Rainbarrels for collecting rain water

Rain barrels...I'm sure you've heard of them. They're usually recycled food grade barrels that are placed under your eaves trough to collect rain water during rain storms. Some are very basic, simply being a barrel with an open top that sits below the downspout collecting rain as it hits your roof and is corralled into your eaves trough. Others though are more complex. Complete with a tap at the bottom and an overflow hose at the top. The tap will usually be fitted with just the right thread to attach a length of hose for watering your lawn, vegetable or flower garden, or even for washing your car and lawn furniture.

Water efficiency is something that we all need to take seriously. A massive percentage of humans on earth today are living without a clean drinking water supply. And considering the amount of pure, clean drinking that we flush down the toilet every day in developed countries, we should really be ashamed of ourselves for the amount of waste! Why waste all that water when rain water is free and absolutely available!

Our world is a concrete jungle. These impermeable surfaces make it impossible for rain water to recharge ground water sources. The rain that falls should seep back into the ground. It doesn't. Instead it runs down city streets, through storm drains and eventually straight into rivers, streams or lakes. That all seems fine and dandy, but in fact its not. That water should be making its way into aquifers, cleansing itself as it makes its way through the ground and bedrock.

Using a rain barrels under your down spout is a great way of putting that rain water back where it belongs. In the ground! Thats right, when you harvest rain water, you are essentially making up for the green space your home has taken up. The water hits your roof and rushes through the eaves, down the spout and into your barrel. Then, you water your gardens when its dry, and that water makes its way back down through the earth into the groundwater supplies! Washing your car or maybe your outdoor furniture with rain water will have the same effect!