Do rain barrels really help reduce storm water runoff? Based on how instantaneously mine fill up, my guess is, no. It's certainly common wisdom that rain barrels represent green storm water management practices, but how much rain can mine be keeping out of the system if they fill up after ten minutes of heavy rainfall? And if it's a wet season like this last year - when reducing runoff might be especially useful - I won't be emptying it out before the next rain because I don't have much need to water the garden.
As with so many other things, it seems I'm wrong. Preliminary EPA research indicates that rain barrels do help reduce runoff, by as much as 20%, in areas where at least 50% of the neighbors have them. They have the added advantage of giving my garden high acid water instead of high alkaline water, which my plants like because many of them are exotic ornamentals (yes, I admit it!), not bred for our high alkaline soil. This is like a Robert Parker rating of 98, only the price doesn't shoot up.Using rain water in the garden also reduces the waste of clean potable water. Many rain barrels are simple repurposing of shipping containers that would otherwise become part of the waste stream. In short, there's really no downside to it.
However, this rain barrel is not doing anybody any good. See the gaping seam on the side? I bought from Whole Foods for $60 and liked it so much more than the $50 kit I bought from TJ at the botanical gardens. It's a nicer color. I should have known that anything TJ built would be a thousand times sturdier than an old olive container. TJ's rain barrels are made from soda syrup containers and don't have seams; that is the key difference.
Lesson learned: do not choose garden tools based on color.
No comments:
Post a Comment