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Rain Barrels

Enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom.

Strategic goals

• Educate the public, school children and teachers about freshwater and marine pollution as well as measures needed to reduce pollution and enhance conservation of Virginia's waterways.
• Clean Virginia's waterways and shorelines of debris and litter through volunteer effort; recycle items when possible.
• Collect, analyze and share valuable data about the debris found on our waterways in order to find solutions.
• Increase understanding of the health of Virginia’s waters through training volunteers to collect water quality data.

Conserve Water

Enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom.

Strategic goals

• Educate the public, school children and teachers about freshwater and marine pollution as well as measures needed to reduce pollution and enhance conservation of Virginia's waterways.
• Clean Virginia's waterways and shorelines of debris and litter through volunteer effort; recycle items when possible.
• Collect, analyze and share valuable data about the debris found on our waterways in order to find solutions.
• Increase understanding of the health of Virginia’s waters through training volunteers to collect water quality data.

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Volunteer, other activities

Enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom.

Strategic goals

• Educate the public, school children and teachers about freshwater and marine pollution as well as measures needed to reduce pollution and enhance conservation of Virginia's waterways.
• Clean Virginia's waterways and shorelines of debris and litter through volunteer effort; recycle items when possible.
• Collect, analyze and share valuable data about the debris found on our waterways in order to find solutions.
• Increase understanding of the health of Virginia’s waters through training volunteers to collect water quality data.

Rain Barrels & Harvesting Rain Water

Tools

· Power drill with 15/16" hole bit (this is 1/16 inch smaller than faucet insert) and pilot drill bit. (A ¾" faucet measures 1" on outside, so you need 15/16" hole bit)
· Pliers to tighten washers
· Paper towels (for excess caulk)
· Utility knife or small saber saw to cut lid (if needed)
· Scissors to cut screening
· Hacksaw to shorten downspout
· Screwdriver for hose clamp (if needed)
 

Supplies

Barrels — The best barrels to use are 45 to 60 gallon heavy-duty food-grade plastic barrels that are used to ship olives, peppers and other food stuffs to this country. Food barrels with two-part lids work well. Plastic trash cans are usually too thin to be good barrels. Water is heavy, and most trash cans cannot handle the weight.

· A ¾" faucet (measures 1" on outside). Our favorite are the brass "quarter turn". They are easy to open, and you can see from a distance if the faucet is open or closed. Spend the money on a good faucet...you won't regret it.
· 2 Washers and 1 lock nut for the faucet
· Caulk (clear plumber's)
· Screening. Buy a roll that is used to repair screen windows. Fiberglass fabric-like netting is easier to work with than the metal type.
· Metal Hardware Cloth (optional). This metal mesh will keep children, pets and wildlife from falling into your barrel.
· Hose adapter for your overflow. Many options here, depending on where you want your overflow to g). We use nice brass adapters.
· Lock nut needed for the adapter.
· Hosing (short piece) to connect one barrel to another or to direct your overflow to a nearby garden. Hose clamps as needed.
· Bricks or cinderblocks to raise your barrel above the ground. This will improve water pressure.
· Low flow sprinklers

Safety Notes
It is recommended that you cover the top of the rain barrel with metal hardware cloth or something similar to keep small children, pets and wildlife from falling into the barrel. As an alternative, you can drill large holes (1 to 2 inches in diameter) in the rain barrel’s lid. This will allow water to enter the barrel, but will prevent animals or children from falling through the screen. No matter which method you use, be sure to cover all openings with screens to keep mosquitoes out.

