It's raining at the moment, so my mind naturally wandered to rain barrels, lol. When I did a quick Google, I was surprised at the variety of products that are available these days.
Here's a quick recap of how rain barrels are beneficial and green:
1) They reduce the amount of water that needs to be chemically treated (residential irrigation can account for as much as 40% of treated water consumption).
2) Using collected rain water to water your garden keeps the chlorine, lime and calcium (to name a few) out of your garden soil.
3) They save on your water bill.
4) Use of water from rain barrels saves energy by reducing the need for pumping reservoir water.
5) Water from rain barrels is not bound by city water restrictions (grrrr), so you can water your lawn whenever you like (ha! so there ;-)
There are definitely strong arguments in favour of rain barrels - we may invest in one in the new year.
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10 comments:
Your posting some very nice information here. I may have to go buy some rain barrels, thanks.
Thanks :-) They do sound like a great idea, don't they? I think I'm going to talk to my husband about it in the spring.
Hi Jeanne,
Pedantry time:
1) Lime is a form of Calcium.
2) In some places, eg in parts of the the US and Australia, you get charged for and regulated in your use of, run-off rain water just as mains water.
But yes, we'd like to do a water butt sooner rather than later... B^>
Rgds
Damon
Damon - re: lime/calcium - thank you ;-)
Re: regulation of rain water - that's so bizarre, isn't it? There is obviously a reason for it - I'd love to know what it is. Where we are, our watering days are regulated for city water only.
Rain barrels are increasing in popularity by the day it seems! Our company manufactures a very unique looking rain barrel - we had hard time keeping them in stock last season!
Cascata Rain Barrels - I just looked at your site - your barrels are beautiful! Very nice yard decor :-)
The reason in some cases AFAIK is that whatever you capture doesn't make it into underground aquifers, etc, and is thus effectively removed from available supply.
I can see the logic, but think it's somewhat apples and oranges...
Rgds
Damon
Damon - oh that does make sense! Hmmm. I guess it depends where your water supply comes from relative to your location, maybe? And how much yearly rainfall there is? Who knows. Our reservoir is in a neighbouring city, and we have a lot of rain.
The Cascata may be pretty but they made the over flow port too small - the darn thing overflows on a heavy rain - I found a product that ain't so beautiful but it makes a whole lot more sense! Check out the rain barrel designs from Aquabarrel.com They have a great video to watch here: http://www.aquabarrel.com/learn_superior_rain_barrel_video.php
Anonymous - thanks! The more info, the better. I'll check out their site.
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