What Does a Rain Barrel Do?
A Rain Barrel will
- Decrease your monthly water bill
- Help to reduce local flooding
- Help improve local water quality
The Mt. Rain Catchers project used plastic rain barrels with 55- or 75-gallon capacity, PVC plastic connections, and a screen to keep out debris and insects. A hose fitted at the bottom allows you to empty the barrel at your leisure.
Rain water is naturally soft and does not contain chlorine like tap water. It is a valuable resource with many household uses.
With rain barrel water, you can
- Help your houseplants thrive with non-chemically treated water
- Water your gardens and planter beds
- Rinse off gardening tools and outdoor furniture
- Wash your car
- Clean the windows
- Keep your compost bin moist
- Reduce your demand for municipal water and lower your monthly bills
With rain barrel water, you should not
- Drink the water
- Leave the barrel open for mosquitoes to lay eggs
- Allow water to collect in the barrel during the winter—if a full barrel freezes, it could break.
In some locations, we have linked two barrels to provide more storage.
Drain the rain barrel
Rain barrel owners should drain the water from the barrel, either using it or letting it soak into the ground, after the rain has stopped/before the next rain comes. This is an important step that restores the storage capacity—a full rain barrel doesn’t function. In the winter, rain barrels should be either taken out of service (removed or disconnected from the downspout, then drained) or kept drained by leaving the drain hose lowered with valve open. This photo shows what happens when a full rain barrel gets frozen solid. Barrels don’t have to be completely empty. A few inches of water can freeze without breaking the barrel.
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