In the City: Using a Rain Barrel More Effectively...Need Advice

[@Mastadex]

I have two rain barrels and a sloped yard. The first barrel is at the top of the slope, catching water. It has a 50ft hose going from its spigot to a a second barrel on the other, much lower side of my property. There is about 6ft of elevation change between the two barrels, so one fills the other quite easily. Mine are different than yours; they have open tops with a mesh covering to keep bugs out. So, in order to stop the top barrel from overfilling the bottom one, I installed a toilet float valve. Once it's full, the valve cuts off the flow. This works really well for me because I can fill a watering can in about 30s and by the time I'm done watering the barrel has replenished from the higher barrel. I did not rely on my city water AT ALL this year; those two barrels were enough to water about 110 sq. ft. of garden space. Each is about 100 Liters. Mind you, I mulch heavily to help retain water. But even so, there was a week in August where those barrels ran dry. Luckily, I was only one rainfall away from having both refilled. I don't have a filter and only use the water to water my garden. I would not recommend drinking it because of the chemicals in your shingles. Even air pollution can get in there; some statistic I read stated that the fist 10-15 minutes of rain is rather contaminated with particulates due to air pollution. So that'll end up in the barrel, but your soil is perfectly fine with it. My barrels do get algae growth because of that open top design. The mesh on top of the barrel is used to filter water coming from a down spout, so it collects a lot of leaves, bugs and stones. EDIT: I ran a hose from a full rain barrel across the yard and it had enough water pressure for a slow trickle. I wouldn't expect it to be good for a drip system, you'd need more pressure.

[@hoosierpioneer]

Following

[@mrdeanvincent]

Rainwater is great for plants. If I were you, I would just add a debris filter the top of the hose and then use the barrel to fill up my watering can. A first-flush filter might be useful if you often have long periods between rains when your roof is likely to collect a bunch of dust and stuff, but it's probably overkill if you're just using this to water your plants. You might also consider hooking up a drip irrigation system from the barrel. If it doesn't have enough pressure from gravity, you could add a small pump.

[@GrowWithGordon.JamesPanyan]

@@mrdeanvincent I would like to do a drip irrigation system to my veggie beds, but I would have to move the barrels or get some put next to the garage

[@ThePugSmuggler]

I'm no expert, but for gardening, ideally you want the water going in to be screened of debris and such, the cleaner your barrel and water going in is, the longer it can sit; the longer it sits the more prone it can be to contamination, so don't forget to use it/drain it out and clean it at least once a year. The spigot you have is great for draining/cleaning the barrel but get yourself an electric pump you can drop in to run sprinklers and hoses; there are a ton designed for pools. My little 1/10HP pump runs a single sprinkler great, I plan on going to a larger pump and connecting that to a splitter with different zones I can switch to. I use the rain water I collect only for our brutal summers where we get a week of nothing but rain followed by 2 weeks of brutal dry heat; then clean the system and close it off in the winter months. It's sort of a hobby that can help save on my water bill. :]

[@GrowWithGordon.JamesPanyan]

@@ThePugSmuggler wow, that is impressive. My food Forest is pretty well protected against needing to be watered but my veggie beds need regular watering. Maybe I'll look into something similar to what you said

[@ThePugSmuggler]

@@GrowWithGordon.JamesPanyan Glad I could help! You can snag and install a sprinkler system in your garden beds (use the ones with 1/4" tubing or smaller so you can cover more area without needing too much more pressure). Run it to your hose bibb and put a splitter so you can switch between your house water and your rain barrel/pump. Add a small back flow preventer to your house bibb so you don't get any backflow and you're golden. :]