Sally Scalera

Brevard County Horticulture Extension Agent
3695 Lake Drive -- Cocoa FL 32926 -- 321-633-1702

Rain barrels...

Oct. 14, 2006

I have great news for anyone who is interested in rain barrels. After my last article ran in July, things happened and I found out that some other county departments (Natural Resources and Stormwater Utility) and interested people where already working on this. So, I have joined with them and a Rain Barrel Workshop has been scheduled.

The first Rain Barrel Workshop is set for Saturday, Oct. 28, at the St. John’s River Water Management Palm Bay Service Center. The address is 525 Community College Parkway. The workshop will be from 9 -11 a.m. The $25 charge will cover all of the supplies and instruction to make your very own rain barrel. Anyone who is interested can make a reservation by emailing Leesa Souto at Lsouto@mail.ucf.edu . For those of you who don’t want to travel to Palm Bay we will be holding another Rain Barrel Workshop in Cocoa in February and a third one in the Titusville area a couple of months after that.

Both rain barrels and cisterns have been around for thousands of years and are making a comeback as water shortages entice homeowners to save and use the rain that falls on their roof. Large plastic rain barrels are available at some home and garden centers or from some on-line sources. The rain barrel typically has a hole in the lid where a gutter downspout fits snugly into it. A valve near the bottom allows you to fill a watering can or connect a hose.

Rain barrels are great for hand watering and they do not breed mosquitoes if the downspout fits tightly into the lid. If a barrel is open on top then you just need to buy Bacillus thuringensis var. israelensis (Bt var. israelensis) products that kill mosquito larvae in an environmentally friendly way. The Bt var. israelensis is sold in a donut form so one just needs to be thrown in the barrel where it dissolves and kills the mosquito larvae. Algae may also grow in a rain barrel but it is easy to control with submersible bacterial packets sold in pond supply stores. A rain barrel is not ugly but could be screened with a four foot wide shrub if desired..

Houses with an existing gutter system can collect all of the water from the roof by having a rain barrel at the base of each downspout. For most houses this would mean at least a total of four rain barrels. Not all homes have gutters around the entire roof, but you may find areas where the majority of the rainwater pours off the roof during a hard rain. A rain barrel could be placed there to collect the rain water. I saw this same principle on display at the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. There, large clay jars weighing about 300 pounds were placed underneath the eves of the homes to collect rainwater. Now, those clay jars are really heavy and don’t have a valve at the bottom for filling a water can or hooking up a hose so they aren’t as user friendly as rain barrels. Another benefit of using a rain barrel is that it helps to prevent soil erosion.

In addition to conserving water and preventing soil erosion, rain barrels also help to reduce stormwater runoff. Heavy rainfall is a major cause of stormwater runoff. A healthy, properly maintained lawn absorbs stormwater runoff, protecting Florida’s natural waters. If stormwater runoff is not absorbed it can carry off unused nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers or pesticides. Stormwater runoff can also carry organic matter that is lying on sidewalks and driveways and oils and greases that are commonly found on our driveways. Both our groundwater and water bodies, such as the Banana River, Indian River and the St. Johns River, benefit from keeping fertilizers, pesticides, organic matter and oils out of them.

If you are interested in signing up for the Palm Bay Rain Barrel Workshop, email Leesa at Lsouto@mail.ucf.edu . If you don’t have email then, give us a call at 633-1702 and give us your name, address and phone number and we will pass the information on.