Bad Odour Harvested Rainwater
Published on by Lenin DSouza, Technical Adviser at Self Employed in Non Profit
One problem I am facing right now is that the harvested rainwater has a bad odour. Hence, the system (used for toilet flushing only) has been temporarily suspended.
On water testing, it is observed that apart from odour the water has above limit colour and turbidity.
I am planning to erect a filter cum dozing unit on the delivery pumping mains.
Can someone suggest the type of filter cum dozing unit for a flow of 10 m3/day?
Taxonomy
- Treatment Methods
- Water Treatment & Control
- Filtration
- Filters
- Filtration Solutions
- Water Harvesting
- Solutions
- Water Pollution Control
- Water Harvesting Structure Design
31 Answers
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Small ozone system like you can get for spa and jacuzzi would get rid of this sulfur smell. https://www.spadepot.com/Aqua-Sun-XL-50-Ultra-Long-Life-CD-Ozonator-Kit--120V-P10160C674.aspx?zmam=55673001&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=PX7001&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzKXp1oPe5AIVoyCtBh0SKAamEAQYASABEgJH-PD_BwE
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Lenin,
The crucial items that will cause odor in your rainwater harvesting tank are as follows:
-Types of pre-filtration
-Collection surface material
-Periods of storage
If you are using the right pre-filtration before the water enters the tank then this will reduce the amount of organic matter entering the tank. Ecoli and other harmful bacterial feed off decaying organic matter. Which then releases a heavy carbon odor that you are talking about.
If you are collecting from a "green roof" this will cause the water to pick up a lot of organic matter which in turn makes it difficult to filter and gives the water a heavy odor. Have you ever tried to filter water that was ran through a tea bag. That's the same concept.
If you store water for a longer periods of time then that water begins to build up organic matter and also becomes less oxygen rich. Stagnant rainwater will take on a fishy odor. This is mostly like because you have over sized the tank.
To fix these issues you can do the following:
-Put the proper pre-filtration in place before entering the tank. I recommend the Wisy Vortex Filter.
-My company has a substance that we use that is natural tank cleaner that will help improved the overall water quality inside the tank. Chlorine tablets are another option but you have to create a schedule for usage.
- Recirculate water or install an aeration system inside the tank. If possible increase your rainwater usage per month.
Shawn Crawford
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HELLO,
RAIN IS FORMED IN 7 PHASES, NOT 3.
New alternative discovery, incredible to realize that we have missed out for centuries, never heard
-https: //pdf.lu/lsu5/details in one page (EN.FR).
"lightning + thunder + rain = a single operation" You will find most of what I advance as hypothesis in this message.HOW THEN ?
1- EVAPORATION
2- DECOMPOSITION of water vapor by photolysis (UVC: ultraviolet ray type C)
- http: //www.u-helmich.de/bio/lexikon/P/photolyse-wasser.html
- http: //biologiedelapeau.fr/spip.php word162?
- www.google.dz / search? Q = photolysis
hv + H2O → ↖H2 + O↗
↖H2 (2/29 = 0.068) and
O↗ (16/29 = 0.551),
All 2 lighter than air, they escape at altitude, the lightest will be the highest.3- COMPRESSION (ascending and descending air currents - Opposition of 2 mechanical forces).
4- IONIZATION under the effect of solar radiation, agitation and friction due to compression (all ionizing agents).
H2 → (2H+) + 2é- (called positive cloud) and
O + 2 - (called negative cloud).5 - EXPLOSIVE SYNTHESIS
(O + 2é-) + 2H+ → H2O + lightning + thunder (the cloud is born, it is only here that we can speak of condensation).6- CONDENSATION
7- RAIN.
The enigma flash + thunder-cloud-rain is solved.
Algeria-Saida-Hounet
Tel-mob: (213) 790728135
horrimok@yahoo.fr- If rainwater was formed as we all learned,
1- it would have rained a lot more during the hot seasons because the evaporation is more important than during the cold seasons.
2- A dense and permanent fog from the ground to the height of the current clouds would have formed. If you say that water in the gaseous state is invisible, I would say that its decomposition is even more so (final stage).
3- Why do we expect rain when a thunderstorm is coming (lightning and thunder) if there is not an intimate relationship between lightning, thunder and rain?
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HELLO,
RAIN IS FORMED IN 7 PHASES, NOT 3.
New alternative discovery, incredible to realize that we have missed out for centuries, never heard
-https: //pdf.lu/lsu5/details in one page (EN.FR).
