Are you paying for that water you use to water your yard? Well if it rains anything like it does here in Seattle, you should be gathering that water for free. All you need to do is buy or make a rain barrel to collect the water. The rain barrel I use is a great rust orange color barrel that used to hold peppercinis. There are many types of rain barrels. You are bound to find one that will look nice in your yard. Place the rain barrel beneath the gutter spout and start collecting. IT IS THAT EASY. I bought a gutter extender so that I was able to properly route the water. Please don't drink the water as the run-off from your roof can add toxins, but it is great for most applications in the yard or your indoor plants.
Rain barrel information and sources in the Seattle area
How to make your own rain barrel.
Ideally having a cistern that will hold larger quantities of water is better, since there are times here in the summer where we don't see rain for weeks. Yes, don't laugh...that can happen here in Seattle. That way you will always have water available when you need it. You can also connect several rain barrels together to increase the amount of water you can collect. Make sure that your barrels come complete with mosquito netting as you don't want a breeding ground on your property.
Collecting rainwater has been enjoyable for me. Yes, I know I am probably not saving huge sums of money but to me it is the principle. Why pay for and use something that is given to us for free. There is something special about going over to my barrels, filling up the watering can (warning, it is slower than just turning on the hose spigot, but this reminds me to SLOW DOWN in life), and reusing the water in my garden. This water doesn't contain the added chlorine and flouride that the city puts in our water and the plants don't need it. They are happy, happy, happy with the recycled water they are given.
Rain barrels are a hot item here in the Chicago area. If you want one, its a two month wait. However, you can always improvise and blow up your swimming pool and cover it to keep out the mosquitos or fillup the vacant house next door. Ooops! Just kidding.
What a great way to conserve water. We get a lot of rain down here in Vancouver as well!
We've got ours. We are on a well but we still want to tread lightly on this earth!
Happy Selling,
Steven Simmons & Marti Schmidt, Realtors, Prudential GHP, beautiful Ocean Shores, Washington
This is super. I saw this on Fox News the other day. Why be on a wait list? Improvise! Great Blog!
If it makes you feel good and saves you a couple of pennies it sounds like a great idea. It just would not go over hear as it would be a great home for mosquitos.
I do have some gold fish ponds that catch rain and they eat the insects.
what a great idea...the water coming out of our spouts, tears our yard up.....we can recycle..... :)
Ashley - good for you! I'm in Tallahassee, Florida and have one... plan to add several more.. and they are great ! it is amazing how fast they fill up on just a few minute of a light shower! Keep up the good work!
Glad to hear many of you already have your own rain barrels up-and-collecting!
ERIC: Rain barrels will work everywhere...just make sure that you have mosquito netting over the top.
Like Eva said, they do fill up amazingly fast. Sometimes it hard to remember to throw a lid on it when it is full to keep it from overflowing. I will probably add another barrel to collect the overflow (by connecting them with a hose).
Do you ever need to use the water for anything except in summer? Do you collect the rain for months and months before the sun finally comes out?
ARDELL: Good question. I just set mine up this summer so I don't actually know how much they will be needed outside of the winter (oops) summer months.
Can anyone else answer this?
I do know that it will be necessary to put a lid on it when it gets full because as we know, we get PLENTY of rain here for most of the year, and they will fill up very fast. It was nice to get a comment from you, I was actually reading some of your blogs last night and realized how much I missed having you around. There is always so much to learn from you.
Ashley, I set mine up in a continuous loop (all barrels have covers to keep out debri and prevent evaporation) so that when they are full they just drain into the house downspout drains where it would drain if the barrels weren't there.
Great idea! It sounds like everyone here gets a lot of rain, you are so lucky. I'm in NC where last summer we had a major drought. Privous years to that our rain has been down too. It has gotten so bad these past years that I have really cut back on planting flower beds so that I wouldn't have to use the water to water them, and I love my flowers! Luckly this summer we are doing much better. In fact we are hoping for some rain today...
Great idea. Of course, we don't get as much rain in Eugene as Seattle (lol), but we should get enough to make it worthwhile.
I was happy to see any post from you as I mostly comment to let you know how I much I miss you! Please give Kate a hug for me when you see her.
I am in Texas and I have two rain-barrels to collect rain. It only takes about 1/2 inch of rain to fill up a barrel and I use it to water my front lawn which fries in the summer heat of Austin. Central Texas is in the midst of a 5 year drought, so saving water is the only way to go! If you get mosquitoes, just throw a mosquito dunk in the barrel. It wont hurt your plants and it will save you from making more mosquitoes. Good luck and happy rain-water collecting!!
Betina
Hi Ashley -
I spoke with a friend of mine yesterday who has 400 gallon capacity - he has watered his lawn with 3000 gallons this year from his barrels! He said he needs more storage! Great, easy idea to implement. One I agree we all should be doing from Seattle to Grand Rapids MIchigan and everywhere in between!
We had a rain barrel a few years ago, but through one thing or another, no longer do. The husband and I were talking about it this spring, thinking it was time to get a few. Thanks for the reminder!
Hi Ashley - We don't get nearly as much rain here in Sacramento, as you do in Seattle. But, the rain barrel idea is a good one.
It's a no brainer, as long as the tops are sealed (so as to not be a breeding ground for mosquito's). It really is handy and not an inconvenience at all.
I save rainwater for my garden in the summer. I also use it year around for my house plants. Last year I discovered that if you use it in your flower vases the flowers stay fresh longer. I saved extra this summer.
We`re suffering drought conditions here in Alberta, but when we do get rain it tends to come in flash-flood-inducing thunderstorms, so saving what comes off the roof only makes sense. I`ve had rain barrels for seven years now, and use the water for my garden in summertime. (My kids love to help with watering this way, although I`m sure they get more wet than the plants do sometimes!) In our climate it`s important to drain the barrel and turn it over before the end of fall, so the stored water doesn`t freeze solid and split the barrel open.
Rainwater can also be directed into greywater cisterns and used to flush toilets in some municipalities... I think I saw them talking about this on an episode of Living With Ed once. This solution is being widely implemented in drought-stricken Australia, apparently. Greywater regulations vary tremendously between Canadian provinces and probably also in the States, so chat with your local green experts about their status where you live if you`re interested.
When I was younger we had a rain barrel. We had to be careful to make sure that it didn't become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Those rain barrels you referenced look very good. I'm going to check out the links.
You know, if we all start small, we can make BIG strides in this effort, thanks for an obvious but often overlooked and wonderful idea.