Quick Home Upgrade: Rain Barrels
Interested in rain barrels to help conserve water usage? Be glad you don’t live in Colorado! Since 2015, the state’s legislators have been battling over who legally owns drops of rain. Colorado, along with Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma, restrict water collection. If you live in any other state, rain barrels are a great way to collect water during dry months.
There are plenty of options for so-called “rainwater harvesting.” They range from simple barrels that use gravity to collect runoff from gutter downspouts to complex systems with a variety of pumps and filters to clean and disperse water.
“Hard” water, which most of us receive from our municipal water systems, does not make for a happy garden. Collected from the roof of your house, the water in your rain barrels will contain little contamination and make for happy, healthy soil.
Think about your water needs, then think about your water bill! Now get to collecting, and don’t forget to cover the top of your barrel – mosquitoes won’t make you popular with the neighbors.
