catching gray water and/or rainwater

[DivaJen]

We have a bucket in our shower to catch water as we wait for the water to go from cold to hot (takes a fair amount of time). That water goes into our gardens.

As I sit here and watch it rain, I think how nice it would be to catch some of it and store it for the inevitable dry weather that always seems to follow the rain in So Cal. I've wondered how rain barrels don't get icky inside. Anyone catch rain water?

Also, has anyone tried to catch gray water from their washing machine? I think a neighbor down the street has something like that set up, but I've never seen it.

[mom-from-missouri]

My parents rain gutters run into their old cistern (they are now on city water). That they use to water the garden during the summer. A friend of mine has her gutters go into a rain barrel. She has a lid on it, so debre doesnt get into it and she has a screen on the bottom of her gutter as well. The barrel has a spout on the bottom and she uses that for her garden. I have never heard her complain of it getting icky, but during the big west nile scare, she did put some sort of drops into the barrel.

[amomof4]

I save the shower water too. I get 2 gallons. I put it on the wood stove so I always have hot water.

I tried saving my washing machine water. It was too much pain to lug it out to the garden, so I quit. I'm on a well, so I don't pay for water.

I have a large trash barrel placed underneath one of my gutters, so that they water streams down right into the barrel in the summer. It's placed close to my garden, so I don't have to lug the water very far.
It is always full. I water my plants every day in the summer, and I've never had a day without free water.

No, the water doesn't get icky because there's so much water going in, that it displaces the old water by force.

I love this system and highly recommend it!

[loveofpets]

I have a rain barrel as well and use the water for my garden. It was well worth the investment as I'm on city water and there are times when we are restricted on water use due to drought. This alleviates the need in many cases. I use mosquito rings in the water every year - one generally lasts for six months, so they are fairly cost effective. While I wouldn't drink the water, it's certainly safe for other purposes and is does not get icky.

[daveo]

I've tried to catch rainwater and use it to water the lawn and garden but it always attracts a lot of mosquitoes. Plus, for some reason, the kids always seem to throw sticks and other sorts of junk in there. So it more or less becomes a little pond, minus the fish...

[Razzy]

We once lived in a place that had a house connected to the a/c to the outside of the house. We once put a pail underneath and collected the water and I would water the plants with it. I thought that so neat to do, I guess you could say that was my first real attempt at water conservation.


Razzy

[Razzy]

I almost forgot in time of drought (where we live now, we only live a few miles from the place we lived in before) I collect the dish water from my dishes and put it in my lawn. I don't know how much water that saves but I do know I feel better knowing I am not using any water from the tap for my lawn or my plants.


Razzy

Originally Posted by daveo

I've tried to catch rainwater and use it to water the lawn and garden but it always attracts a lot of mosquitoes. Plus, for some reason, the kids always seem to throw sticks and other sorts of junk in there. So it more or less becomes a little pond, minus the fish...

Hi Daveo -
I've found that if you put one little drop of lemon dishsoap in the barrel, it keeps mosquitos away.

[gesavings]

I just bought a rain barrel. It has a concave lid with a screen. There is a hose bib at the bottom for drawing a bucket of water or attaching a hose. The main reason I got it was to have about 60 gallons of water on hand for bucket flushing toilets in the event of an extended power outage (on a well). This saves us from filling the tub and or washer when storms come. I might use it for the garden as well.

[terry1156]

How much do rain barrels cost?

[gesavings]

I paid $136 at cleanairgardening.com. If you google search for rain barrels you can find web sites that tell you how to make a good one for less than $50

[zakity]

There are several people in my area that collect rain water. One of them has a well that runs dry in the summer. They collect rain water in barrels and use it to wash their clothes in the summer (possibly all year round even). I think they bucket flush also when needed. They keep a lid on the barrels that are full. I don't know what they use to keep the bugs out of it.

[cysl]

We have a swimming pool and we never needed to top up the water because we just redirected our down spout to drain into the pool. We are also setting up a sort of rain barrel to collect water for watering the garden.