"lightning + thunder + rain = a single operation" You will find most of what I advance as hypothesis in this message.HOW THEN ?
1- EVAPORATION
2- DECOMPOSITION of water vapor by photolysis (UVC: ultraviolet ray type C)
- http: //www.u-helmich.de/bio/lexikon/P/photolyse-wasser.html
- http: //biologiedelapeau.fr/spip.php word162?
- www.google.dz / search? Q = photolysis
hv + H2O → ↖H2 + O↗
↖H2 (2/29 = 0.068) and
O↗ (16/29 = 0.551),
All 2 lighter than air, they escape at altitude, the lightest will be the highest.3- COMPRESSION (ascending and descending air currents - Opposition of 2 mechanical forces).
4- IONIZATION under the effect of solar radiation, agitation and friction due to compression (all ionizing agents).
H2 → (2H+) + 2é- (called positive cloud) and
O + 2 - (called negative cloud).5 - EXPLOSIVE SYNTHESIS
(O + 2é-) + 2H+ → H2O + lightning + thunder (the cloud is born, it is only here that we can speak of condensation).6- CONDENSATION
7- RAIN.
The enigma flash + thunder-cloud-rain is solved.
Algeria-Saida-Hounet
Tel-mob: (213) 790728135
horrimok@yahoo.fr- If rainwater was formed as we all learned,
1- it would have rained a lot more during the hot seasons because the evaporation is more important than during the cold seasons.
2- A dense and permanent fog from the ground to the height of the current clouds would have formed. If you say that water in the gaseous state is invisible, I would say that its decomposition is even more so (final stage).
3- Why do we expect rain when a thunderstorm is coming (lightning and thunder) if there is not an intimate relationship between lightning, thunder and rain?
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The use of sanitisers of any sort (e.g. chlorine [beware the carcinogens], ozone, hydrogen peroxide, UV etc.) for a rain water tank is a cure to a problem, and not a prevention to a problem. Correctly managed rainwater tanks need very little cure provided you do the prevention correctly. Prevention means keep the tank clean and free of organics, use a first flush device/s, filter the inflow, install an internal floating suction to take water from the aerobic zone inside the tank (about 50mm below the surface) and lastly use a benign sanitiser just in case something goes wrong in prevention.
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We have installed ozone on storage tanks that does an excellent job of killing bacteria and removing organics that would be causing the odor problems.
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Bad smell is the sign of microbiological, when rain stored into a reservoir for a certain period without disinfection then it well smell. Meaning get disinfectant and dose then the smell it will disappeared. Disinfection such like HTH floater, liquid chlorine, and bleach.
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Check out http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/ircsa/factsheets.htm
and
http://ARCSA.org to find out how to design a system.
Screen the downspouts for large debris and 3-5% divert of area of roof for first flush.
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The very best way to treat the water is hydrogen peroxide treatment, this would be done very carefully and
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What you only need is to circulate that water through hydro-dynamic device. If you do that regularly (1-2 times per day) you'll never have bad odour!
1 Comment
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And how do I do that. Give me more details as this may really help me,
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Microbiology is the answer......easy to do and not expensive and does not need any or only very little modification to your existing systems.
Hugh.
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Your storage has probably gone septic and needs either microbiology or another type of mechanical treatment. Our process would be simple and would help support some level of Dissolved Oxygen (DO). Look for facultative bacteria and you may need to install aeration or simple turnover/flow to ensure the tanks are moving the water as a first fix to clean things up. Very small flow, but we could give you both biological fix or mechanical fix. Once cleaned you can probably suspend mechanical, or cycle, and operate mainly on microbiology.
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in this scenario you have, if its something simple like leaves etc, then just use removal and disinfect. however if this contamination is from the rainwater. and i have been in some really heavy smog in India, and this has combined with some geosmin from some microbe, you may need some other form of treatment. disinfection may not work.
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Hi Lenin.
We can send you a Ag ceramic device for testing.
It will be free of charge for you, but you should pay the freight costs from Mexico to your location. Weight is around 1 Kg and size is 40x15x15 cms
Best
Guillermo
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Dr. Blake has the most simplistic remedy. We have some low producing wells here in Colorado 1-3 gpm, and this is often the solution we recommend. The periodic addition of unscented household bleach will indeed oxidize the odor and kill the bacteria causing it. And yes you also want the storage tanks sealed with a vent (ideally a 2"x 10"x 5 micron sediment filter cartridge works well), and the tanks kept out of sunlight unless they are non-light transmitting.
