The Truth About Rain Barrels

I apologize for the angry rant about my complaining neighbor. I am quite steamed about the whole incident.

But allow me to back up. We bought two rain barrels from the Friends of Big Darby Creek, a nonprofit attached to one of our local watersheds. They subsidized the barrels, bringing down the cost to about $30 each-- quite a lot cheaper than the usual $100 to $120 price tag. We're having some problems with swelling rivers after major storms, and it turns out houses with gutters like mine are contributing a lot to the problem.

Our gutters do not run off into the grass. Instead, they are connected to a series of underground tubes that funnel the water directly into the sewer, which then drain into the closest river. Apparently it's better for the water to run directly into your grass.

Enter the rain barrels. We can reduce our environmental impact two ways if we use them-- the first, involves not taxing the watershed. The second: Using tap water for gardening is not only bad for plants (They don't like the chemicals in the water), it strains our city's water-treatment plants.

And, it'll save us money. We have quite the vegetable garden brewing, and when we water with tap, we pay twice-- once for the water itself, then an equal charge for sewer volume. (The utility assumes the water you use will end up in the sewer).

Our barrels hold about 80 gallons each. Including water and sewer charges, it'll save us about $5 on our bill every time we use about 750 gallons of barrel water on gardens. It's not huge, but it's nothing to sneeze at, although the number of barrels we use each summer depends on how much rain we get, and so far it looks as though we are headed for a drought.

We installed one on each side of the house, on the gutter closest to our vegetable and flower gardens. Each comes with an overflow hose, to direct water away from the foundation if the barrel is full, and a spigot that attaches to a standard garden hose.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for rain barrels, with some interesting facts and links to information on how to install and build your own barrels. Check out Wikipedia's entry

It seems like an eco- and a pocket-book win-win to me, despite the protests of our less-than-sunny neighbor. Heck, maybe I should crunch the numbers and make the economic case that he too should install one!