Rain Barrels:
Useful runoff solutions!

Rain barrels are a great way to capture runoff from your roof. Water captured in barrels is a free source of water for watering gardens and lawns, with the added advantage of helping the environment. Rain water is softer than tap water; it has no chlorine, lime, or calcium. It has less sediment and dissolved salts and is warmer than tap water. It is excellent (some say better) for watering plants and for window or car washing.

Why is this important?

Runoff from impervious surfaces adds up. Too much water in the streams erodes their channels and destroys habitat. Excess runoff from yards and gardens can cause erosion problems and can wash things like lawn fertilizer into the stream causing nutrient overloads.

Where can I find a rain barrel?

Rain barrels can be purchased from many garden catalogs or you can make your own following directions found on a number of web sites. If you attach a soaker hose to your rain barrel you can trickle water locations under the eaves or shaded by trees or a garage. This allows gardens to grow in these locations and saves ever having to use a sprinkler. For directions on how to make a rainbarrel check out the excellent description developed by the City of Superior, Wisconsin's Stormwater / Pollution Prevention staff. See our What's New section to see if they are offering a workshop locally with a bargain on costs.

Other links for making rain barrels:

• Our Site Design Toolkit has a section on rainbarrels.
• U of Minnesota Extension Rain Barrel Fact Sheet
• Make a Rain Barrel by Garden Gate Magazine
• Construction of Rain Barrels and Cisterns by the Low Impact Development (LID) Center
• Presentation on How to Build Rain Barrels(1.2 MB pdf) by Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center
• Build a Simple Rain Barrel by Maryland Green Building Program
• Rain Barrel Info King County, WA
• Do-It-Yourself Rain Barrel Plans and part kits from Aquabarrel
• Rebecca Chesin, a master gardener in Plymouth, MN has created a nicely illustrated webpage on constructing rain barrels.
• RainReserve™ offers a diverter kit for connecting a rain barrel to a downspout. It is designed to keep debris out of the barrel. Also, once the barrel has filled, additional rain water will pass through the diverter and exit the bottom of the downspout as it does normally.

Make sure to screen your barrel and elevate it off the ground enough to allow gravity feed of water to gardens. The water should be used regularly to reduce the risk of mosquitoes.

To buy a rain barrel or a parts kit, there are many garden catalogs or web sites -- here are some examples: