Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all,

i am looking for your thoughts on drinking water from a well cycled ap system. would it be safe? has anyone tried? perhaps some of the bacteria are beneficial for humans not just fish. i can see it now walking down the isle at the grocery store and on the shelf are bottles of ap water next to the spring water.

any thoughts?

thanks

That’s a strange taught but I wonder if it has some merit to it

The bacteria in our AP systems is beneficial for breaking down the waste, not for consumption per se. That said, I swallowed a lot of lake water learning to swim, and was no worse the wear for it. The thing about 'wild' bacteria is that you just don't know what you're getting. Certain bacteria gives us lovely things like yoghurt and cheese, but e. coli is also a bacteria, and that will just give you nasty runs. (e. coli is naturally found in our intestines, but the US recently had a spinach recall because of e. coli contamination. It killed several people.) Our digestive and immune systems can handle limited amounts of hostile bacteria, but introduce stuff you're not used to, and there you go with the runs again. I believe 'Traveller's Diarrhea' is simply the introduction of unfamiliar bacteria--which the locals handle just fine. My 6th grade teacher got a case of typhoid (very rare here). We were told it was because she didn't wash her hands after handling water from a local ditch. (Science project to see single-cell life.)

So my recommendation is not to drink it, even though it is probably a whole lot cleaner than the local lake water. However, if you fall into your fish tank and swallow a bit, don't fret.

are you going to boil it or drink it straight from your AP pond after some sort of filtration system?

Boiled, no problem. Healthier than my tap water, for sure. Since BF is pondering the beneficial aspects of the bacteria though, I take it there is desire to apply lips directly to pond. :confused3: brushteeth

I think the general rule is to only drink running water. ie. A spring or waterfall. Essentially the AP is 'stagnant' as it is only recycling and thus building up of both good and bad bacteria, as well as water bourne nasties. I have been sick before from over Zealous syphoning, when cleaning my fish tanks. Especially if there have been any dead fish in there or what not. Safe bet distill it. But then you can distil tap water also.

Some of the home made beer ive drunk tasted like un filtered fish water

How many did you have? Sure it wasn't fish water!

We use sand filters and uv light here to clean our water. But also boil it. I once drank some water out of the end of a sewer plant on a field trip. As long as the water is treated it is ok they were using a bardnpho proces and sedimentaion filters then runing it through high powered UV the water coming out of the ppe was cleaner than the water in the lake by almost 25%

My dog drinks from the sump tank, no problems...

thanks for the replies folks.

the reason i ask is i was wondering if the shit hit the fan and we ran out of tap water, would it be possible to drink the ap water? would it just be a matter of sand filters and uv light to make it safe for human consumption?

thanks

my brother just looked at the site and asked me if there were many survivalists involved in AP. Maybe he saw your post BF!

i would probably say i'm more paranoid then a survivalist.

I've never really thought of APers as survivalists, but paranoids seems to fit a few people (you know who you are...)

The ones who rip off roofing to let in more sunlight (and rain)
use chain saws to bury sump tanks under floors
travel around Aus armed with a trowel
brazenly show off their scrounging skills to those not so adept

are these the type of people you are referring to?