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Rain Barrell
Fri Nov 19, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Once the hub of summer activity, the rain barrel fell into obscurity for many years. But
today, it’s making a comeback. Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather
Notebook.
In the days before indoor plumbing and electric pumps, the rain barrel was often many
a home’s prime source of drinking, cooking and washing water. Soft rainwater was
once considered a must for good hair tone.
Though we may cringe at the thought of drinking water from an open barrel, in many
areas of the world, the rain barrel or its equivalent still provides the safest drinking
water available.
In early America, the rain barrel often was the summer focal point of rural homesteads,
the equivalent of today’s office water cooler or coffee machine. It provided a gathering
point for farm residents and workers, young and old. There, they would gather to have a
refreshing drink, perhaps sit to cool their feet and exchange conversation.
Today, high demands have made water a valuable commodity as water tables sink
and the cost of extraction increases. In many areas, drought or extended dry periods
have led to community water-use restrictions, particularly on watering gardens and
lawns.
Enter the rain barrel. Combining rain barrels with a drip irrigation system can
circumvent the ban, and keep your lawn green and your flowers happy.
While the amount of water a rain barrel can collect depends on the amount and
frequency of local rainfalls as well as the catchment area, a single rain barrel can
collect thousands of gallons of water over the summer months in many parts of the
United States. Twenty inches of rain falling on a 1,000 square-foot roof provides
potentially 12,000 gallons of water.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. The Weather Notebook
is a program of the Mount Washington Observatory, online at
www.mountwashington.org. We receive support from Subaru of America.
Today's Links
How to use rain barrels for water collection
http://rainbarrelguide.com/
Make a rain barrel
http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/tips/40tip11.html
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