Are rain barrels practical?
Home | Departments | Services On-Line | Public Information | Job Opportunities | Employee Information A A Cooperative Extension Departments / Cooperative Extension Are rain barrels practical? April 21, 2006 Question Are rain barrels practical? Answer A rain barrel is a container that collects and stores rainwater from your rooftop. Using gravity and a valve, the water can be released on the lawn or garden when necessary. Water collected in a rain barrel would normally flow through the downspout and be considered runoff. Most rain barrels are constructed from some type of recycled 50 gallon container. However, there is a tremendous range in size (water holding capacity) and price of these systems. Only 1/4 inch of rainfall runoff from the average roof will completely fill a typical 50 gallon barrel. For every inch of rain that falls on a 1,000 square foot roof, approximately 600 gallons of rainwater could be collected. Visit this website to see how much water could be saved during the g
