Owning a own home today is harder than ever. High mortgages coupled with high cost cost of living expenses make people eager for ways to cut down on costs.
Along with that many homeowner’s are looking for ways to live more green due to an ongoing concern about the environment.
One relatively easy task to undertake that can make your water bill lower and your home more earth friendly is the use of a rain barrel.
To buy a pre-made, assembled and ready to go model however could cost you hundreds of dollars so a lot of use has to come from it before the cost could be recouped.
An alternative to the high cost is to simply make your own and install it yourself. It is a do it yourself project that can be accomplished in a day for considerably lower costs, probably under $50 or less.
By following these easy steps on how to make a rain barrel, you should have yours up and running quickly and you will be the envy of your neighbors.
Otherwise wasted water can now be used for a variety of reasons from watering a garden to washing a car and can cut down significantly on one major utility cost each month, the water bill.
Look around your house for the location you will put the barrel before you begin.
Make sure you have a spot that is camouflaged by shrubbery or perhaps in the rear of your home unless you want to get creative and make your barrel into a work of art by painting it something fun!
It doesn’t have to be hidden away… with a little imagination and an attractive rain barrel you might even get the neighbors ordering one for themselves from you!
A normal rain barrel around the 55+ gallon size will need a diameter of earth around 35” to sit on and will stand around 25” in height. Keep those guidelines in mind as you scope out where you will put it.
Check your downspouts and make sure there is a nice level area below it. If it is not level, this would be a great time to get out a shovel and rake and make sure the area is prepped for your barrel once it is complete.
Don’t use an area where the barrel could tip over. If some prep work needs to be done to level out the ground, either do it now or at least get an idea of what you can use to support the barrel. Concrete pavers work great for this.
Some people make the barrel first, but when telling folks how to make a rain barrel, I always think it is nice to have the spot prepared first. Once you have your completed barrel, you are going to be so proud of it you will want to immediately place it and watch it work!
Also check your gutters and downspout for debris. You want fresh, clean water flowing into your tank, so leaves and junk need to be taken care of now, not after you have a barrel full of dirty water because you forgot to do this step.
A bit of prior planning and cleaning will make for a quick installation once the barrel is finished. Trust me, it will feel good to have this prep work done so you can concentrate on assembling your barrel.
One part of placement that will be discussed later is the cutting of the downspout to the specific height of the barrel when ready for installation.
The next step to beginning your project is to decide where and how to acquire the most essential item, the barrel. This will probably be your most costly part of the project, so be creative!
Depending on where you live, you may not have local access to buying a barrel. A quick search on the internet can show you literally more sites to buy a barrel than you could probably get through.
Google “recycled X gallons barrel” or “recycled barrel for rain barrel” and the choices are there. Try typing in your zip code with the search as well to see local options, such as restaurant suppliers.
If you need to have a barrel shipped, check sites that sometimes offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount. Many of the recycled barrels you will find are around $15.00 for a 55+ gallon barrel.
Once you secure your barrel, you’re on your way! Go to the hardware store and purchase the remaining pieces you will need to get your barrel functional. They will include:
- A simple outside style faucet, your choice of brass, metal, etc.
- Some caulking material, a squeeze tube of inexpensive caulk will work fine
- Two reducing washers (one for inside the barrel, one for outside the barrel) that will fit the faucet. Make sure the washer has a raised lip on the inside of the rim. The raised portion will be flush with the barrel.
- A flashlight will be needed, but hopefully you have one of these on hand already at your house. If not, this is the perfect opportunity to buy one!
- A large locknut that fits the washer
- Some adjustable pliers to tighten things along the way
- A buddy, wife, son, nephew, anyone willing to sit on the barrel because you have to keep it stable while you are working on it. Not really any way to do that on your own!
- Safety glasses and gloves are always a nice touch but you aren’t going to be doing anything that should cause any accidents so you can forgo them on this project if you don’t own any already.
- A drill with a one inch hole drilling attachment. If you don’t own a drill or a hole attachment, ask your homeowner friends if they have one you could use for about 5 minutes. That is seriously all it will take. Or if worse comes to worse you could rent one from a local store that rents tools or buy one as you will find many, many uses for the drill and attachment throughout your years.