1 Comment
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Thank you - I would add that you can of course use high level filtration but that seems overkill to me if the water is only to be re-cycled for toilet flushing - you are not trying to achieve potable standards. So keep it simple. Similarly, of course you could use Hydrogen Peroxide to disinfect the water, but this tends to be more expensive than just conventional thin, non-viscous Sodium Hypochlorite solution such as we would use for cleaning toilets, for your needs, it will do the same job.
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First, identify the contamination points of your rainwater. This contamination is certainly in the collection pipelines. Eliminate them.In the collection tank add chlorine, up to 3 ppm.
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Lenin
Do you use a first flush? I have no odors in the systems I design. There are a number of rainwater filter manufacturers the have this built into the design. The cheapest is through Rainharvest Systems in Australia. http://rainharvesting.com.au/ Wisy, 3P Technik an don’t INTEWA make products as well.
It sound sounds like you are getting organic contamination in the tank and the first flush diverts them and then the clean can enter the tank. The web site has an illustration.
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Lenin, Please ignore anyone who is trying to sell you something (or to convince you that rain comes from lightning!!)
If you have colour and odour in your harvested rainwater then it must have been contaminated during storage, almost certainly by decomposing detritus washed into your rainwater tank. Empty your storage tank and give it a really good clean and, as has been suggested, put a periodic flushing or draindown regime in place to prevent it happening again. Also consider ways to prevent leaves etc getting into your tank.
1 Comment
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Total agree. The only thing I would add is that the roof surfaces and draining networks should be cleaned regularly. Simple meshwire can help to keep larger material away from your harvesting network and storage tank.
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Hello,
I am overseeing your answer which will be "not my specialty, thanks for sharing" but "evaporation-condensation-rain" is not also your specialty yet you have digested it well, I come to take away a stupidity of your head.
THE RAIN IS FORMED IN 7 PHASES, NOT 3.
-https://pdf.lu/lsu5/ details in one page (EN.FR).
"Lightning + thunder + rain = one operation"
You will find the essence of what I advance as hypothesis in this message.
HOW THEN ?
1- EVAPORATION
2- DECOMPOSITION of water vapor by photolysis (UVC: ultraviolet solar radiation of type C)
- http://www.u-helmich.de/bio/lexikon/P/photolysis-wasser.html
- http: //biologiedelapeau.fr/spip.php mot162?
- www.google.dz / search? Q = photolysis
hv + H2O → ↖H2 + O↗
↖H2 (2/29 = 0.068) and
O↗ (16/29 = 0.551),
All 2 lighter than the air, they escape in altitude, the lightest one will place the highest one.
3- COMPRESSION (ascending and descending air currents - Opposition of 2 mechanical forces).
4- IONIZATION under the effect of solar radiation, stirring and friction due to compression (all ionizing agents).
H2 → (2H+) +2é-
(called positive cloud) andO + 2é-(called negative cloud).
5- EXPLOSIVE SYNTHESIS
(O + 2é-) + 2H+ → H2O + lightning + thunder (the cloud is born, it is only there that one can speak of condensation).
6- CONDENSATION 7- RAIN.
The enigma flash + thunder-cloud-rain is resolved.
Algeria-Tiaret-Saida-Hounet
Tel-mob: (213) 790728135
horrimok@yahoo.fr
If rain water were formed as we all learned,
1- it would have rained much more during the warm seasons because the evaporation is more important than during the cold seasons.
2- A dense, permanent fog from the ground up to the height of the current clouds would have formed. If you say that water in the gaseous state is invisible, I would say that its decomposition is even more (final stage).
3- why do we expect rain when a storm is coming (lightning + thunder) if there is not an intimate relationship between lightning, thunder and rain?The theory "evaporation-condensation-rain", has no author, do you realize? !
To be published
1 Comment
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there is someone ?
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oh. this is easy peasy. you can get a sj odor unit from sociobiotech in Delhi. guarantees to remove all odor from the water even after a holding time of 90 days after treatment.
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Dear Mr D'Souza we are using Aerobic Bacteria which is multi strain for treatment of Fecal Waste in the Bio toilets . I think for your treatment of Rain water to get rid of obnoxious odour you can try out Bio Leach LLMO it comes in liquid form . Based on the size of your storage tank the dosage needs to be decided
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Add sufficient hypochlorite periodically to the storage tank, will solve the problem.
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Stabilised hydrogen peroxide will give you a short term or repeat application solution. Long term, clean the storage tank of detritus and instal first flush diverted on the feed to the tanks.
