Rain Barrel Dreams

Was it just a week ago that I was complaining about an unexpected heat wave?

Scratch that, because now we are inundated with rain.

Don't get me wrong. I love the rain. We need the rain. Having lived in Oregon for four years, going out in the rain (or hail or snow) with my children, even umbrella-less, doesn't phase me at all. But this sudden onslaught of water falling from the sky, flooding my yard, and drenching my garden caught me unprepared... because I haven't installed my rain barrels yet.

I've been wanting rain barrels for a long time. This year I vowed to purchase them in the fall before our "winter weather" hit. But I obviously didn't make it in time. Which means that all of the fresh, clean water streaming off my roof, down the rain gutters, across the driveway, into the street, and out into the [polluted, salty] ocean is just going to waste. And in my mind, that is an unethical tragedy.

I know which rain barrels I would like to install. I've had the page earmarked in my Gardener's Supply Company catalogue (one of my faves) for about a year. They look like this:

Each barrel holds 65 gallons of freshly harvested water, ready with a spigot and hose for garden use, and I would need four of them to cover every downspout in my yard. I love that it is tall and narrow so it can hug the already-slim walkways around the sides of my home. And isn't the space at the top for a plant cute? I thought that was unique.

I could just go out and buy some food-grade plastic containers and have my husband install screens and spigots, but that seemed like a lot of work for an end product that wouldn't hold as much and, well, would probably be ugly. I don't usually get too caught up in appearances, but when it comes to my garden I can be a little vain. I prefer for Pocket Square Farm to be productive and pretty. My neighbors have to look at it every day, after all. And although most of my neighbors seem to like my yard, I worry that I might soon offend someone with my growing menagerie of plants and animals. The last thing I need is someone calling the city on me!

Speaking of the city, I have tried to procure rain barrels in other ways. Just last spring the Office of Sustainability announced a pilot rain barrel program. The first 100 citizens to apply via email were given one rain barrel with the city logo on the side. I applied but apparently didn't make the cut... I think the city ran out of barrels faster than they could say, "Water conservation!"

Which leads me to another tirade of sorts. I don't really understand why rain collection programs aren't mandatory in areas of the country that don't naturally have a significant amount of rainfall. When there is so much heated controversy over water rights and use, the Sacramento River Delta, the Colorado River, and desalination, aren't we [collectively] overlooking something kind of obvious?

As I drove home today (just a few miles from a friend's house) and witnessed millions of gallons of fresh water streaming through the flood controls and out to the open ocean, I found myself shaking my head. I'm not a conservation ecologist, a chemist, or a government policy maker, but isn't there something we could do to collect and use our most precious natural resource as it falls from the sky?

I think, nationwide, the overall feeling is that people want to collect and save water from rainfall. Several states have created legislation that denies citizens the right to collect and use rain water, claiming that the rain landing on a property owner's roof actually, lawfully, belongs to someone else. I am a pretty smart person, but I can't really wrap my head around that one. To read a fairly radical article about this issue [and I don't necessarily subscribe to the tone of Natural News, but some of the facts are interesting], click here.

So if I feel so strongly about this issue, why don't I have those rain barrels yet? Chalk some of it up to forgetfulness, another part to procrastination, and the last bit to the expense of it all. Maybe after Santa delivers [and if his credit card isn't maxed out], and if I've been a really good farm girl this year, I will get one (or four) in January!