- A small swatch of mosquito screen that you will screw on the top of the barrel under the lid to keep bugs such as mosquitos etc. out of your water. You don’t want them laying their eggs in your standing water and creating a breeding ground for mosquitos. The net will also keep out trash and debris if some does get in your gutters after you clean them out.
- A box cutter or if you have them tin snips
Now to get busy cutting and assembling. First gather all your tools and the person you’ve enlisted for help!
You’ll need to drill a hole towards the bottom of the barrel for the faucet placement. Pick a spot relatively close to the bottom so you can utilize as much water in the barrel as possible, but keep in mind you need some area to maneuver around the faucet, attach a hose for flow, etc.
Around 6 to 9 inches from the base of the barrel to probably no more than 12 inches from the base are good guidelines.
Lay the barrel on the side and ask your helper to sit on it with their legs on either side, feet on the ground so the barrel doesn’t move while you cut the hole.
Using the one inch drilling attachment on our drill, simply cut out a hole quickly and easily. Once the hole is cut, you will want to do a procedure called “threading the hole” which basically just means you will take the faucet and screw it into the hole then unscrew it from the hole and it will automatically create threads or grooves in the plastic for the faucet to go in and out of.
You will screw it in then out as you have more pieces to assemble before the faucet is seated in place permanently.
Now we will work on applying the proper pieces to the outside of the barrel to make sure the faucet is secure and doesn’t leak. We will work on the inside of the barrel in a similar fashion momentarily.
With the same aid of your helper, have them once again straddle the barrel to hold it in place. Put a fair amount of caulk around the outside of the hole to place the washer into and create a seal.
Take one of your reducing washers and make sure the raised lip is towards the barrel. The lip should touch the barrel and caulk and the caulk will act as an adhesive. Push the washer securely into the hole and some of the caulk will ooze out around it.
This is fine, it can be cleaned up later. Many people like to allow the caulk to set for a bit, but if you are so inclined, you may go ahead and re-screw the faucet into the barrel.
Just screw it threw the washer and threads in the plastic portion of the barrel that you created earlier. It should not hurt anything to do it right away and the faucet will actually help to hold everything in place as it dries.
The choice is up to you however if you want to allow the washer portion to cure a bit and then re-screw the faucet.
Now to repeat the process for the inside of the barrel. Before going into the barrel, be sure to assemble all you will need to eliminate having to crawl in or out. Flashlight, adjustable pliers, lock nut, washer, caulk and, if you wish, safety glasses.
Station your assistant one more time on top of the barrel as even though you will be inside, your weight may not be enough to secure the barrel from movement.
Place the flashlight where you can see the hole properly (or if you or your child has one of those cool strap on type of flashlights that go around your forehead, all the better!). Put a nice amount of caulk material around the inside of the hole, secure the washer with the lip towards the barrel again, adhering to the caulk.
And then as an extra step to the inside, use the lock nut to screw on to the threads of the faucet that is sticking through the hole and now additionally through the washer. This locks and holds everything in place while again it dries and to secure the mechanism and guarantee no leaks.
This completes the inside of the barrel assembly, and you can come out and admire your work by turning the barrel up on it’s bottom. It should be looking like a rain barrel at this point!
Rain Barrel Spigot
If you were lucky enough to buy a barrel with holes in the top already as many food storage barrels will have, you will not need to drill holes to allow water to run in or overflow to run out.
If there are no holes, simply take the same hole attachment used to drill the first hole for the faucet and drill a few holes in the top of the barrel. If you feel the need to make an overflow hole, you can do so close to the top of the barrel on the side of it as well, but keep in mind that this could allow bugs in from the side area that may not be screened as you will be doing for the top.
Once you have the holes ready, take your screen and cut it slightly bigger than you screw on top the barrel should have come with. Lay the screen under the lid, take a utility knife and cut the screen, then simply screw it onto the barrel and screen simultaneously. Remember this step is very important to keep your rain free of debris and pesky bugs, so don’t eliminate it!
Place the barrel by the area it is to live permanently while you use your utility knife, or tin snips if you have a pair, to cut your downspout to slightly above the height of the barrel. Be sure to leave room to reattach the bottom L shaped part of the spout to your downspout so the water can be directed easily into the barrel.
