"Ya'll never heard of 'acid rain'? That same rainwater that leaves the air smelling so clean is full of the pollutants, natural and man-made, that it scrubbed from the air, on its way to the ground. I would not consume rainwater. For other uses it is probably ok."
More than half the country (western half) doesn't have a problem with acid rain. So, what's the excuse there?
Do you know how acidic acid rain really is? It has HALF the acidity as tomato juice or CocaCola.
Horrors!
After it hits the ground, the stuff on and in the soil ADDS to the contamination: bacteria, viruses, parasites, heavy metals, farm chemicals, home pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides and leaking septic tanks, industrial chemicals, leaking fuel tanks, oil shale drilling contamination, etc. The CDC says more than 15 million households rely on private wells. How often do you think they test it? (Answer: most only have it tested after they realize they have a problem.) Most of the people around here (farm area) don't filter their well water, and if they have a filter, they can't remember the last time they changed the filter ("When it was installed 40 years ago, I guess.")
Here's a basic list of groundwater contaminants from the U.S. Geological Survey people:
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/groundwater-contaminants.html Kind of scary, huh?
Most of that stuff ISN'T found in rainwater. For rainwater, the main two contaminants are sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide, which lower the acidity to about 5.6; Pepsi is worse, 2.56. The biggest danger from this stuff is INHALING IT DRY FROM THE AIR, which can cause respiratory diseases, or make existing respiratory diseases like asthma or chronic bronchitis worse. Do the people who live in the NE quarter of the U.S. routinely wear masks to filter the air they breathe? I've been there, and they don't. Are all (or even most) of the Coke and Pepsi drinkers gonna stop ingesting it? Not bloody likely, as the Brits would say.
If someone (like the media) tells you to be afraid of something, it's probably a good idea to find out exactly what the real dangers ARE. The media are fearmongers. Bad news is good news, and good news is no news because it doesn't make them any money.