Water Conservation

It seems that every summer comes with an inevitable drought in August. In an attempt to conserve water we fashioned rain barrels from 50 gallon drums. They are atttached to the downspout from the barn and connected to each other by hoses. The downspout connection has a valve that shuts off the flow to the barrels when they are full and sends the overflow down the rest of the downspout. We started with 2 barrels which very quickly filled up with last week's rains. We had to saw off the top of each barrel so that we can dip a bucket down into the water. I used this water today to water our fruit trees and grape vines.One of today's chores was to add 2 more barrels.... just in time, I might add, as we experienced quite a downpour this evening.

Comments

Katmom said…
We also use these 50gal drums for watering. Since we are on a well and have not done all the irrigation yet, we just haul the drum on a cart behind the craftman tractor to water our trees at the far end of the property. We have a water hose attached & it works by gravity feed. Plus it gives me an excuse to drive the little tractor!
But we sure could use some rain now...send us your extra...lol!
July 4, 2008 at 1:29 AM
Anonymous said…
You might want to check out the patent pending design of the Aquabarrel rain barrel - they sell rain barrel kits to transform your 55 gallon barrels into the best functioning rain barrel you ever imagined. Plus they offer downspout filters, downspout diverters and mosquito control products: http://www.aquabarrel.com
July 5, 2008 at 1:48 AM
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