Cut off the downspout, reattach the L, slide the barrel under the L onto the pre-prepared area of leveled dirt or concrete pavers and you are finished!
Do check the stability of the barrel on the prepared area as rain barrels, when full, can weigh hundreds of pounds and the worse time to find out it wasn’t stable is when it tips over!
If you have a hose handy, you could even fill the barrel partly full to check that there will be no tipping. And of course, no need to dump that water, just let it be the beginning of the water you will use for your watering, car washing, or any number of uses your saved rain water will provide.
Let the rains and the fun watching your DIY project begin! And don’t forget to treat yourself to a nice dinner with all the money you saved! And share with your friends the information on how to make a rain barrel so that they also can reap the benefits of your knowledge!
Dear Mike, my Son brought home three blue empty barrels, i want to know what to use to clean the blue stuff inside, is it safe to use to make rain barrel and is it safe to water my veggies after is done, am worry about the blue stuff, is it toxic to humans, waiting for your kind response, i thank you and you have a nice wonderfull day.
Milagros,
I won’t touch this, I have no idea what was in those barrels.
Dear Mike, my son brought home three empty blue barrels, how can i clean and what to use to clean the blue stuff, i want to know if i can use it to water my vegetables plants after my husband finish making the rain barrel, is the windshield fluid toxic to human. Thank you Mike in advance,hope to email me soon.
Got 55 gal. barrels from carwash (soap containers) for $12. Pool skimmers with screen for filtering down spout water. Flexible downspout and plastic spigot. Have 3 connected to each other via overflow tubing. A good rain will fill all 3 in minutes.
One thing to keep in mind when picking your plastic: much structural PVC (poly vinyl chloride) plastic contains lead! That’s the reason there are lead warnings on some plastic-insulated wire and plastic hoses (at least in California, with Prop. 65). Containers made specifically for food or drinking water should be safe, but others may not be. Lead compounds are added to the plastic to improve its mechanical properties. See, for example:
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20130906/NEWS/130909958/chinas-pvc-pipe-makers-under-pressure-to-give-up-lead-stabilizers#
Thank you Donald for this good information.
I have seen this before, great idea, nice way to save a little $$$
cinder blocks make excellent “assistants,” too, if you have them lying around. they also tend to be less vocal with their thoughts, opinions, and advice AND they almost never ask you for money, either!
Hey Mike: if you want to keep the coversation at no-brainer comments why don’ t you say so out front? Adios
Trina,
Not sure what you mean by that, but . . .
Trina, I think you miss understood. Mike thought it was GOOD INFO, and was thanking YOU!!
We have collected water for several years with just a large garbage can. My husband just takes the down spout out and the straight part flows into the container. We use empty detergent bottles to haul out the water. I put about 1 cup of bleach in the can for bug control. It seems to work and I have not had any problems with my plants. ( From the bleach ) Maybe not as convenient as having a spigot, but it works. Just have to remember that if it rains a lot, to go out and put the drain pipe back in so the water flows away from the house. It has worked for us and free is good. thanks for comments mike.
Plastic garbage cans work great for this and come in many colors and sizes to fit your site, they are also pretty cheep, maybe $10 plus fittings. I use them to make compost in too. Thanks for all the info Mike.
Great post I made mine similar, but with a few changes. They were super easy to make.
I bought food grade blue plastic drums with heavy plastic removable lids, locally. The lids have a heavy metal band around them with a clamp. It helps when cleaning out the inside at the end of the season.
For the overflow, I drilled a hole about 2 inches from the top (in the side wall) and attached a section of an old hose with a clamp. It is directed to a garden. One of them has the overflow going into another barrel.
I cut a square hole in the lid the same size as the downspout and doubled the screen. Then cut strips of metal flashing for a border and screwed it over the screen with 1 inch self tapping metal screws.
Then I cut off the downspouts to end 6-8 inches above the barrel. No downspout elbow was needed. Position the barrel high enough off the ground to fit a 5 gallon bucket under it. The ground may sink over time so allow for that.
I used an outdoor faucet that curved down. It is easy to fill jugs of water to store if there is no rain. To store the jugs, I used them to line the outer edge of raised beds to keep a stray cat and critters out of them. It worked for this cat, some would jump over.
