RE: Barrels to store rainwater for greenhouse gardening

**"Fred Conrad" f*@acfb.org**

like Judy said, i'm thinking that the "leakage" is carcinogenic chemicals into the water.  softer plastics leak more and faster and at all temperatures.  most cancer survivors that have done any research about environmental exposure know that nobody ever should ever use a microwave oven to heat food that is in or covered by plastic - especially not to cover the food with that stretchy soft plastic wrap to keep it from splattering.  at high temps there is measurable transference into the food.  these are serious health issues.

on the question of uptake of these chemicals by vegetables via water... who knows?  rain barrels probably don't get hot enough to change the emission rate, but even at room temperature they might be leaking something.  multiplied by how long the water stays in the barrels?

i use plastic rainbarrels, by the way!
fgc

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
[c*@mallorn.com]On Behalf Of Garth Taylor
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 10:56 AM
To: community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject: [cg] Barrels to store rainwater for greenhouse gardening

Does anyone have advice on the best type of barrel to use to capture
rainwater from the roof, bring it inside a greenhouse, and use it to water
fruits and vegetables. I have been using 55-gallon blue plastic barrels that
were once used for some kind of food transport.

I like the barrels because they are easy to work with - I can use PVC
materials to install spigots and overflow drains; and because they are low
cost.

But someone told me there is a risk of leakage from the plastic into the
water where there is a high temperature. Has anyone heard about this
problem? How high does the temperature have to be? Are we talking about the
temperature of the water in the barrel (which is always pretty low because
it is a heat/cold sink), or the temperature of the air?

What would be a better system?

Also, where can I get more of these blue barrels?

Thanks,

=Garth Taylor

Chicago / Southwest Michigan

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