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RSS4 Very Good Reasons To Harvest Rainwater
GreenWerks | 
Feb 9th, 2012 | 
Harvesting rainwater is becoming increasingly popular. It was something the Romans invested in heavily back in their day. Today, European countries are bringing it back and it’s slowly making its way over to the United States. If you can get creative enough, you can use your harvested rainwater for way more than just watering your plants. Aside from the obvious benefit that it’s very environmentally friendly, here a few very good reasons you should hop on board, as well.
It’s Free!
Yes, you do have to actually pay for the rain barrel and figure out how you’ll divert the rainwater from your roof into the barrel. However, the start up costs aren’t that heavy and you’ll save a decent amount of money in the long term. Summer can bring some pretty hot and dry days where your lawn and garden will require a lot more attention. In order to meet this demand, winter and spring will bring some pretty heavy rain storms where you can cash in. It’d be a mistake to miss out on this opportunity to save costs, reduce sewer drainage, and help out the environment as well.
The Water Is Better For Your Plants
The water than runs through your municipality is often filtered with chlorine and other chemicals. While this kind of water is better for us as humans inside the house, the plants certainly benefit more from pure water without any trace of chemicals. Many people use it to fill up a watering can to water their plants while others set up simple drip irrigation systems that run through their gardens. Drip irrigation is also a good idea for winter time. However, you’ll want to make sure the water can’t freeze. Some individuals use it for themselves as drinking water. Depending on how you collect the water, you should run it through your own filtering process before doing so.
Use It For Other House Functions
You wouldn’t believe how much water some of your appliances use inside the house. Between all your toilets, dishwashing machine, and washer machine, it adds up to a pretty hefty amount. You can use harvested rainwater for some of these purposes and lower your water bill. Of course, you’ll have to set up a system where water is diverted to these appliances, which probably won’t be a cheap project. However, if you’re willing, the long term benefits will certainly prevail.
Give Your Municipality A Break
Water treatment can become pretty costly, I’m sure you’ve been seeing the result of this in your water bill. Water treatment facilities have been forced to expand and spend more money in order to meet the increasing demand of clean water. It’d be nice if a huge effort was put forward to slow this growth. If you can picture an entire city joining together to harvest rainwater, that foot print would be huge. This can result in lower taxes, lower water and energy bills, and more money to go around.
Allison Kingsley is a huge contributor to the green movement and DIY activities. She also writes reviews for rain barrels like the Kyoto Rain Barrels and the Achla Rain Barrels. Follow her on Twitter (@DomesticAllison) for more DIY and green ideas!
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Harvesting rainwater indeed has lots of advantages. This is a good Roman invention. I’ll probably try this eco-friendly technique to save water. I can use this not only to water my plants but it can also it can also be good for other household chores. Great idea!
I admire Romans for inventing the process of harvesting rainwater. It has a lot of benefits especially to those who live in places where there is insufficient water.