Rain Collection

We've been experiencing a drought here in Georgia for the last couple of years. It has been frustrating and disappointing to see cherished plants die or struggle to survive. Last summer we decided to take advantage of the occasional thunderstorm and collect rain water. I looked at a number of ready-to-install systems, many of which were hundreds of dollars and held less than 100 gallons. After much consideration, I opted for these two rolling trash cans, each of which holds over 95 gallons.

I decided on this location because it is in the back yard, the downspout is very productive, and there is a concrete foundation on which the heavy (about 1000 pounds each when full) cans could rest.

I then cut the downspout as shown, cut a hole in the lid of one can and stuck the flexible tube into the slot. This tube is available at your local home store.

I wanted both cans to fill when a storm blows in, so I have plumbed the first to the second by using a plastic drain pipe. It's the white circle you can see above. It is placed lower than the black pipe you see in the lower shot. This is the overflow tube. When both cans are full, the water simply runs out and onto the ground...safely piped AWAY from the foundation of the house.

We found this water to be great for the plants. We pumped it out with an electric pump or scooped it out with water cans. You can see one of the green cans in the lower shot. The biggest issue in mid-summer were the mosquitos. They used the water to breed like mad! We simply used the water as quickly as possible so as to reduce the breeding time.

If anyone has another suggestion, please share! The mosquitos were the biggest challenge.