What is Rain Capturing and What are Its Benefits?
Rainwater harvesting, or rain capturing, is the process of collecting and storing rainwater that
falls from the sky. It is done for a variety of reasons including water conservation, outdoor water features, landscaping, home usage, agriculture, and to reduce storm water runoff. While rainwater isn't generally considered safe to drink, households can use it for things like watering their lawn, washing their cars or clothes, or for toilet flushing. Utilizing collected rainwater for personal household use cannot only lower your water utility bill, but helps to protect the main water sources in your ecosystem by preventing storm water runoff from carrying processed debris and other pollution to nearby lakes, streams and the sewer system.
According toUtah State University, rain water harvesting is a practice that been in place for
thousands of years.
Is rain capturing legal?
In a growing number of regions it is legal to capture rainwater from your roof or yard. However, in some states it may not be legal to capture rainwater because of the way that their state laws are written. We recommend that you always check with your local state, regional, and city laws and ordinances before installing a rain capturing system on your home. Often times, when it is allowed there are restrictions on the volume you are allowed to collect, barrel registration may be required, and only particular kinds of containers are within set parameters to perform the job.
Before setting out to create you rain water collecting system, you'll make to make sure it's
compliant with all of your local guidelines to save yourself the headache of having to make
changes to it down the road.
What's The BestWay To Collect Rain?
To capture rain, you'll need to create a manageable system that collects and stores the water for later use.
The best way to collect and store rain is with a designated rain barrel. Rain barrels are large
containers that are set up directly below downspouts that collect water runoff from the roof of one's house or business location. They have an opening for water to enter and then flow down into a storage tank. For convenience, this storage tank can be connected to your home's plumbing so that you can use the captured rainwater for things like washing dishes, taking showers, and watering plants with your current sprinkler system.
How to Install a Rain Barrel
When installing a rain barrel, you'll want to make sure that you're using asturdy and reliable
base. When it gets filled with water, your barrel becomes much heavier and will need adequate support to keep it from collapsing.
Penn State University recommends that the rain barrel be located so that the water coming off the roof from the average rain event approximately equals the capacity of the barrel. The specific equation to calculate this is to take the number of rain inches in a single event and multiply it by the square footage of your roof, and then multiply that by 0.6. This equation should equal the number of gallons in your rain barrel per rain event. Too small of a barrel in proportion to your roof's surface area may equate to an overfilling container, while a too-large barrel will leave a lot of empty space in your barrel after a rainfall.
Proper Maintenance of your Rain Barrel
To keep debris from getting into your collected rainwater, you'll want to regularly clean off your protection screen.Do this after and in-between collection periods, as it can still collect plenty of dust, bugs, and other debris in its non-collection stages.
You want to make sure that you are keeping your barrel empty and dry during the colder, winter months. Frozen water expands in volume and can cause irreparable damage from cracking.
Using Your Collected Water
According toSunday, a lawn care products and services company based out ofBoulder, CO.,
plants prefer rainwater. Naturally, plants are structured to absorb and process rainwater over
treated tap water from your hose or sprinkler head that is often hard and can contain additives like chlorine.
That being said, if you have an older roof or rain gutters that may contain tar, asbestos, or lead paint, then you'll want to refrain from using your collected rainwater on any plants or garden that you plan on eating later. This still leaves plenty of acceptable uses, such as watering your lawn, washing your car, or hooking up to your toilets for flushing purposes. Any of these options makes the relatively simple set up well worth your time and expense.
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