How To Put A Rain Barrel To Use

Optimize your garden to conserve water while still keeping it lush with rainwater harvesting rain barrels.

If you have access to an unlimited supply of water, consider yourself lucky. There are many of us who reside in drought zones, where the garden and lawn watering rules are very constrictive

Many people give up when they find out how few gallons of water they are permitted to use, but some have found ways to cope with less water. There are several ways to optimize your garden to conserve water while still keeping it lush.

Some of the ways include drip irrigation (the use of a pipe or hose with small holes to allow water to gradually seep into the root zones of plants), the placement of plants in groups with equal watering needs (to prevent wasting water on plants that don’t need as much), and using compost or mulch to minimize evaporation and runoff of the water.

Occasionally a period of drought will be forecasted far in advanced, or those already experiencing a drought will be given a rare reprieve, with heavy rains. To take advantage of this, you should set up one or more rain barrels. Many people think this would be a time consuming, silly thing to do. But it can save you many gallons of water, and hardly requires any work.

Finding the barrels will probably be the easiest part. Tank-Depot.com offers a wide variety of styles and capacities in rain barrels. You can go with something as simple and economical as the ultra-affordable Garden Pal™ 55 gallon rain barrel. They are durable, mosquito proof and delivered direct to your door.

Once you have your barrels ready, you’re faced with the decision of where to place them. Usually during rainfall, there is one corner or segment of the house that most of the rain tends to pour off of. If you are taking the simple approach to barrel placement, just place the barrel under all the downspouts where you see large amounts of water drainage. However, while this might be the easiest way to place them, you won’t see very high volumes of rain in the barrels.

If you’re open to taking a more complicated approach, you should consider tweaking your roof gutter system a bit. If you remove each individual segment and place it at a very slight slant so that all the water is diverted to the nearest corner of the house, you can place a rain barrel at each corner. So essentially your entire house acts as a catcher for the rain, instead of just a portion of the roof. This will help to maximize the amount of water your rain barrel will catch.

After a heavy rainfall, each individual barrel probably won’t see very much rain. If it looks like it won’t be raining more any time soon, it’s a good idea to empty each barrel into one main central barrel. Seal it and save it out of the way, for whenever you may need it. Then the next time it starts to rain, you’ll be able to quickly put all your catching barrels into place without having to lug around all the water you’ve accumulated so far.

The use of water barrels might sound like an antiquated idea. However, when you’re in the midst of a drought and you’re able to spare that extra couple of gallons for your garden in addition the city allotment, you’ll be grateful for every bit of time and money you spent on collecting all that rain. All it takes is a few trips out in the backyard every time it starts to sprinkle, and you’ll be a very happy gardener when water isn’t so abundant.

For a plethora of information on rainwater collection from simple rain barrels to complete irrigation systems, visit http://www.raintankdepot.com

About the Author

From the last half of the 20th century, the U.S. has enjoyed nearly universal access to abundant supplies of potable water. But as witnessed by the recent serious and sustained droughts in the Southeast and Southwest, this past luxury is not something that can be expected for the long term. Future population growth will exert more demand on water systems while climate change is predicted to decrease available supplies because of decreased snow pack and drier regional climatic patterns. The U.S. has been identified as a country that faces imminent water shortages and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) survey found that water managers in 36 states anticipate water shortages during the first two decades of this century.

Rain Tank Depots water tank experts have scoured the nation to find the best values in rain water collection for you. We offer the best selection of rain barrels anywhere. Looking for a stylish 50 gallon rainwater barrel? We have it. Do you require a large underground rain water storage tank? Tank-Depot is the worlds leading supplier of high capacity water tanks.

Perhaps you are looking for a decorative unit such as the Nino Series Rain Barrel. Or you want a jumbo rain catchment system? We offer all the components needed to put together a complete state-of-the-art rainwater collection system.
If you need help deciding, call us toll-free at 866-926-5603

Tags: rain barrel water conservation rainwater collection system rainwater harvesting