{"id":18508,"date":"2022-01-10T14:47:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T19:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=18508"},"modified":"2022-01-10T14:47:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T19:47:05","slug":"testing-rainwater-for-use-in-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/01\/10\/testing-rainwater-for-use-in-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I test rainwater to see if it safe to water my garden with it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>If I wanted to use rainwater to water my garden, how do I get my water tested to know if it\u2019s safe?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Answer:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Marjorie Peronto, Extension Educator<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you wish to use rainwater on your garden, you should treat it as any other surface water &#8211; not safe to drink or to wash produce with, because of potential contamination from bacteria. \u00a0(For example, rainwater collected from roofs is likely to contain bird feces residue and other contaminants).\u00a0 Wash all of your vegetables thoroughly with potable water before consuming them.\u00a0 To get your rainwater tested for bacterial contaminants, please call Maine&#8217;s Health and Environmental Testing lab in Augusta (207.287.1716, toll-free 866.522.4385) or a private lab of your choice to obtain a kit.\u00a0 See instructions for testing and interpreting the results in this UMaine Cooperative Extension bulletin:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/publications\/7114e\/#how\">Bulletin #7114, Bacteria in Water Supplies Part 1: Problem Bacteria and How to Test for Them<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: If I wanted to use rainwater to water my garden, how do I get my water tested to know if it\u2019s safe?\u00a0\u00a0 Answer: Marjorie Peronto, Extension Educator If you wish to use rainwater on your garden, you should treat it as any other surface water &#8211; not safe to drink or to wash produce [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,202,201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-maintenance","category-vegetables"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How do I test rainwater to see if it safe to water my garden with it? 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