Rainwater for agricultural and livestock use

In the agricultural sector, people are divided between those whose farms are flooded, those who are without water to irrigate and cultivate, and those who fear that they will not be able to obtain the necessary water reserves. For the latter, the race is on to reclaim rainwater and the new business is the proposed purchase of tanks, cisterns and various containers.

The recovery of rainwater for non-drinking use, i.e. the collection of rainwater from natural precipitation, is a practice that requires important technical, legislative and environmental considerations in order to avoid finding oneself with many headaches.
Unfortunately, as we shall see below, these are not the only aspects to be considered.

Distinguishing stormwater

Stormwater must be distinguished into:

• first rain waters, i.e. those that constitute the first 5 mm of water resulting from atmospheric precipitation. They are considered contaminated, but are not subject to constraints or requirements.
• second rainfall/runoff waters, i.e. those resulting from atmospheric precipitation but which wash away the draining surfaces with which they come into contact and undergo any contamination with polluting substances or materials. They are not subject to constraints or requirements if they are excluded by regional discharge regulations.
• stormwater, i.e. water whose quality has been impaired by anthropogenic action and which therefore falls under wastewater legislation.

How and why rainwater is contaminated

First of all, it must be said that rainwater is not pure, not only because of the unobserved way in which it is stored after collection, but above all because rainwater in its repeated journey through the atmosphere and down to the ground carries with it a number of chemical and biological contaminants.

So even though rainwater is generally considered to be a pure and healthy source of water, which can promote the growth and health of plants as it is free of chlorine and lime, in reality rainwater is contaminated.

Rainwater is contaminated because as it passes through the atmosphere, it collects and releases pollutants from transport activities (vehicular traffic), combustion processes (heating), industrial and agricultural activities, such as:

• primary and secondary atmospheric particulate matter (PM10-PM2.5), heavy metals, harmful gases, chemicals from industrial processes (fumes), pesticides, bacteria, viruses and biological substances such as pollen and fungal spores;
• atmospheric dust, carbon dioxide and gaseous substances to which so-called acid rain is added;
• pfas (so-called “eternal” chemical pollutants because they persist in the environment and in organisms) now also found in rainwater and in every corner of the planet, even in remote areas such as Antarctica;
• nitrates and nitrites, sulphates, chlorides and various other salts;
• microplastics and nanoplastics;
• radioactive pollutants from military enterprises or nuclear power plants.

These pollutants fall to the ground, percolate into the soil contaminating the water, and change from a liquid to a gaseous state evaporating back to us through new atmospheric precipitation. The sacred water cycle has turned into a desecrating cycle.

Water resource management and related risks

In the area of water resource management and related risks, it is therefore the quality of water that makes the difference, and it must be said that often the spectre of water shortages as well as the desire to reduce drinking water consumption in return for significant savings promote inappropriate situations and harmful consequences for the environment and health rather than a sustainable approach.

Water quality with reference to irrigation use in agriculture distinguishes between:

• agricultural crops to be consumed raw
• agricultural crops intended for food processing (which undergo cooking or industrial processing
• crops not intended for human consumption (animal use, pasture, fodder, seeds, turf

but this does not detract from the fact that rainwater and its reuse in agriculture and animal husbandry adversely affect the growth and development of both plant and animal organisms, affecting soil productivity and worsening the quality of the resulting agri-food products.

The filtering systems boasted by rainwater recovery systems remove dirt and debris, but this does not mean that the recovered rainwater is pure.

Therefore, the exploitation of the heavy rainfall phenomenon for the recovery and reuse of rainwater requires an evaluation of the application consequences for both crops and livestock. Especially when it comes to the production of food for human consumption.

How to increase productivity in rain-fed agriculture

Globally, it is estimated that 60 per cent of agricultural production is rain-fed and that livestock production needs about 30 per cent of the total water requirements of the agricultural sector.

However, there are no specific provisions concerning rainwater for irrigation use, apart from the German DIN 1989-1-2-3-4 standard, which does not, however, cover the decontamination of substances transmitted by the atmospheric event.

The humanitarian crime of global pollution cannot be covered by the regulations. Thus the solution to the evil of our age, although it exists, is not answered by being reduced to an economic war. In short, business comes before any necessity of life and norms exist if they produce profit.
These are all forms of humanitarian suicide.

Some would say, it matters little if we have barley irrigated with synthetic sewage composed of antibiotics in representative concentrations, if we have wine with alarming concentrations of TFA, if eternal pollutants are everywhere, even in drinking water.
We live on the edge anyway.

Yet man's inherent survival instinct, aimed at his own integrity with evolutionary purpose, tends towards the point of equilibrium.

We need a new baptism, understood as rebirth, starting with the purification of water, the symbol and foundation of life.

It is certainly not disinfection with chlorine that brings us closest to purification. It is not even the polluted water of the Ganges in which more than a million people and even sacred cows die every year.

Only that which creates life is salvific, not that which kills it.

The natural purification of water

As late as the 1980s, researcher Mendini's magnetic formulation had proved to be lifesaving for plant and animal organisms. It was then that the water in a pigsty became drinkable, the animals recovered from their diseases, the plants from their rot, not as a result of a miracle but of his technology. In the 1990s, I myself verified that depolluting and regenerative property in the treatment of rotten water, rainwater, stagnant water where the proliferation of germs and bacteria, i.e. dangerous infectious pathogens, is present.

Once again it was the sense of smell that guided me, this time to what later became my enterprise with the production of the BioAksxter® depolluting formulations.

With their use, the stench of manure disappears from the environment, even from sewage treatment plants, stagnant water becomes oxygenated. Instead of rotting agricultural products, only fragrance, aroma and freshness.

In addition, the purification process directly transforms pollutants in soil, air, and water (volatile organic compounds such as VOCs, PFAS, PFOA) without unnecessary cartridges, cabins, and filters, and above all without the despair resulting from the impact on public health and the environment.