Just how much water is flowing out of your home downspouts during a typical rain storm? When about one-inch of rain falls over a 24-hour period, a typical home roof (about 1200 square feet) will shed more than 700 gallons of water. When that water hits the lawn or pavement, much of it runs off of your property and into the storm drain, carrying any pollutants picked up along the way. Water that enters storm drains typically drains to a nearby river or stream, untreated.
Put rain water to use by installing a rain barrel, which attaches to your home downspout to collect and store water from your roof that would otherwise run off your property. Experts estimate that a home rain barrel can save about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak water-use summer months, when collected rain water can be used for lawn and garden watering, window and car washing, and other outdoor uses. If every single-unit home in Alabama added a rain barrel, we would save more than 1.8 billion gallons of water!
Building a rain barrel is an easy and fun do-it-yourself project. The materials can be picked-up at your local home improvement store, and the Center for Watershed Protection offers step-by-step assembly instructions: http://www.cwp.org/Community_Watersheds/brochure.pdf. You can also purchase ready-made rain barrels in some communities - check with your local watershed group or online.
(Sources: The Center for Watershed Protection. "How to Build and Install a Rain Barrel." http://www.cwp.org/Community_Watersheds/brochure.pdf; Rain Gardens of West Michigan. "Rain Barrels: Saving Rain for a Sunny Day." http://www.raingardens.org/Rain_Barrels.php; US Census, American Fact Finder. Alabama: Selected Housing Characteristics, 2006. factfinder.census.gov)
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