Rain Barrels Serve Dual Purpose
PrintIt’s Thursday morning and my shelter-adopted canine companion and I have just returned from our morning walk. I can feel rain in the air. The local weather person has also predicated its arrival just in time for the weekend.
After our walk, I add an item to my to-do list: get a rain barrel.
I’ve been thinking about getting one for years and this year I am more committed than ever to getting one.
After all, who wouldn’t want a rain barrel? Used to divert rain water, it can reduce the volume of water flowing to your local sewer treatment facility, serves as a backup source of water during times of drought or between rain showers, is great for watering delicate houseplants, can save you money by lowering your water bill, and serves as an educational tool for teaching patrons about water conservation.
Unlike rain barrels of days gone by used only to collect rain water, today’s rain barrels have become an exercise in adding beauty to one’s landscape. And libraries country-wide, having taken note, are helping promote their use in creative ways.
Check out Andrea Riley’s rain barrel (pictured) entitled “Wetland Whimsy” which was featured at Lincoln (Nebr.) City Libraries’ Bennett Martin Public Library this spring as part of the Artistic Rain Barrel program. The program, a joint venture between The Friends of Pioneers Park Nature Center and the City of Lincoln Watershed Management Division, invited local artists to paint rain barrels, as part of a fun way to educate the community on the benefits of using rain barrels to improve water quality.
The sophisticated yet uncomplicated painted rain barrel “is a simple homage to the wetlands, inspired by the shapes and forms of the species that inhabit them. My design limits use of color to achieve a calming, elegant view of a complex subject matter by stripping it down to its most basic and beautiful parts,” says Andrea.
Lovely.
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Comments
This is a great idea and I’ve
This is a great idea and I’ve often thought of getting one, too, but in Los Angeles they are illegal in residential neighborhoods. There was a pilot program in Los Angeles to harvest rain water, but apparently it was only limited to 600 people. You can buy sealed rain barrels if they are legal in your community; I’ve seen them featured on television.
mosquitos
Theoretically I love the idea of a rain barrel, but what prevents one from becoming a mosquito hatchery?
Mosquitos
Use Mosquito Dunks, small donut shaped anti larvae agent. Not harmful to wildlife, but I wouldn’t drink the water afterward. Great for gardens! I used them during the swampy rainy season in my yard in OH and they worked great to keep the mosquito population low, low, low.
Mosquitos
The top is screened so that they let in water… not bugs.
rain barrel use
When I was a kid (grew up in the woods miles from neighbors in the 50s), we used the rain barrel water to wash our hair! Our well water contained so much iron (rust) that the mineral built up. It could be seen on clothing and stuck to hair. My mother would gather a bucket of soft rain water for hair washing and rinsing. Try it.
screen
To prevent mosquitos you leave the lid on the top and have a screened area that the water pours into (window screen is fine for this). This prevents both debris, like leaves and sticks, and mosquitos. I LOVE my rain barrel although it isn’t nearly as pretty as the one pictured. I made it myself and it fills up with less than a quarter inch of rain from our small house. You also need an overflow for when it fills. In my case I have a faucet at the top with a hose going into the yard.
Rachel V.
Parents had a wooden rainbarrel
It was open top located at the eavestrough. The mosquito larva were always there. But it was great to dip in a bucket and water the plants in the nearby garden without stringing a hose around.
Perhaps having a closed barrel with a spigot keeps the mosquitos from growing?
Rain barrels = mosquitoes
Exactly! Those of us in West Nile areas must have great care with anything that collects even the smallest bit of water.
You drain it completely every
You drain it completely every month or so, and keep a screen over the opening (most often just a small hole where a downspout from your gutters drain). I have two at my home for watering my plants and garden and mosquitos have nver been a problem, even tohugh I think they are, techinically, the state bird. :)
Fabulous- rain barrels!!
Great idea!! I wish there can be competition- decorating rain barrels for display/use and creating awareness!! Love it..
What a lovely rain barrel and what a lovely idea
What a lovely rain barrel (simple yet classically elegant) and what a lovely idea to educate the public about the benefits of rain barrels by combining artistry with philanthropy, strategically locating the barrels where the public can see, touch, and learn.