Rainwater Capture

Published: Aug 18, 2007 12:30 AM
Belly up to the barrel

Gardeners capture even the briefest showers to help quench plants' thirst
L.A. Jackson, Correspondent

These are not the best of days for gardeners. Temperatures are in the upper 90s and even spiking into triple digits. Even though we have showers here and there, municipal water restrictions hamper backyard growers' attempts to keep plants green and growing. So what is a gardener to do? Mike Ruck discovered a solution from his grandfather. "I received a rain barrel my grandfather had made many years ago for my grandmother, who was an avid gardener. She knew how much plants loved rainwater--they thrive on it, and besides, rainwater is free. I hooked up the rain barrel on our first home and used the water in the garden."

Ruck had found a practice that goes back thousands of years; the ancients well knew the value of collecting rainwater in large clay vessels for irrigation when dry times crept into gardens.

Well, maybe it's time to borrow from antiquity to deal with a modern problem. In areas of hard clay soil, which is extremely dense, water from quick downpours runs off into creeks and storm drains. Even gardeners with sandy soil have to deal with the sievelike qualities of such loose dirt.

For Ruck, a rain barrel not only became part of the solution but eventually a livelihood. He says, "We quickly realized we needed another one -- or two. We started looking for rain barrels but were unable to find them anywhere, so I decided to make my own. We found a guy who had some food-grade barrels, bought 10 of them and made them into rain barrels."

That was in 2000, and now Ruck and his wife, Lynn, are owners of Rain Water Solutions, a Raleigh-based company that sells rain barrels and cisterns. Thanks to the uncooperative ways of Mother Nature in recent years, business has been good -- since designing their own rain barrels (made with recycled materials) in 2002, the Rucks have sold more than 5,000 barrels.

Flexibility, filtering valuable

Some local cities and towns are also realizing the usefulness of rain barrels. Marie Cefalo, water conservation coordinator in Cary, says the town began a water conservation program in 1996 and began selling rain barrels during the drought of 2002.

Cefalo estimates Cary has sold about 1,500 barrels since it started making them available. And the town practices what it preaches. The Stevens Nature Center at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve uses a rain barrel to water gardens and rinse tools, and the Senior Center at Fred G. Bond Metro Park uses two 1,000-gallon cisterns for irrigation.

Cefalo notes that, since rain barrels are exempt from city water restrictions, gardeners can use the collected water anytime they want to irrigate plants suffering from extremes in summertime temperatures.

Jay Butler, who lives in the University Park neighborhood in Raleigh, has used a rain barrel for six months. He originally bought it because he didn't like the way water was gathering in one spot after it flowed off his gutter. Now he's thinking about getting another one.

"It's a great source to water a nearby garden ... and it's free [water]," says Butler, who uses the rainwater on his vegetable and flower gardens.

Ruck sees another advantage: "Municipal water has ammonia, chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals in it that plants don't like or need. While such chemicals are important to keep water safe for human consumption, plants do much better on naturally soft, pH neutral water."

How the barrels work

Because commercial rain barrels are typically fitted with a spigot outlet that can be connected to a standard garden hose, using them is as easy as turning on a faucet. Setting them up is simple as well. Cefalo does urge gardeners to first check with their homeowners association to make sure rain barrels comply with regulations. After that, it is just a matter of locating the water collector under a downspout and shortening the pipe to the height of the open top of the barrel.

A rain barrel is a gravity-fed system, so the higher the barrel is in comparison to the plants it will irrigate, the better the water will flow. Setting the barrel on built-up cinderblocks or stones, or locating it on a deck or porch, will help give it some height if the lay of the land won't cooperate.

And what about mosquitoes? Still water is a prime breeding ground for these summertime pests, but Ruck's rain barrels have a screen-top that not only keeps mosquitoes out but also filters debris that might wash off a roof.

Cleaning needed once in a while

Rain barrels are low-maintenance, usually requiring only an occasional rinsing. "Over time, organics can build up in the rain barrel, especially in the springtime when the 'yellow haze' descends upon us," Ruck says.

Pollen buildup will give the water an odor, your cue that the barrel needs to be cleaned. Drain it and spray it with a garden hose.

As far as how long it would take to fill up a rain barrel, one good shower will usually do the deed. Cefalo notes that one inch of rain falling on a 1,000-square-foot roof is equal to 625 gallons of water -- more than enough to fill a typical 65-gallon barrel in short order, even with multiple downspouts coming off a roof.

Rain barrels offer one final advantage: awareness. Cary's Cefalo says that by using rain barrels, "citizens become more actively engaged in managing a natural resource and become conscientious about their water usage."

All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner. L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener Magazine. Visit his Web site at www.southeastgardeningwithla.com