Robinsons RainBarrels > AboutWaterHarvesting

Rain is undoubtedly the best water for your
gardens and lawns. Most of us easily notice how
much fuller and larger our plants are after a few
good healthy rain falls. Well, when you catch the
rainwater from the roof of your house , shed or
other outside building, then you are building up
your supply of water for those gardens.

For example, every inch of rain that falls in 1,000
square feet of your catchment area, you can collect
up to 600 gallons of rainwater. Four inches of
rainfall can yield approximately 2,400 gallons of
rainwater. Even though you may not collect that
amount at each rainfall due to wind or other
natural factors it is still a lot of water.

Since you have water run-off from your roof,
owning a rain barrel makes perfect sense to help
you save money on your water bill. During those
hot summer months when rainfalls get "fewer and
far between", you will be happy that you can water
your lawn and gardens without paying it all to the
local Water district.

Please note:

Rainwater collected simply in a barrel (like the ones we make and sell) is not
for direct human or animal consumption. Be sure that children and pets are
not allowed to drink water from the rain barrel. If you want drinking water,
special filters are needed and you will need to check with your local city
and/or county governments for laws on rain water harvesting for personal
consumption .

If you have a wood or copper roof or copper guttering you should do
additional research to determine if the water collected in a rain barrel is
suitable for watering plants.

The history of collecting rain water dates back thousands of
years. People have used varying sizes and ways of collecting
rain water from small pots to multi-gallon barrels to large
filtered containment systems. Whatever method you
choose be happy in knowing that you are doing your part to
conserve one of our most valuable resources-water.