Is a Rain Barrel for You? - Pt. 2 of 4

SONG: Water water everywhere and not a drop to spare. Water on the ground, water in the air. Though it may evaporate it never goes away. Snows onto your mountain tops, flows into the bay. Animals need water, people need it too. Keep it clean for me and I will keep it clean for you. Animals need water, people need it too. Keep it clean for me, and I'll keep it clean for you. Let’s get into rain barrels they’re making a huge splash in Rockville! Rain barrels and water storage of other kinds are popular around the world for storing stormwater. With a rain barrel, you can have a beautiful lawn and garden and SAVE quite a bit of money on your water bills. So is a rain barrel for you? To help you decide, let’s consider the important decisions in choosing and setting up rain barrels. Where do you need water? You’ll want to put your rain barrel as close to the areas where you will use the water, as possible. So, find the closest downspout, whether it’s on your house, garage or shed. You may find installing a rain barrel near an area that drains poorly might just solve your drainage problem! How much water will you collect? Let’s say the typical home has a one-thousand-square-foot roof. From a 1-inch rain storm you can potentially collect around 600 gallons of water. using rain barrels positioned at each downspout. You'd be surprised how much water you can collect in a rain barrel from a single rain event. A storm of less then one inch could fill up a barrel pretty quickly. Calculating exactly how much water you’ll collect is nearly impossible, because each situation is unique. Barrel sizes differ and rain patterns change. Plus, how homeowners use and maintain their rain barrels varies. Still you’ll be surprised to see how much water you can collect from a single storm big or small. How much water do you need? The rain barrel allows us to water our entire vegetable garden and then we put in some new plantings of shrubs and some perennials and so a 60 gallon barrel probably lasts us about a week to two weeks um if there is no rain in between but the way our summers go its always raining so its really helpful we haven't ever run out of water in the rain barrel yet. How do you make the best use of the water you collect? Every rain barrel has a spigot, so you can Manually fill a watering can Attach a regular hose for watering as you usually do Or attach a soaker hose to slowly release water to very targeted areas of your lawn or garden. Do rain barrels come in different sizes? Rain barrels come in many shapes and sizes. The right one for you depends on how much space you have and how quickly you’ll be able to use the water. For example, this rainwall is designed for narrow yards and spaces, such as those between townhomes. Rain barrels typically hold 55 gallons, but you can get smaller and larger ones, too! How many rain barrels do I need? It’s always a good idea to begin simply. Try one or two barrels the first year. keeping in mind that you’ll want to use up the water as soon as possible to make room for new stormwater! How much do rain barrels cost? You could have a barrel for as little as maybe $25.00 or $35.00 dollars picked up on some place like Craigslist for instance and then you can pick up parts and pieces from a variety of websites it will cost you maybe $30.00 dollars. So our cost their maybe a dollar a gallon. A finished product from a manufactured a product that's designed to be a rain barrel perhaps those units could run as little as $2.00 dollars a gallon to $5.00 dollars a gallon depending on its size and its features. What features do I need in a rain barrel? There are a couple of features that everyone who is looking for a rain barrel should look for volume in equals volume out, in reference to overflow, diversion and where is it that they placed the shut off valve. Those are pretty important. The volume of water that is coming in is going to be huge, were talking about every time it rains an inch we've displaced more than a half of gallon of water so will a barrel ever fill up? Yes, and it’s usually within the first couple of minutes of a rain storm. No matter their design, rain barrels have several features. There’s a place for water to enter the barrel. Some barrels load from the top Others from the side. Rain barrels typically have a spigot so you can draw off water as you need it. Most rain barrels have a drain near the bottom to help you empty the barrel for cleaning or for winter storage. Look to see where it is that the discharge is for taking the water out of the tank. The disadvantage is, the higher it is on that tank, the more water is going to reside in that tank. So, the lower the discharge, or spigot, the easier it will be to empty the barrel when needed. Barrels should have an overflow drain to channel excess water away from your home. You might also want a diverter to turn off the flow to the rain barrel when needed, or switch back to your usual downspout during the winter. Depending on style, the barrel will have a lid or screen to help keep debris and insects out of your water. Another popular question — how do you keep mosquitoes out of the barrel? For the average consumer when they go to look for a rain barrel look at the netting, look at how it is that construction of the webbing is on the barrel. Mosquitoes dunks are one of the solutions for taking care of mosquitoes and within a very short period of time usually within twenty four hours you will notice a great reduction in their volume. You will may be replacing that about every four to seven weeks depending on the turbulence in the tank. And, finally, lots of you simply want to know if you’ll save money using a rain barrel. Will I save money with a rain barrel? The City of Rockville gave us a rebate for installing the rain barrel, so in the end it really only cost us about $25.00 dollars but what was more incredible were the savings that we saw on our water bill we saved probably $100.00 dollars or more over the course of the summer. We like to say, “Make a splash! Save some water, save some cash!” For more information, please call us at the City of Rockville, Rainscapes Program, 240-314-8870. You can also write to us at environment@Rockville MD.gov. Be sure to ask about rebates and other incentives! And thank you for caring about Rockville! Really clean water is getting mighty rare if we want to save it people have to care Animals need water people need it too keep it clean for me and I'll keep it clean for you