Reducing Your Water Consumption With Rain Barrels
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by: georgewonderman
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Word Count: 454
It is estimated that the average rain shower that falls on the typical home results in more than 700 gallons of perfectly good rainwater running off and seeping into the ground. That amount of rainwater alone is the equivalent of almost 20 baths or nearly 60 showers. Larger buildings with correspondingly larger span roofs of course result in even more rainwater being wasted, often as much as several thousand gallons of rainwater at a time.
In the face of the limited supply of water that so many areas of the country faces, this is all the more reason to consider installing rain barrels on your property. Aside from the fact that all of this rainwater is simply wasted, it also seeps into the ground and eventually makes its way into the storm drains and eventually any lakes or other bodies of water in the immediate vicinity, carrying with it various pollutants and toxins, and further placing stress on the areas water sewerage systems.
Rain barrels then serve an important function, and that is to collect and store all the rainwater that would have otherwise been wasted, so you can put it to good use. Rain barrels can be as simple as large receptacles that the rain water from your roof and other surfaces in your property can run off into. In a good rainstorm, rain barrels can collect more than 200 gallons of rain water, so you can imagine that they can be filled quite rapidly. This will then result in you having a considerable amount of water that can be used for various purposes around the home, ranging from watering plants and trees, to car and window washing chores. Not only will this lessen the amount of water that is wasted, it will also reduce the amount of pollutants that enter the local ground water supply and reduce your dependence on the local water provider in your area.
If you want to install rain barrels around your home, you can opt for ready made rain barrels or you can improvise your own rain barrels out of commonly available materials. Many commercial rain barrels have fixtures built in such as hose or faucet connectors, which make them convenient for regular use or for hooking up with other rain barrels in order to collect even more rainwater. Of course you can also choose to simply build your own rain barrels...which may take some time and workÂ...but can be quite a bit cheaper than buying ready made rain barrels. Whichever option you choose to go for, you will want to make sure that your rain barrels are ideally situated to collect as much rainwater as possible.
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