Many people that garden already have a composting system in place but are unaware that using tap water to irrigate the garden can account for more than 30% of a home's water consumption. Adding a rainwater harvesting system to a home is a simple way to conserve water and cut down on your utility bills as well as help out your garden. The environmental advantages are enormous and rain barrels are fast catching on as a must have product for green homes.


Go Green by Saving Rain

By using stored rainwater to water your garden, you are helping reduce the strain on the environment in ways that you may not realize. The main advantage is, of course, that you are tapping into a free resource, conserving water and the energy it takes for it to be treated and pumped to your home through pipes. But by storing the water and releasing back into the earth over a period of time, you also help in lessening the runoff that erodes soil. In addition, many rain barrels, both from kit and homemade, often utilize recycled containers, keeping them out of landfills.

Rainwater is also low in salt and chlorine/fluoride-free, making it a healthier choice for plants. As most rain barrels are stored outside in the sun, the water is usually warm and thus won't shock the plants as cold water from the tap will. In the dry summer months, many cities enforce no/limited watering, but by installing a rain barrel, you can often store enough water from one rainfall to last days, if not weeks.

Harvesting Rainwater

A rainwater harvesting system can be as simple as a using a container to save rainwater running off your roof for later use. There are some simple guidelines that you will need to follow but whether you purchase a rain barrel kit or decide to make one from scratch yourself, it can easily be installed in an afternoon.

A rain harvesting system contains a few key components:
 
- A container: Usually a large clean plastic drum or wood barrel to store the rainwater in. Many used ones are available from wineries and food production plants but most hardware stores, including Home Depot, also carry plastic barrels to hold rainwater. It's important to get an opaque one as sunlight can result in algae growth.

- A diverter: It attaches to your gutter to divert a portion of the gutter water to the container. In many cases, the container is too small to hold all the water runoff from your roof so a diverter is needed to keep overflow to a minimum. For larger systems or areas with light rainfall, the gutter can be fully diverted to the storage containers.

- A screen: A mesh filter is needed to keep debris out of the barrel as well as to keep mosquitoes from breeding inside if you don't experience a lot of rainfall.

- An overflow pipe: When a container is full, it diverts the overflowing water away from the house and garden.

- A spigot: A simple valve that lets you access the water like a tap.


Homemade VS Store-bought Rain Barrels

Homemade rain barrels can be made by sticking a container under a roof gutter downspout. They're cheap and require a little more work to install but can be made from a host of household products. However, store-bought kits can offer some advantages:

- They are usually easier to install as they come with all the necessary components.
- They can be linked to create a series of storage units, adding greater capacity.
- They are much more aesthetically pleasing.

Many kits are available online and sites like Simplyrainbarrels.com offer a ton of options for those who are short on space or wish to have their rain barrel blend in to the décor.

For those that want to build their own, many guides are also available online.

Interesting enough, some cities have water departments that give rebates/credits to people that invest in a rain barrel, while some areas, namely Colorado, have (rarely enforced) laws that make it illegal to install rain barrels due to old conventions. I would recommend you contact your city's water department to double check.


Using tap water to water a garden wastes a lot of energy as the water from most home taps is potable water that has been conditioned for drinking, a process that is unnecessary for irrigation water. A rain harvesting system helps to tap into a free natural resource that would otherwise go unused.