Rain barrels are a green garden must have for many reasons. Also, rain barrels aren’t complicated. In fact when my son attended an eco-charter the kids there took on most of the care and use of the school water barrels.
What are rain barrels?
Basically rain barrels provide a way for you to collect and store rain water that you can later use to water plants, water your lawn, wash your car, clean floors and more. You can’t drink rain water straight up though. Rain barrels range from homemade simple contraptions to basic premade barrels to barrels you can buy and paint to artsy or mod premade barrels that are as good looking as they are useful. There are even some totally weird rain barrels available if weird garden gear is your deal.
Why bother?
- Rain barrels provide water from a readily renewable source vs. turning on the tap or hose. Why not use water you save vs. turning on the tap?
- Rain barrels help prevent water pollution by reducing stormwater runoff. This is a much bigger deal than some think. Stormwater picks up all sorts of debris, chemicals, dirt, and other pollutants and then flows right into our storm sewer system or flows directly to a lake, stream, river, wetland, or coastal water. Because stormwater can contain all those icky things (chemicals, dirt, and so on) and because it’s untreated this is what ends up in water we swim in, fish in and even pollutes the water we end up drinking. Polluted stormwater can kill off aquatic life, create algae blooms, affect human health, increase water treatment costs, and more.
- Rain barrel water helps to naturally recharge groundwater.
- Rain barrels save you some money. Rain barrels aren’t money making tools by any means, but there are perfectly inexpensive options available and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that using a water barrel will save most gardeners about 1,300 gallons of water during the summer. If you want to break it down before you invest in a water barrel, consider that for each inch of rain on 500 square feet of roof you’ll be able to collect around 300 gallons of water. Even if you consider the monetary savings slim, there are lots of other reasons to invest in a rain barrel.
Coming up; how to build your own rain barrel along with some shopping suggestions if you’d rather just buy a premade rain barrel.
[image via stock.xchng]
Post from: Blisstree