Homeschool Zoo Annex: Water conservation

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Water conservation

Summertime is a great time to teach children about conservation of water and other resources. A project I'll be starting soon will be a rain barrel to collect rainwater to be used for such things as watering the garden.

A rain barrel is good conservation in other ways, too. Collecting rainwater reduces the amount of sediment and water pollutants that would normally just run off into storm drains and ditches. It reduces the use of clean water from your community water system or your well, thus preserving some of the ground water.

Using a rain barrel for rainwater collection and use can reduce the amount of water you use from other sources by about 1,300 gallons during the summer months alone.

A rain barrel is inexpensive to construct and the payoff is enormous over its lifetime. You can find a great PDF document at the rain barrel project from Maryland and the South River Federation and the Center for Watershed Protection. Download the rain barrel project pdf and see for yourself how easy it can be!

Currently, my little house doesn't actually have gutters. However, since I'll be starting this project soon I'll be getting some gutters to attach to both the front and the back. I'll put in a downspout that is more amenable to the project, too. Most likely, I'll have two rain barrels - one for the front and one for the back. As I collect rainwater and use it, I'll let you know how the project is working out for me.

I'm currently on a well so this should reduce the amount of times a day the well pump runs, resulting in a saving of ground water and a saving of electrical power as well.