FAQ: Rain Barrels

A rain barrel is a simple, low tech way to conserve impressive amounts of water. All you need is a container of the right size, a rain spout, and a spigot. Good rainfall also helps, but even in the desert, the amount of rain a storm produces can fill a 100 gallon rain barrel quickly. If you have wondered whether a rain barrel would be a good investment for your house, here are the answers to a few questions you may have thought of.

What benefits can rain barrels offer me?

In addition to providing a free and self replenishing source of water, barrels also reduce the amount of water settling around your house's foundation, reducing long term structural damage.

How big a rain barrel will I need to get started?

55 or 100 gallons is a good starter size. Many people find that once they get used to using rainwater, they need larger tanks, or start stringing together multiple 100 gallon barrels. If you own a large building, such as a business or an apartment building, you may find that you can use an even larger tank; many public buildings and schools have rainwater collection tanks that can hold 2,000, 5,000, or even 15,000 gallons.

What kind of containers are acceptable as rain barrels?

A barrel can be made out of any material, from old fashioned wood to metal or high tech plastic. If you adapt a container that was not made to be a rain barrel, make certain it will not corrode or leak chemicals into the water. For example, adapting an ornamental copper pot is a bad idea, no matter how attractive it would be, because copper verdigris is deadly at trace doses. Certain plastics have also come under scrutiny for their propensity to shed chemicals, so there is a small but growing movement away from plastic. If you want a plastic rain barrel, buy one made of food grade plastic.

I live in a heavily polluted area where the rainwater is not safe to drink. Should I bother with a rain barrel?

Absolutely! Even if the local rainwater is undrinkable, you can still put it to a number of uses. Watering the lawn takes a considerable amount of water, so suburban expanses of lawn are a major drain on any municipality's water supply. Providing your own lawn water from a barrel is an excellent way to both use undrinkable water and reduce the strain on the local water system. Washing your car is another water intensive task that does not require perfectly clean water. You can also water houseplants and wash floors with collected rainwater. And, of course, the classic use for rainwater is as flushwater for a green toilet system.