One lid froze and cracked last year because I was to lazy to empty it, a lesson learned.
I have arain collection system using an old suds saver tub. It all ready has 2 faucets at a good height, so I can fill 2 buckets at once. It has a top which I cut a hole in the back center and attached a piece of screen and put under my down spout. Works great!
Thanks for the tutorial!
A couple of thoughts (some of them kind of long-winded, but hopefully useful):
Another rain barrel possibility is those food-grade plastic drums. I got some at the ag supply store here — these particular ones are recycled Greek pickle shipping barrels (orange!) — 50 gallon capacity (I paid $20 ea, but they were on sale).
If you want to upsize your water catchment capacity, you might want to look at the 275 gallon food-grade containers they use to ship liquids. They’re roughly 4’x4’x4′, and often are enclosed in a metal cage so that they can be stacked in the warehouse. I got 3 of them at the recycling center for $30 each, but they’re available “recycled retail” for maybe $90 to $150. They have a 6″ port at the top and a 2″ spigot at the bottom.
Here’ s a link to an article that I found on the Mother Earth News website that details the system [FYI: Mother Earth has a LOT of articles on the subject of harvesting rainwater]
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/build-a-rainwater-collection-system-zb0z1307zsal.aspx#axzz2gxfiSOn0
What I was actually searching for on the M.E.News site was a link to an article I found there last year that showed how to make a simple collection/diversion system to collect and hold rainwater just long enough for it to be distributed to the garden for storage IN THE GROUND (good garden soil is capable of holding an incredible amount of water if it is delivered slowly so that it can soak in).
In a nutshell: the idea is to take a large plastic trash can (say 32 gal) and install a diverter hub at the bottom — pretty similar to the way discussed in Mike’s write-up, except that instead of a single spigot, what you’d put in is a 4-way (or 2-way, or 6 or whatever) manifold. Attached to each manifold outlet is a length of hose & each hose leads to a different garden bed. At the destination, you can either attach a length of soaker hose, or you can poke a bunch of holes along the remaining length of the hose, double it over when it reaches the end of the bed, and clamp it closed (something to do with all those old lengths of hose where somebody drove over the end, or the dog chewed a hole right in the middle).
So what happens every time it rains is that the trash can fills up and then feeds the water out slowly into the garden, so that it has a chance to soak in (you can control delay the outflow and/or the rate of flow using the shut-off valves on the manifold). Ta-Da! Rainwater conservation!
Note that this simple system didn’t bother with filtering the rainwater – I guess they figured that the happy homeowner can just reach in there and clean it out between rains, because it is designed to empty (slowly) rather than to store water indefinitely.
And that brings me to mentioning that a 55 gallon system is really just a drop in the bucket, so th speak. (I use that much to water my garden every other day, so I’d need about 60 barrels to get me through 4 months). Small rain collection systems are more likely to be useful in a climate where it rains frequently during the growing season. Where I live, it stops raining by April or May, and usually we don’t see a drop of rain again until October (so I probably really ought to have an additional 30 barrels to get me through the milder months at either end on the hot season….hmmm)
Don’t get me wrong – collecting rainwater is a good thing, and a one-barrel system is a good start. Conserving water with mulch and so on is perhaps equally (or more) important.
There are a lot of videos on YouTube that show all sorts of homemade water collection systems, and set-ups that link a whole line of barrels.
And: If you’re concerned about A) clean water and B) not having to unplug the inlet frequently, you probably want to consider installing a “roof washer” — essentially a diverter set-up that diverts the early runoff (along with the bird- and squirrel poop, shingle gravel & leaf debris). There are a lot of gizmos that use floats and such, but one of the simplest (no moving parts) is to install a parallel downspout.
What you do is: cut the downspout off up near the top & install a “T” with the ‘leg’ pointing horizontally along the wall of the house. You re-attach the original downspout to the downward pointing arm. And you attach a short length of downspout leading sideways, with only a slight tilt down. To that you attach an elbow and finally a 2nd downspout that leads to your barrel. Then you go back and rig a cap over the bottom of the original downspout, having drilled a small drainage hole in it. Note that this cap should be removeable so that you can periodically clean out the collected debris.
