Calculating Your Rainwater Collection Potential
Submitted by David Trammel on Sat, 06/18/2022 - 05:23
Water is a resource that is important. Figuring out ways to harvest it will be very important. While I haven't used this yet, it looks promising as a way to help you plan things like where to situate gardens, where to place rainwater collection systems, or diverting water flows.
Teresa from Hershey
Thu, 06/23/2022 - 12:17
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I don't use our rainbarrels as much as I thought I would
We've got a rainbarrel at the front of the house and a rain-cube at the rear.
We haven't used them nearly as much as I expected, especially since I've bermed and swaled our soil AND spent years building up the soil's water-holding capacity.
They're really for watering ornamentals and food gardens. But if you don't make them easy to use, you won't use them!
You've got to be able to get a bucket underneath to carry water to where you want it.
I keep them for bad rain years when they really shine.
kma
Sat, 06/25/2022 - 11:30
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From 1 to 3 barrels
Our project for the last month has been going from 1 to 3 rain barrels. The 2 new ones are on bigger roof areas and voila! They fill up much faster than the old one.
Like Teresa, I've focused on soil building, so I don't use them for much outside some spot watering in the garden once spring has passed BUT I did want a back up way to do laundry and fill the toilet should our muni water get spotty in the next few years.
I am curious if it would be a source of drinking water after a boil and a run through the Berkey but I'm not rushing into experimenting with this.
I would also note that the price of rain barrels has gone up about $100 each since we last bought. Previously we bought a local used pickle barrel that someone had a cottage industry of turning into rainbarrels. It was $50 10 years ago. Now the local version is over $150 making it cheaper to buy one on the internet.