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Lenin.......we are able to solve oyur problem simply, quickly and with ease. Our product - SOLUTEK - has been used for over 20 years now to do exactly that which you are asking. SOLUTEK is 100% fully organic and biodegradable. The costs would be minimal and no other expenditure would be needed on anything else.
We have representatives in India and have had tests done for government in Mumbai of our product....with great success.
Hugh.
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Hi Lenin, it seems that if you are able to supply 10 m3/day from your rainwater collection system, you must have a large collection area and a large storage tank/reservoir - not a standard household roof collection system. In this case it is probably quite difficult to manage your catchment area to prevent leaves and bird/animal droppings getting into your water storage. It then seems you will have to consider treatment of the water rather than prevention of organics getting into your storage. I agree with Chetan that a zeolite - activated carbon - chlorine dioxide system would be optimal for removing odours. However if you are needing a more low cost and low operational requirement solution, you may want to test out the option of aeration over a charcoal filter (a trickling filter packed with charcoal), or just an activated carbon filter on its own. I also agree with Louri that chlorine is usually not ideal for addressing odours - rather ozone, bromine or chlorine dioxide if the filtration system is inadequate. Would be great if you can let us know the outcome and option you choose. Regards Ian
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You should explore a first flush system for your rainwater system. These are normally sized to divert the first 1-2 mm of rain from the rainfall event into a separate tank before your main holding tank. There are commercially available units or I have constructed them of pipe or 200 liter drums. You should be able to find the information if you search for "first flush". If you have a particularly heave load of dust, bird dropping you may need to oversize the first flush containers. If you have several relatively small rainfalls you can collect more water if you install drain taps on your first flush. This will save water and the water from the first flush maybe able to be used for floor mopping or such. If you have relatively large rainfall events then you can install a small drain hole in the first flush container and the system will be automatic,
If needed then you can follow up with additional treatment as recommended previously.
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Rain water must be stored in closed tanks away from sunlight and atmosphere, leave small vents just to air the tanks, the problem seems to be primarily linked to biofilm formation, this is a frequent issue if the rainwater is stored without pretreatment, surface runoffs do collect some biomass and pathogens, generally originating from avian faecal matter and other organic entrapments in the gutters, You may use bioswale based filtration methods using Rigofill-ST based tanks as receptacles or use Sedipipe/Sedipoint flow separation technology to prevent the fine particles from entering the storage tanks. In some parts of western India, people use rainwater for several months for drinking after storage in beri, khoe and tanka systems.
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Hi Lenin, the high color and turbidity in your rainwater might be due to organic matter (leaves from trees?) collecting in the tank and decomposing when left to sit there for a pro -longed period of time without the air (anaerobic decomposition). If you can combat this and prevent the organics getting into the tank - that would be the easiest and cheapest solution. How you do it - depends on the set out of your collection system. If these preventative measures do not fully eliminate the odour issue - then activated carbon filter might help prior to supply to the toilets. The chlorine will not work well is high level of organics is present. Regards, Iouri
1 Comment
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You are quite right - the removal of organic detritus is a prerequisite to any subsequent treatment
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Lenin, what is causing the odour? Is it hydrogen sulphide (H2S) or something else? If H2S, simple aeration of the stored water should eliminate it, as sulphur reducing bacteria require anaerobic conditions.
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As there is a requirement for filtration and disinfection and the water is going to be used for toilet flushing a low cost approach would be a bag filter as it can be changed easily.
Rainwater Harvesting, if collected from rooftop is ideally meant for drinking purposes and if you do decide to use the water form drinking purposes then it would be a better idea to go in for a zeolite cartridge that will eradicate the turbidity, followed with an activated carbon filter.
For disinfection the best choice would be chlorine dioxide as very little is required to get a well disinfected end water quality that would take care of all pathogens as well as eradicate any foul odour.
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I would have thought a simple in line cartridge filter system that facilitates periodic replacement might be best. Similarly a simple in line chlorination system designed for a small pool might work. However, the easiest solution would be to periodically treat the holding tank with some chlorox (liquid bleach) as if it is only for toilet flushing the concentration levels do not have to be too precise.
1 Comment
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Dr. Blake has the most simplistic remedy. We have some low producing wells here in Colorado 1-3 gpm, and this is often the solution we recommend. And yes you also want the storage sealed with a vent (ideally a 2"x 10"x 5 micron sediment filter cartridge works well), and the tanks kept out of sunlight unless they are non-light transmitting.
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