What happens is that the 1st bit of rain, bringing the crud off the roof, goes straight down that 1st downspout. Since in drains slowly, it will soon fill up, and the later rain (clean!) will be diverted sideways into your barrel.
Or you can by various downspout attachments that will do the job – albeit with a bit less pride of “I did it myself!”.
Got the energy to read some more? Here goes:
In case you’re wondering how much rainwater you can collect — you’ll be surprised how much! — here’s how you figure it out:
1st – figure out how much roof area you’ll be collection from (typically one face of a pitched roof) — the area is calculated according to how much ground the roof covers, not the actual surface area of the roof…so basically, you’re figuring floor area + overhangs.
2nd – multiply that area by .6 (# of gallons collected per square foot, per inch of rain)
3rd – multiply that result by .8 (to account for evaporation loss, leakage, etc)
4th – multiply that by the number of inches of rain you can expect to get in a year (find out from a weather service)
as an example: say you’re collecting the rain off of a 100 sq ft shed roof (a roof that covers 10’x10′).
100 sq ft x .6 = 60, 60 x .8 = 48 gallons net – per inch of rain.
If you get 24″ of rain in a year, you can expect to collect 1152 gallons from that shed roof.
30 inches? you’ll get 1440 gallons
If you are collecting rain from your whole house, say 2000 sq ft (??) – you’re looking at 20 times that amount — 23,040 gallons (for 24″) or 28,800 gallons…Whooee! that’s about 524 55-gallon barrels — time to think “cistern”.
Imagine “stealing” that much water from the water company!
The whole idea of laws that say that collecting rainwater is ‘stealing’ it is nuts (my opinion!)…You’re going to use it to water your garden (or wash your car) and that’s putting it into the aquifer (just a bit late is all) so that years and years from now it can trickle and seep down to where the water co. can pump it up and sell it to your neighbor….grrr….
OK — NOW I’m done 🙂
Trina,
Thank you so much for your very detailed and informative comments. They are much appreciated.
Thanks alot .:-)
I wrote Maryland EPA and asked if it was illegal and their reply was they encourage rain collection which helps limit runoff. We do have to pay both rainwater taxes though.
HI, I haven’t read many comments, but thought I’d add a couple ideas. If your leaving it outside year round uncovered, UV stable plastic barrels should be a consideration; the sun will break down your barrel. Cold weather? drain completely/seal so ice doesn’t ruin your barrel. If you are connecting a hose to the barrel to water, placement of the barrel should be higher than what you are watering so you can use gravity to move the water you are storing. Otherwise, elevate the barrel to place a bucket/watering can under drain. Remember, moving after full may be difficult. 8.3 pounds per gallon adds up fast. 55 gallons x 8.3 = 456.5 pounds! IF elevating on a rack of some sort, make sure it is well built to hold the full barrel. good luck!
I have made my own rain barrel… not your design, but it works fine. Like the others, I cannot imagine why the collection of rainwater should be illegal. The rainwater is not being ‘destroyed’, but will find its way into the water table in short order.
I use a 100 gal livestock watering tank (plastic) put screen over the top (hinged in the back) and dip water out with a 2 gallon watering bucket.
I would like to have a door or outside access in my above the sink window. I could discard water and compost scraps out the window door into a collection device. I do not know how to construct it to keep bugs and other things out. Could keep it clean using the sink sprayer. Any thought on building one, I would appreciate it.
Use something like a cat/dog door for the opening.
Local Dairy farms can be a good source of used barrels. Most of them get their sanitizing solution in 15, 30, or 55 gal plastic barrels.
Any idea about how much water you collect from an average size ranch house from a 1″ rainfall?
I grew up with rain barrels. In Guyana. Back then food items came in large containers. My dad made a stand that would fit four of them. He connected them together with short pipes and then placed the spigot on the one for drawing water. We had so much fun in rainy season.
I have seen the recycled plastic cisterns in use, and they seem to work great. Probably a lot more expensive than your construct, but sturdy and inconspicuous.
>We have an old solar water heating system with a large (>55 gal) tank that we are no longer using. I’ve always thought that would make a good holding tank for rainwater, but I thought the “elements” of being outside might deteriorate it faster. Any thoughts?
