Rainy day savings
During a break in the rain last week, Linda Jassim-Pugh went outside to inspect one long-delayed project: a big, black plastic barrel.
“I just haven’t had time,” she said, looking at the rain-catching device awaiting installation, a tinge of guilt evident in her voice.
It can pain a gardener -- especially an environmentally conscious one -- to watch water race down gutters and into streets. Some people put out buckets to save the rain -- pure, with none of the salts, lime, calcium or chlorine that come from the tap -- and lavish it on tropical ferns, orchids and other sensitive plants.
But only the truly committed conservationists take a more ambitious approach: installing 40- to 60-gallon rain barrels, which can water a garden for weeks.
Jassim-Pugh, a landscape architecture graduate student married to an environmentally sensitive architect in Santa Monica, counts herself among that bunch. For her, the benefits are clear.
“If every single household captured some water -- just a little -- we wouldn’t have to buy as much from out of state,” said Jassim-Pugh. Another theoretical benefit is reduced urban runoff, water that pours off roofs and into streets, carrying pollutants to Southern California’s beaches.
Ocean-conscious Santa Monica includes rain barrels in its urban runoff program. In a pilot project, a few residents have voluntarily installed barrels at their homes, coordinator Neil Shapiro said, although the city wants to expand the project.
“I’m a true believer,” said Jon Sweeten, a Metropolitan Water District engineer in Santa Monica who has a rain barrel at his home. Jassim-Pugh echoed his enthusiasm for the city’s program, adding, “It’s a mind-set. We’re trying to live what we believe in.”
About a year ago she installed solar panels that save 30% on her electricity bill. The rain barrels, by contrast, offer little financial return after the initial investment. The simplest barrels cost about $50. Models with overflow spouts, screened tops and spigots for hoses cost $100 or more. The savings on water bills are minuscule in places like California, where water is inexpensive.
Some Caribbean islands have used rain barrels for millenniums and still collect most of their water that way. In the dry outback of Australia, architecturally pleasing homes have been designed around huge galvanized tanks located at the corners of the roof, saving every raindrop.
In Los Angeles, however, just try to find a rain barrel at your hardware store. Simply putting a big trash can or a sturdy plastic or metal barrel under a shortened downspout works -- but not well.
More sophisticated systems sold on the Internet automatically divert the first few minutes of rain that collect in gutters. Leaves, bird droppings and brake-lining dust accumulate on city roofs, so the first flush may contain too many pollutants.
Cities recommend that homeowners divert the first flush to lawns or other purely ornamental parts of the garden -- and away from edible or sensitive plants.
An overflow spout is needed so that once the barrel fills -- and that can happen surprisingly fast -- water will pass to another barrel, the garden or a gutter. To get water out of the barrel, some people simply bail out water with a bucket. Others buy barrels with a spigot that connects to a hose.
Rain barrels shouldn’t be used at homes with treated wood shingle roofs, which have chemicals that can leach out, harming plants.
Other considerations: Trash cans can get brittle and crack. Stored water may attract mosquitoes. (Mosquito Dunks, a biological agent, kills larvae before they hatch into adults. It does not affect fish, plants, people or wildlife.)
Most important, parents must make sure children can’t accidentally fall or climb into a container, said Karl Warkomski, director of Laguna Hills-based Green Culture, a supplier of rain barrels on the Web. Some barrels have locking lids; others have bars that keep out kids.
But the benefits? They often can be seen in the flowers. Some gardeners report surprising changes, such as a dramatic reduction in the dark, salt-burned edges on orchid leaves -- all thanks to a little saved rainwater.
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Where to buy
Rain barrels are not readily available in California stores. Many people buy barrels on the Internet, where accessories such as gutter diverters also are sold. Here’s a sampling of resources for products and information:
www.watersavers.com
* www.cleanairgardening .com
* www.riversides.org