Today's Citizen
Drip by drip
Conserving water by the barrel is simple
Jessie Milligan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008The water slowly drips off the eaves of the house in the silvery-grey light of a storm just passed. Glancing out the window, it would be easy to assume that the roof had shed little more than the few fat drops I see falling. But I'd be wrong.
An estimated 4,700 litres of water can pour off my 2,000-square-foot home during a 2.5-centimetre rainfall.
Go ahead. Get out your calculator. The Texas Water Development Board estimates 2.3 litres of rainwater per square foot pours off roofs for every 2.5 centimetres of rain that falls.
The drip, drip, drip I see out the window adds up. I would have realized it sooner if it formed a huge pool in my yard. But rainwater streams through the downspout, down the driveway and into the storm sewer. Or it gushes into the yard, where at least it is filtered through soil to help remove impurities.
Either way, I don't see the pond of water that has fallen. I only see the drops.
That's true of so many environmental consequences. We don't see the silent and invisible stream that gathers behind us and all that we own.
My project in recent weeks has been to rectify that, at least as far as my roof is concerned. I bought a rain barrel.
I was lured into the world of rain barrels after several nearby residents raved about them. The rainwater the barrels provide is far better for plants, these folks said.
It's untreated water that otherwise would run off the property. Why not capture it?
I was a bit skeptical. Rain barrels collect water that runs into eavestroughs and downspouts. The only eavestroughs on my home are short ones that prevent water from dropping in sheets over my doorways.
Would it work?
The first night the rain barrel was delivered, I put it outside without hooking it up. I set it under the eaves. It rained lightly, as if on cue.
Even without being hooked up, the rain barrel collected about 110 litres of water, which eventually was used to water vegetable beds.
I connected the barrel to my downspout that collects water from a one-metre eavestrough.
The second week of April, it rained about 2.5 cm during a noisy nighttime storm. The following morning, I had 210 litres of water in my rain barrel.
That's from just one rain storm.
I got out my calculator. If it rains 90 centimetres a year, that is 7,290 litres of water that I can collect and use on house and garden plants.
It will replace 7,290 litres of water that otherwise would have come out the end of a hose or a sprinkler.
And it is collected by only a one-metre-long eavestrough.
Where to buy?
The Arbour Environmental Shoppe at 800 Bank St. stocks Canadian-made rain barrels, ranging from 190- to 220-litre capacity starting at $60. Home Depot also carries Terracycle Premium Oak Rain Barrels for $149.99 in locations or by special order and Ritchie Feed & Seed sells plastic 80-litre rain barrels for $85. Otherwise, if you are handy, you can convert a less expensive barrel to collect water and release it with a spigot.
