We have been looking for 55-gallon drums made of plastic used in food production. Theoretically, food-grade plastic barrels have no toxins in their plastic formulae, and are hence safe to use in home gardens. Our local USDA office has a rain barrel program and we’re on the waiting list for used pickle barrels for $8/each. Retail rain barrels sell for upwards of $100/each, so the savings is considerable.
Last Saturday our local historic society held a plant-swap at the old train depot here in Chatham. The Pittsylvania Historical Society is restoring the old depot. At the plant-swap, they had rain barrels from a baby food processing operation. We bought four barrels for $10/each, but still have to put in the spigots, paint them, and mount under downspouts. I was told that 1/10-inch of rainfall would fill a 55-gallon rain barrel when properly positioned under a downspout. Big water savings potential. We bought 4 barrels to get started, and could use twice that once we’re fully operational.
The tops have to be cut off, and I’ll make a plywood/screen top for the barrels to keep bugs and small animals out. We are planning to re-roof our garage and add gutters to the garage roof, so we can position two barrels right in our square-foot garden beside the garage. Others will go around the house to water the front and back flower gardens.
To save money, we have also installed a yard water line on a separate water meter. “Yard water” is not charged a sewer surcharge, which is double what the water charge is. Last year we wound up paying sewer charges for watering our gardens, which costs us an extra $400-500. The town charged $250 to put in the yard water tap with meter, so we’ll recoup our outlay on that in the first month of summer watering. Fortunately, our small town has a very large watershed, so we do not run out of water even in a drought. Towns 10-miles up the road did run out of water last year, but not Chatham. But, rain barrels will help with conservation, too, and that’s another reason we bought them. Chatham may not always have a bountiful water resource.
I’ll post photos when the rain barrels are upfitted, painted, and in place, hopefully this week for at least two. Stay simple.
We live here in the Raleigh, NC area and are just now coming out of a rather severe drought period. There has been much talk about collecting rain water and such efforts. It would seem to me that a good system for collecting rainwater would also offer some level of evaporation prevention. Afterall, it is when water is scarce that such a reserve is most needed. I came across this ‘how-to’ that is a bit more elaborate that the system you are constructing, but I wonder if it addresses the evaporation aspect better? It would certainly be more expensive.
Anyway, good on you for your work at simplifying!
Always be sure to find rain barrels which offer mesh mosquito guards, and also look for barrels which have overflow valves to allow excess water to flow out of the rain barrel and away from your foundation. Hooking a drip hose to this valve is a great way to give your garden or flower bed a constant source of moisture.