tap water with my ceramic filter. That has the benefit of getting rid of all the germ bodies in the water that they killed with the chemicals that they added, I think. I noticed a direct health improvement from just that.

The countertop filters don’t do a good job of eliminating the germ bodies because they are usually just made of carbon, I think. The emergency filter sites say the carbon is added mostly to improve taste and color, not to really filter out the bacteria, I think.

That’s also a flaw of pasteurization- killing the germs only to leave the bodies in the food, I think.

Then, that leaves the chemicals. I don’t think tap water is pasteurized. So, it should be raw. The problem is all of the chemicals they add to the water to kill the germs duplicate the effects of pasteurization, I think. Actually, I think it might be worse than pasteurization.

Most of the filters on the market now don’t even filter out flouride anymore. I think this happened recently. For example, I bought a replacement refrigerator filter for my family to drink cleaner water since I prize that so much, and all of them do not filter out the fluoride (not spelled “flouride”) anymore. I saw an older model on amazon that I wanted to purchase that did but right before I could buy it they doiscontinued it.

I believe fluoride is a nuclear waste. Of course it’s going to kill germs being a nuclear waste but do you really want that in your water? More info at http://www.lovethetruth.com/truth_about_fluoride.htm

So, I was checking out chemical filtration and it’s like you need a seperate expensive filter for everything. But, I’m determined to figure out the cheapest way to filter out chemicals as much as possible because a lot of people use tap water. Plus, some places actually have chemical rain. Maybe we could have raw filtered tap water in the future. The question is do the chemicals do irriversable damage to the water or not?

I think my rain is fine, though, and right now it’s a lot less hassle to filter naturally distilled water by the environment than worry about all those chemicals, I think.

My new blog is www.yunasolon.typepad.com. [7/30/08 edit: It’s not nearly finished yet but I’m working on it.] Visit please! :D

July 30, 2008 Update: Ideas: I want to get a siphon starter, also called a suction starter. It is for starting the drip for the cheap filter without sucking on it. I think this will be more sanitary. I found a great one called the “python squeeze siphon starter” for under $5 online but I’m still looking for someplace where I can get free shipping or a store I can buy it in person nearby.

I want to get a chemical filter especially made for emergency gravity water filters called the “PF-4 reduction element”. It reduces fluoride, lead, arsenic and MTBE as well as pesticides, VOC and other organic compounds, I think. I think this would reduce a lot of people’s concern about chemical rain. I’m trying to find the cheapest place to get one. They seem to go for $24 an element, at least.

Finally, I want to get the style C adapter from the site that explained how to create the cheap water filter- www.pwgazette.com. I already have 2 style A adapters- one is a backup. However, I’m not sure that adapter will actually fit since the chemical filters are so big, Therefore I might have to go to home depot and get appropriate parts. They should be very cheap, though. under $10, I think.

Experience: Ever since I started drinking raw rain water bottled directly after the shower, I’ve been eating half my usual amount. Seriously! I’ve been eating less food. Plus, I’m drinking less water. I think making sure the water does not get dirty in the first place before filtering makes a huge difference. I’m kind of excited to see what chemical filtration can do to cut my appetite.

This has actually happened to me before when I bought my Jupiter Melody Ionizer. I started eating half of what I normally eat. But I finally stopped using it mainly because I realized that it might be unhealthy that it electrified water. When I was researching the ionizer I read that the ionizer can achieve ion levels that rain naturally have, but they said rain is acidic. However, from my own research I think that rain is usually only slightly acidic- very close to neutral. Most of the healthiest and purest water in nature is a little acidic, I read. I think the water is supposed to be alkaline but there’s too much pollution. Getting healthy will help the earth heal, I think. Looking on the bright side, a little acid is good for digesting food. :)

Blessings! :)