WHY YOU SHOULD BE USING
A RAIN BARREL
WHY YOU SHOULD BE USING
A RAIN BARREL
Now that you’ve been introduced to a rain barrel, there are many ways to acquire one for your home. The most cost effective way is to build your own. There are numerous guides on the Internet available for building a rain barrel. Another option for those who do not have the time to build their own is to purchase an already assembled rain barrel. These rain barrels tend to be sturdier than one built from scratch but obviously requires a price to acquire.
Rain Barrels are especially useful during slow rain seasons or droughts. Hoses can be attached to many rain barrels allowing for easy use of the water. Also city regulations do not apply to rain barrels. Cities also treat the water with minerals & chemicals for consumers but plants & flowers do not need these additions. Natural rainwater is pure and healthier for your lawn & garden.
Lawn & Garden can easily make up about 40% of total household water usage. By using a rain barrel you can help cut your water bill by as much as 40%. An average of 1,300 gallons can be saved during the summer months. Because the rain barrel system relies on gravity you do not need any type of machine to operate the system that saves you energy also. Another benefit is almost found in the decreased amount of water to runoff into our streams.
The widespread use of rain barrels can change the amount of water that reaches the ground reducing the amount draining into a stream. Depending on he climate of the area this can prevent erosion, sedimentation, pollution, and can reduce the amount of water in drainage systems. However it could also create rivers & ponds to dry up if the water is diverted to another watershed. If the collected water is diverted to those local watersheds then it can actually stabilize the flow in rivers and provide filtered groundwater into ponds.
Calculating rainwater collection (From Wikipedia)
Rainwater collection from roofs can be calculated using the following formulas:
* 1 inch of rain on a 1,000 square feet (93 m2) roof yields 623 gallons of water; or
* 1 cubic foot equals (12 inch by 12-inch (300 mm) by 12-inch (300 mm) cube) equals 7.48 gallons; or
* 1 millimeter of rain on a 1 square meter surface yields 1 liter of water.
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