Avoid Mosquitoes
PLEASE do NOT breed mosquitoes in your rain barrels! Always cover the barrel with fine screening to keep mosquitoes out. If you empty your barrels every 7 days, you will not have a mosquito problem--remember, rain barrels are not meant to be long-term storage. If you are concerned, use small portions of Mosquito Dunks (available in hardware stores and on-line). These dunks slowly release the active ingredient, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that kills mosquito and black fly larvae for 30 days or more, and will not effect plants, people or wildlife. The dunks are made to cover 100 square feet each, so you do not have to use an entire dunk in a barrel. OVERFLOW -- you must have an overflow hole on your barrel that will keep the water level below the screen. If your rain barrel is full to the top, mosquitoes can breed in the water between the screen and the top of the water surface. Mosquito control employees in Henrico County, VA found that Asian Tiger Mosquitoes had entered a rain barrel by way of a hose that was attached to a manufactured rain barrel. So it is recommended that you attach screening to the end of hoses that are attached to your overflow. One fellow we know put a tiny screen onto the overflow fixture using a hose clamp.

STEPS:

1. Drill hole near bottom of barrel


2. Caulk around outside of hole


3. Place washer on the caulk, then screw the faucet in. This takes some pressure! Keep your elbow locked, and push down from the shoulder.

4. Inside the barrel, you want to caulk around the hole in which you screwed the faucet. So, place a bead of caulk, put a washer on top of the caulk, and finger-tighten a lock nut. Then, use pliers to tighten. It won't tighten all the way because the barrel surface is curved. How to get in the barrel? Either crawl in, or put the barrel on a table and lean in. Tall, thin & flexible people can just bend over and reach the area to be caulked.

 

5. Drill a hole near top for overflow so the water in the barrel will always be BELOW the screen! Otherwise, you will get mosquitoes.


6. Screw in a brass hose adapter. Use pliers to tighten. You MUST attach a hose to the overflow, or you will breed mosquitoes. Or, you can secure a bit of screen over the overflow using a hose clamp. Either way, keep mosquitoes out!

 

7. If your barrel has a one-part lid, you will need to cut out center of lid (or drill many 1 to 2 inch diameter holes into lid). Trick: Let the lid warm up in the sun before cutting out the center with a box knife or utility knife.


8. Cut fiberglass screen 2' x 2' (this is larger than the lid). Place on top of barrel, and screw on the top (or push top down) to keep screen in place. If you are concerned about a cat falling through the screen, you can add hardward cloth (metal mesh) on top of the lid.

 
9. Level the dirt under the rain barrel, then add some sand

10. Rain barrels need to be higher than ground level—use bricks or cinder blocks.

11. Measure and cut off part of downspout

12. Put the barrel in place

13. If you have several barrels, connect the overflow from one barrel to the next barrel.
 

Tips for using your rain barrel

· Do not use collected water for drinking, cooking or bathing.
· Keep the lid secure so children or animals cannot fall into the barrel.
· Disconnect the barrel during the winter to avoid constant overflow during the rainiest months & freezing. Attach it in the early spring to fill it for use.
· Most recycled barrels need to be cleaned before first use.
· If a moss killer has been used on the roof let a couple of rainfall events go by before collecting the roof runoff.
· Elevate your rain barrel slightly to make access to the spigot easier and to increase water pressure.
· The screened top will prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your barrel.
· Consider joining multiple barrels for additional capacity!
· Use the collected water within a week --between rainy days.

Education Tools

Enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom.

Strategic goals

• Educate the public, school children and teachers about freshwater and marine pollution as well as measures needed to reduce pollution and enhance conservation of Virginia's waterways.
• Clean Virginia's waterways and shorelines of debris and litter through volunteer effort; recycle items when possible.
• Collect, analyze and share valuable data about the debris found on our waterways in order to find solutions.
• Increase understanding of the health of Virginia’s waters through training volunteers to collect water quality data.

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Enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention, education and stewardship activities involving Virginians from the classroom to the boardroom.

Strategic goals

• Educate the public, school children and teachers about freshwater and marine pollution as well as measures needed to reduce pollution and enhance conservation of Virginia's waterways.
• Clean Virginia's waterways and shorelines of debris and litter through volunteer effort; recycle items when possible.
• Collect, analyze and share valuable data about the debris found on our waterways in order to find solutions.
• Increase understanding of the health of Virginia’s waters through training volunteers to collect water quality data.