Rain Barrel Workshop Presentation
From GLGI
Rain Barrel Workshop
Intro's
- GLGI - helping people make more sustainable choices in their everyday decisions
- Community is at the core of our work
- Members present...Helen, Tom
- Ask people what they are interested in...why they signed up.
Why are rain barrels important?
- Saving water/ saving money - Uses for the water
- Water plants, gardens and lawns...inside and out
- Wash Cars on your lawns and get a two-fer
- Construction workers used it to make grout..clean brushes
- Protecting our rivers and lakes...by building homes and we've changed rate that water reaches our lakes and rivers...by passing the wetlands...we help return it to the natural water cycle.
- Changes our relationship to water...98% of our use of water to to carry our waste away...toilets, washing machine, dish washing, showers (we average 100 gallons per day per person...household 9,000 gallons/mo)
- It's fun...you look forward to rainy days and see your rain barrel fill up
How they work - Rain Barrels connecting us with our natural systems
- Learning from nature
- How a rain barrel system works
- Rain lands on the roof... doesn't take much..
- 1 in of rain on 20 ft of gutter = 375 gals (7.5 gal/cf)...(MI = 3 in/mo in summer)
- Runs into your gutters
- Reaches a downspout
- Runs down into the rain barrel...
- Once full any additional rain runs out the barrel's overflow
- Get water out of the barrel
Uses for the Water
- Watering Plants / trees
- Watering lawn...soaker hoses
- Fill bird baths
- Washing the car... on the lawn, a two-fer
- Clean things...composting bucket
- NOT ... to drink or place on food you will eat
Locating your Rain Barrel
- Location Criteria
- near downspout
- at high point
- close to area of use
- visibility ...where neighbors may not see it or where they can see it (Helen/Erica)
- fewer trees (leaves)
- Size of roof - 20 ft of gutter feeds it
- How many? One or you can hook them together
- Gutter debris (use gutter screen)
- Safety considerations (8 lbs/gal * 60 gallons = 500lbs)
Making the rain barrel
- Try to reuse material sources
- Components
- 55 gal Barrel (Reuse food containers)
- Connect to the gutter with flex adapter
- Faucet
- overflow tube / hose
- Sources for Barrels
- Food processing (bottling plants)
- Car washes
- Demonstration
- More details on how to make a rain barrel are here
Making the Rain Barrel Stand
- Design Considerations
- Start from the ground up
- Stand at the right height for filling your watering can
- Stand that can support 500lbs
- Possible Materials
- Wood
- Brick
- Blocks
- Earth
Care and feeding of the rain barrel
- Winterizing...many empty them and unhook them in the winter before the frost, it's a good idea to empty your barrel and disconnect it from the downspout.
 Emptying the rain barrel |
 Reconnecting the downspout |
 Cleaning the barrel out with a hose |
- How to clean them?
Examples
- Helen and Tom Bradley
- Toni Kovach... picture of their barrel system
- Don and Mitzi Carter
Resources
- Rain barrel page
- We can be a green companion if you need help 248-689-0924
Questions
Small is Big
- What if every household had a rain barrel?
- We could save 30 billion gallons of water / year (= 300 gallons x 105 million households.)
- have some fun ... "Singing in the Rain - Music
