Rain Barrel Food Safety - Are rain barrels safe to drink from?

We have people ask us everyday if the water collected by rain barrels is safe to drink and if they can use a rain barrel to dispense food products or beverages, like lemonade or iced tea for an outdoor barbeque. 

 

While we understand that the look and size of a rain barrel can be appealing, in general, the answer is no.  For one, the water collected by a rain barrel is rain water.  Rain water falls through the atmosphere and collects tons of polluted things on it’s way down.  After that it collects and trickles down your roof (where’s birds hang out and use it as an oversized restroom) and probably collects more funky bacteria and then pours down your downspouts and into your rain barrel.  Yuck!  You really should never plan on drinking rain water if it hasn’t been properly filtered, stick to the tap. 

 

In addition, rain barrels are usually not constructed of food grade plastic so they are considered unsafe for storing consumable products.  If it is made from food grade plastic, chances are it’s recycled and may have lingering odors you really wouldn’t want to serve in your water or kool-aid to guests.  For example, one of our really great recycled rain barrels was actually previously used to harvest olives.  Although it’s food grade plastic, obviously – it harvested olives - it retains it’s olive smell which would no doubt severely alter the appeal of a cool glass of water.  So, while in that case it may not be unsafe, it’s less than desirable for food use.

 

Our suggestion, regardless of rain barrel construction, is to use the rain barrel for the purpose it’s intended – to collect rain water and water plants and grass.  Leave the food business to products that are made for that purpose!