Our rain is acid but it is still clear. I would rinse them out & start over.

Linda

Linda, when you say: start all over, do you mean to dump out the collected water and start collecting anew?
Well, there isn't that much more rain coming. It will stop over night, if the forecast is true.
So I guess I shouldn't use that yellow water. Don't have much experience with rain. We had a draught for going on 3 years. I was so happy when it started raining ........

Ingrid

Ingrid, I wouldn't dump the water yet. Wait.
I never collected rain water but when I left outside while raining an empty container I remember the water collected was yellowish not clear. If we will have more rains ,I'll collect some to see the color and let you know.

Pat

Thank you. I'll wait.

I had thought the same thing. Why does the rain water look like pond water, lol.

I collect rain water in barrels and have never seen yellow water. The only yellow water I've seen is when Bailey pees in the snow! I know you all in CA have more issues with acid rain the we do but I can't imagine it would cause the water to be yellow. I'm inclined to think it's something on your roof that's running off. Why don't you place a collection bucket somewhere away from the house the next time it rains and compare them.

Ingrid, I wouldn't dump the water. The water would have run off your roof and onto your landscape anyway. Perhaps, don't use it in your inside plants.

I'd use it.. When I lived in GA. we had yellow rain just from all of the pollen.. It happens here after a dry spell..

Kylie

Ingrid, I collected some rain water last night and mine is a very very pale yellow close to clear. Maybe my roof was washed off all ready after 2 days of rain.

I do think that the yellowish water has to do with pollen accumulated on your roof.

Do what Karyn said and collect away from the house or from the roof after it was washed off and compare.

Pat

Thank you all. Everyone had good advice.
The rain stopped, the sun is shining, I have 14 inches of water in my big barrel.
Pat, thanks for testing for me.
Karyn, I collected in 4 locations, only one bucket was white and showed the color.
Eloise, yes, it hit the landscape anyway,and no plants complained.
How excited can you get over a few inches of rain????

Ingrid.

There's been plenty of years when I'd get excited over a few drops of rain! We've had several summers with virtually no rain. That's not the norm here. We don't really have a wet and dry season so we aren't prepared.

How excited can you get over a few inches of rain????

How about every Summer here LOL..All Summer!!!
Glad to got some weel needed rain!

Kylie

We do cartwheels when it rains, lol. I think it is pollen since mine wasn't near the roof either.

Oh, and by the way, I collected the rain water using a clean Tupperware container outside my home in front of house where there are zero trees to interfere and zero grass to interfere. just the never blue sky above and the falling supposed to be natural rain!

In Colorado our melted snow and the rain are both yellow. Is it from cloud seeding with iodide? They have been cloud seeding in CO since 1990s. Whatever chemical they use to form the rain/ clouds may be the culprit.