I learn to made good soils. Can you help me.
Thank you,
I got 3 blue plastic 55-gal barrels this summer from an auto parts store, they used to have windshield washer fluid in them so I had to wash and rinse them well. I paid $10 each, but since then I have seen many others on craigslist (hope that helps some other readers).
I didn’t want to cut my downspout, and I was lucky enough that we had a junction wasn’t that high above the barrel, so I just bought what I needed to curve it out a bit and let it fall into the barrel. This way I could put the original piece back in for winter.
I bought a drain tile (like you would put in the floor of your garage) and drilled a 3″ hole in the barrel and just set it in there. It gives the water a nice wide surface to hit and disperse, has a screen in it, and I didn’t have to fuss with making the downspout fit into it.
We were lucky with the faucet we put in; we just drilled a hole slightly smaller, screwed it in, and it doesn’t leak – we didn’t need caulking or anything.
Next year we’re going to put a barrel beside it and connect the two for overflow.
Great article & I am going to be making mine this week! I do have a question though – In your pictures it shows a v-shaped attachment to the downspout that sits on the rainbarrel, what did you use for this? Is it something I can find at the store, or do I need to make one?
This is an awesome tutorial, but please keep in mind it’s illegal in some states to collect rainwater. (stupid, I know.)
It may be illegal in some states to collect rainwater as some have found in NY They want to charge for it .So when the DEC comes calling, you simply tell them that no problem, you will pay for the water when they start paying for the damage caused by the storm water. And they start paying you for THEIR water crossing YOUR land
Heather
Yes we do have to remember the laws AND be ready to rebut them. There are also laws about not growing a garden for food unless you purchase a license. I’m still trying to find out who gave these law makers their authority to make such laws when you and I don’t have that authority for ourselves to give them. No matter what we do in life, whether it is making a rain barrel or growing a garden or just breathing no one owes us or the water or the air or the things that we grow. What would our founding fathers think of as we bow down to such ridiculous notions as not being able too collect our own water? Is that what the revolution was about…. to exchange one king for another.
Excuse the freedom stance in ranta gardening backyard growing forum but everything we do now is controlled
I could not understand why it would be illegal..but apparently it is !
‘While rainwater collection may be illegal in places like Colorado and Utah, there are states like Washington where it’s as common as the rain itself. A caveat that states rainwater collection can be outlawed or altered based on local laws is common in such states. When the discussion comes up about making rainwater collection illegal, the local government has a responsibility to alter the laws to protect the environment if it can be shown that homeowner collection of rainwater is damaging the municipal groundwater supplies. In Colorado, the rain water belongs to the State, rather than the homeowner’ ! Now that’s just another dumb law I think !
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/list_6725907_rainwater-collection-laws.html#ixzz2gx2p8IWY
I remember why it is illegal in Utah and several other “dry” states. They want the rainwater to go into the ground /water table so that there is more water for crops. They won’t even let us collect snow melt run off. However what comes off my roof just makes a mess so, since the tank will be in my rear yard no one will see it. Most of my garden died this year from lack of water…
An interesting question. If the state says it owns all water, does the state assume liability for damages created by water?
Richard, Richard, Richard. I don’t know the answer, but I think we probably both know the answer. I doubt that the state will ever assume any responsibility for anything.
Here is a search I did on the Rainwater Collection being Illegal in some states. http://www.pakalertpress.com/2013/04/29/video-collecting-rainwater-now-illegal-in-many-states/
Can anyone explain WHY ON EARTH it is illegal to collect rainwater? That is the most absurd law ever.
I’m amazed that collecting rainwater can be illegal anywhere!
I live in Australia and we are encouraged to put in rainwater tanks. There have even been government rebates offered to put in a new tank, but then, we are on the second driest continent in the world (antarctica is actually the driest). I am fortunate that I now live in the wet tropics of northern Australia, but we still have a rainwater tank as well as bore water.
