Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept. In fact, history shows us that diverting rainwater for growing crops is an ancient technology. And saving water is important in today's drought stricken areas since water is a precious commodity. And why use drinking water for your yard when you can use rainwater that falls from the sky?
This blog will show you how to install a Rain Barrel to capture rainwater to use outside your home!
Living in Arizona, you get a real sense of why it's important not to use drinking water to keep outside plants alive. It's much more important as drinking water. With just 7" of annual rainfall on average, water is NOT plentiful from the sky. But the good news is there are plenty of ways to manage it, and Arizona has been doing this very well for decades. With underground aquifers, rivers, streams, and agreements with 6 other states to utilize Colorado River Water, Arizona stores and uses water wiselfy. So my idea of saving water by using rainwater versus drinking water in my yard is a high priority and a great project for my net zero home. And I can reduce my monthly water bill; that's real savings with a return on investment!
My first thoughts of adding guttering to divert rainwater was to use it for watering plants. But I also wanted to divert the water away from the foundation of the house. The grade of your home should be sloped so that water doesn't collect at the foundation. You want the water to run away from your home, not stand and puddle near the foundation.
So, after repairing stem walls that had eroded due to the elements for my 45 year old house, I added gutters and a rain barrel. Read on for the process of how to install rain barrels to collect rain water!
First, you need to find out if it's legal in your state before starting the process of collecting rainwater to use in your yard. It is legal to capture rainwater in Arizona thankfully! Some states require a permit so make sure you check your city or county as well for restrictions.
The second step is to locate where you'll collect rainwater from your roof. This is vital as gutter designs must be implemented to allow spouts to be directed toward a rain barrel or whatever method you use to divert rainwater for use outside your home. In my case, the rain barrel is on the southwest corner of my house so that I can use it in my front yard.
Purchasing a rain barrel that includes a predrilled hole for a spigot toward the bottom of the barrel encourages water to be drawn from the bottom of the barrel as the level of water drops with use. So make sure to look for a rain barrel with a hole toward the bottom versus the top. I found my rain barrel on Facebook Marketplace $40 cheaper than buying a new one on Amazon. It easily fit in my car since one side is flat to be placed against the house.
Sending photos to the gutter company helps them to prepare the right "elbows" in advance of their arrival. Make sure you are available the day of the install to verify the installation. At first, I wanted to place the barrel sideways due to the "rip rap" that is a river look in my front yard. They discouraged this install as the flat side should be against the house for a seamless fit with the guttering.
With gutters installed, I'm now ready to capture rainwater. The rain barrel also came with a screen to keep debris out of the water so as not to clog the spigot. The xeriscape design in my front yard is ideal for using rainwater. Xeriscape landscaping in my yard pictured below includes native plants that don't require a lot of water. These types of plants are water saving so it's a double savings using rainwater for them. They are a firestick cactus, red yucca, agave and golden barrel cactus. The red yucca attracts hummingbirds! Now, bring on the rain!
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