Harvesting or collecting rainwater from your property with a rain barrel can reduce your use of drinking water for landscape irrigation. The use of a rain barrel to collect rainwater together with the use of native-adapted plants is an effective water conservation technique because it provides “free” water that is not from the municipal water supply. Some benefits to harvesting rainwater with a rain barrel are: reducing dependence on ground water and the amount of money spent on water, and reducing soil erosion or dangers of off-site flooding by keeping rainwater on the site. Rainwater is a safe source of water for plants.
Watch this DIY video from HGtv
If you can not harvest enough water to take care of your landscape watering, consider these options:
- consider increasing the size of your catchment area, use more than one barrel
- reduce your amount of landscaped yard area
- reduce the plant density in your garden
- replace the overly thirsty plants with plants that have lower water requirements
- use plenty of mulch to help reduce surface evaporation
- use grey-water from your household
- use municipal water
Note: Rainwater harvesting policies may vary from state to state so check your local laws if you feel the need! Check this link for recent hopeful updates.. recent changes
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this is great! love the video.. i’ve wanted to do this for awhile, funny how if you try looking up info you get alot of hysterical ppl in colorado, i guess there are laws there against collecting rainwater?
Interesting link, things seem to be catching on in a more mainstream way which is good. There are plenty of people that have been quietly doing things such as the water barrels, using grey water etc for years, but the more the general public is informed and encouraged the better.
Thanks for posting such a useful blog. Your site was not only knowledgeable but also very creative too. Keep posting !!