Rain water is cheaper and collection is generally good for the waterways as it reduces runoff and erosion. Example: If you live in a suburb and get a major storm in the spring, I guarantee somebody has fertilized their lawn at the wrong time just prior. Everyone around me does and wonders why they have to mow twice a week in May. They also have likely applied a weed control. Pretty much everyone in the midwest has been hit by rain fairly well in the last few weeks. A lot of those toxins and fertilizers have run off into our waterways or downhill into someone else's garden (fortunately I live on a high point and use raised beds). The treatment plants in the midwest have yet to catch up on technology to deal with the extra runoff more pavement, houses, schools, shopping centers, and less trees equates to when you have a huge number of new developments. Fine by me. Our business thrives on overloaded motors at treatment plants (I sell motors and we perform testing on motors). Still, point is that rainwater collection helps in a number of ways and is just as good as RO. If you are in the south and the drought severely beats your community yet another year straight, collection in the spring will greatly reduce the amount necessary to draw from the tap in times of scarcity. Especially if you draw from an RO system which uses up to 3 times the water the tap does. My brother (lives just outside of Georgia in Beaufort, but goes to school there) said that last year there were people talking about banning full house RO systems for that reason and limiting them to under sink only. Makes sense. They were on strict water rations for pools and lawns. Why not go after a bigger problem common in some new high end housing developments? RO is very polluting and increases load on water treatment plants. It does nothing positive whatsoever for the water ways. They are expensive and increase the water bill. The water itself is great. Don't get me wrong. I just think it is definitely worth weighing the pros and cons. I have enough plants in the summer - soil and hydro - that they use more water than my family of 6 does in a month. If I used RO for the plants (we do for drinking), my bill would likely quadruple. It's not just the price of the RO system and filters. It's also the price of the tripled consumption one must consider. All the problems you described can also happen with water temp fluctuations or just too high of water temps all the time. I'm quite sure they can also be affected by the quality of light due to the changed rate of nutrient consumption under poor lighting and the chemicals secreted by roots under varying conditions. These are called root exudates. I did an experiment last year on artificial lighting versus sunlight and discovered many things about the nutrient solution along the way. I used the same solutions and water in both and found very significant differences in the fluctuations of one set over the other. The high quality light (sun) set had very low reservoir maintenance while the low quality light set all had reservoirs that shifted daily out of optimum ranges. I made sure that reservoir temps stayed within 5 degrees F of each other (that was the best I could manage). I wasn't trying to study that, though. It was an interesting side observation of the experiment I was actually running concerning the effects of lighting on yield and foliage. Sometimes the RO way is the only way. Apartment dwellers or those that live in those idiotic communities that have ordinances or HOA's against rain barrels due to aesthetics. Or maybe you live in a part of Colorado where collection is illegal (though that is being strongly fought). You say you no longer have pH adjustments but the plants look better. How? They must be feeding or they wouldn't look better. Feeding = changes in chemical composition in reservoir = pH changes. Especially with tomatoes. More so with heavy feeders with huge fruit like the Cherokee Purple. Am I misunderstanding you?

I know this thread is 11 years old, but I would like to add that the culprit could be the toilet seat. I recently replaced our toilets, and they came with soft closing lids. We first notice the "soot" like residue on the seats. I believe that a small amount of grease is released as a fine dust. Several months later we noticed it on surfaces that emit air, such as our dish washer vent, and heat pump. We have used candles for years, but it was not until we replaced our toilets that the residue appeared. So it would be interesting to know how many find the residue on their toilet lids and of those how many are new installs and are they soft closing. Thanks

We are on our second Frigidaire Gallery gas range and are so frustrated that the same thing is happening with this unit. We fought to have the first one replaced due to the noxious fumes that were being emitted when the oven was on. We finally ran the 4 hour self-clean and the smell was so bad we had to remove the unit from the house. Irritated eyes, throat, the whole deal. But with three young kids in the house, I'm not keeping that range around.The first technician was no real help, but our local retailer stepped in and we got a replacement. Now, after a few months with the second unit, we're having the exact same issue. A different technician came to look at it a couple weeks ago, confirmed the atrocious smell, which develops after about 20-30 minutes and gets worse the longer and hotter the oven is on. He pulled out the oven from the wall, removed a small piece of insulation from one of the openings in the back metal panel, and we found that this is where the smell is coming from. Whatever they're treating that insulation with is producing a toxic smell. So it's not a broken part or anything wrong with the range; it's how they are intentionally making the units. So now we're waiting to hear back from Frigidaire, but of course I no longer want a replacement unit, seeing as they all seem to have this issue. I feel like we're stuck, unless the retailer will take the unit back and give us a refund. So frustrating! So much stress for something that is not our fault. I will keep fighting Frigidaire until they come up with a resolution for us. Oh, and my hairdresser today said she's noticing the same thing with her new electric Frigidaire range.

I was curious to see how my water would compare to yours. Our water system measures the hardness of our water in grains. That 180 ppm equals 10.5 grains and our water system reports our water is 40-42 grains hardness right now, roughly 4 times their designation of very hard water. So, I am in the ballpark of the hardness of your water. These are things I can tell you. For my vegetables, I do not use softened water. I could not afford to use the potassium chloride for my vegetable garden. Since my soil is compose of the same stuff the aquifer is made of (limestone), I have determined one of the best things I can to do for truly excellent results is to amend the soil as much as I can afford to do (incidentally, with the low rain fall, the soil is low in organic matter). I find a great mix of things to more helpful than say, just grabbing horse manure from the neighbors. Peat moss, cotton bur compost, plenty of straw on top, etc. The water does play a part, so in your shoes, I would think short-term and long-term. I forget the exact numbers, but RO water takes something like 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of water. That is a lot of waste. Over the long run, the more water you take from the well, the greater the likelihood the quality will decline and the water will get worse. That is why it is likely a good idea to work on the rain catchment to at least use in conjunction. For those of us who have made our homes in arid regions, it requires more from us to find ways to live sustainably. I understand the expenses because I too am trying to figure out a practical rain catchment for my house and gardens (I also do not underestimate what it is like to haul water, as I bail 5 gallon buckets of water from my kids bathtub and carry it downstairs and outside, a 5 gallon bucket weighs almost 40 pounds, it really sucks but my arms look great!). Just some thoughts.