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When In Drought Rain Barrels for Water Collection
When in Drought Using Rain Barrels for Water Collection
By Pete Holman
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This year has been a very dry year, and with the lack of rain, there has been water rationing in several areas of the state. Many farmers in the central valley are concerned that they will not have enough water to bring their crops to a successful harvest. It is estimated that some crops will have reduced yields and/or quality due to the lack of water. When I was growing up in the east, many of my friends who lived in the country had big wooden water barrels on their downspouts. They used them to collect rainwater, which people used to wash their hair. The rainwater was much softer than the spring water that supplied most of the household uses. We now have better ways to get water to wash our hair, but there are plenty of uses for water that we can collect from a system like this. In countries like Australia, it is common for every house to have a rain barrel or other means of rainwater collection. At the Evergreen Six School in Paradise, they have installed four rain barrels with the intent of using the water as the primary source for moisture to maintain their worm bins to produce compost. Many people use the water from a system like this to provide water for their gardens or landscapes. These systems can be as simple as having your downspout dump into a container so that the water can be bucketed out for your use. Or they can be as technical as a system I saw described on “This Old House” a while ago. The water was directed from all of the downspouts to a sump, and then pumped into a 1200-gallon tank on the property. The tank was then connected to the irrigation system for the landscape. This system used drip or soaker irrigation so that it would work on low pressure. Some cities are limiting the amount of water that you can put into the storm systems because of the cost of treating that water. A rain barrel can help offset water run-off. Hopefully, I have sparked your interest in doing something to use the rainwater from your roof. There are several things that you need to consider before you start to put together your system. First, you need to decide on the amount of water that you want to have to deal with. Second, you will need to determine what kind of container you want to use. Finally, you will need to determine how you are going to divert the water to your storage system. There are a number of possibilities for containing the water. One option is a 30-gallon plastic barrel. These barrels are very common and are available in this area at most of the stores that sell surplus goods. I have seen them in the $20 range. They can be connected in a series to increase the capacity of the system. These barrels work well since they are light to move around, easy to keep clean, and they can be cut to handle the plumbing quite easily. If you make your own barrel, a hose bib can be put into the barrel a couple of inches from the bottom. This is easy to do with a polypropylene tank adapter used to plumb agricultural spray and injector tanks. They are available at most agricultural supply dealers and come in most standard pipe sizes. There are several ways to divert the water. The simplest way is to take a plastic downspout adapter, connect it to some flexible drainpipe and run it directly into the container. You may want to use some screen to keep leaves and sticks out, and you should make some kind of provision for when the container is full. The second one is a commercial diverter that replaces a section of the downspout and has a section that you pull out when you want the water. The “Water saver” is another commercial diverter, but the big advantage is that it will automatically send the water into the downspout when your container is full. Since it uses a tube of about ¾ of an inch, it is easy to plumb into the barrel so that no outside trash can get in. I hope that you are now thinking, “Maybe I can begin to do something with rainwater to benefit my lifestyle.” There is a lot of information available on this subject. One good place to start is the DIY Network at /www.diynetwork.com. Very simply, go to their web site and search for “rain barrels.” If you do not wish to build your own system, there are many gardening web sites, such as hayneedle. com and greatamericanrainbarrel.com, that have a complete water barrel kit for around $120. One last word of warning, NEVER use the water collected in rain barrels for drinking. There could be things in the water from the roof or the barrel, that would not be healthy. The warm, damp environment in the barrels is perfect for the growth of many organisms. It is good practice to mark your barrels with a warning that the water is not potable (drinkable).
Spring Bucket Spring Fun List CHECKLIST This Spring, see how many things your family can cross off this list