May I suggest that, perhaps you could just store your spare buckets in your yard, rather than in a shed or under cover. Perhaps you could store them in an unlidded box or container of some type and cover that with shadecloth for aesthetic value (ie to make them look pretty for the neighbours or local council, etc – think garden art, perhaps add a coat of paint to the box in a co-ordinating tone to the shadecloth, or make it look like a garden seat – better still, store the buckets under a garden seat and make a shadecloth skirt for the seat). The shadecloth’s function would be to protect the plastic from ultraviolet radiation which would damage the buckets causing the plastic to become brittle over time and eventually break, so you are protecting and prolonging the life of your garden equipment. If it rains and the buckets fill, well, you will have to empty them somewhere, and the garden just happens to be handy to their location. I think you could put up a good argument using this senario.
When I lived further south we experienced long droughts and every bit of water, rain and town, was saved and used and reused to the enth degee.
I didn’t have a rainwater tank there, but I kept a plastic tub in the kitchen sink so that after washing the dishes the tub was emptied on the garden instead of the water going into the septic tank. The dishes were only washed once a day. Anything used after the dishes were finished was stored until the next day’s washing.
The washing machine drain hose was attached to a large length of plastic irrigation piping which exited the laundry via the window and emptied the washing machine water out onto the garden. The greywater from the washing machine was only used on ornamentals as it can contain human pathogens from clothing. The dishwashing water could go on edibles as there was no possibility of contamination.
I also kept inverted drink bottles filled with tap water tucked in under vulnerable plants that I didn’t want to lose, mostly edibles.
I also kept a large bucket in the backyard over which I snuggly fitted a thick piece of shadecloth. This allowed the rain to soak through and kept mosquitos out. I used this water on my garden. It grew algae in the hot summer, as intended, this was added fertiliser for my plants.
I currently keep two baby baths in my backyard, which I keep filled with water for my pet ducks. Remember, I’m now in the wet tropics and it gets very wet in summer. Water shortage is not a problem here. I tip the baths up each day to fill with fresh clean water for them, so the baths also water the garden. During rain they fill naturally. The ducks also have a small purpose-built pond in front of the greenhouse which is now their duckhouse. One edge dips lower than the rest to direct overflow to the garden, in this instance to the bananas. A duck pond – wonderul fertiliser for the garden! However, not everyone can keep ducks, especially if you live in a city, but if you have pets think about their water dishes and how extra water dishes for them, the larger the better, could be incorporated into your landscape – a possible additional source of stored water outdoors that could not be classed as harvesting rainwater.
By the way, strawberries make pretty border plants. There are lots of ornamental chilli plants (capsicum family) and ALL capsicum family plants are edible, ornamentals included. Try saving the seeds from the next capsicum (sweet pepper) you buy from the supermaket and sow them. If a hybrid, the seeds should revert back to a parent plant. The fruit will be much smaller than the supermarket fruit, therefore the plant will look more ornamental but the fruit is still edible. Grow it as a pretty ornamental bush in the garden rather than as a vegetable. In a cold climate it will be an annual, but in a hot climate it becomes biennial or a short lived perennial. Every ginger plant is edible, and there are many ornamental gingers. A potted cumquat, like most of the citrus family, is both ornamental and produces edible fruit. I once grew an avocado in a pot when I lived in a cooler climate. It will take about 20 years to fruit but avocado can be grown from an avocado stone from supermarket fruit. Many ornamentals flower and fruit, some are edible. A little research can give you a landscaped, partially edible garden of pretty ornamentals that will probably fit within the constraints of unreasonable laws.
Using grey water is illegal in many areas, too. It’s crazy. I live in one of the driest deserts in the world. The water department took over wells and told everyone that they have to now pay for city water. They claimed ownership of all water underground.
They even write tickets if you water your lawn on different days than the ones they have assigned to you.
The next neighborhood over from me (a huge community of thousands of homes) made it against their bylaws to plant fruit trees because–get this–fruit trees produce pollen, which can trigger allergies. In an extreme act of irony, the landscaping in the community includes fruitless flowering plums and flowering pears.
Our county also made it illegal to plant mulberries and to plant fruiting olive trees. Both of these grow well here, but unless you already have them, they’re not allowed to be added to your landscape.
Thanks for the info , I leave in the desert region of Israel and am always looking for way to save on water bills for the garden, And some times I need the backup of others for my and your Ideas of ways to save , Cause many people were Im at ,are Afraid to try being frugal .
Nice write up keep up the work.