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Seeing as how this winter promises to be a wet one, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is offering big ol' barrels in which to catch precious rain water. San Francisco Sewers Blog reports, that as of this past Saturday, "San Francisco residents can purchase up to ten fully outfitted 60-gallon rain barrels at steep discounts, compliments of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s (SFPUC’s) Wastewater Enterprise."
Originally used for food storage, the re-purposed barrels can be found at The Urban Farmer Store at 2833 Vicente Street (at 40th Avenue). You first barrel goes for $89 each, with additional barrels costing you $69. RThey even have spigots at the bottom.
What's the point of rainwater harvesting, you ask? Well, according to SFUC, you can help "keep relatively clean water out of the combined sewer system and make it available for use," "reduce the energy and chemicals needed to treat stormwater in San Francisco’s combined sewer and the energy expended transporting water from far away, "reduce the volume and peak flows of stormwater entering the sewer, thereby reducing flooding and combined sewer overflows, " and "reduce the volume of potable water used for non-potable applications such as irrigation and toilet flushing."
Read more about rainwater harvesting here. If you DIY types want to make your own closed-top rain barrel system, here's a handy video for you, too.
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Even if every single person had one it wouldn't make much of a dent in the amount of water going into the sewer system. But at least they are making them..ahem..affordable!
And that would be perfect for brewing beer!
Because we need so much irrigation here in SF...
It rains in February. Then what little irrigation water you need, you need in October. So between harvest and use the water becomes gnarly enough that it's no good for anything but dumping down the sewer.
And if I could keep the water fresh enough to use, any veggies grown here get eaten by rats and raccoons. Any landscaping plants planted here - better to start with drought tolerant natives to begin with.
These go for $12 on craigslist (search for pickle barrel). I just don't see the economics of spending $90 to store a few cents worth of water.
Except you have to go to Sonoma to pick them up and then install the hardware yourself.
For those of you who use rain gutters to channel rainwater into your rain barrels I have found a method of keeping those gutters squeaky clean so that your rainwater is cleaner and runs more efficiently into your rain barrels. No more stagnant water to breed mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus and no more ladders to get up on to clean out your gutters.
This new gutter cleaning attachment fastens to any 2-1/2" wet/dry vac hose and literally vacuums out all gutter debris, wet or dry. When you vac canister gets full simply dump it into your compost pile or around your plants for extra mulch. I would never use a ladder again to clean my gutters.
I use the Gutter Clutter Buster to vac out my gutters in half the time it used to take and the benefits are great. No ladders, buckets, scoops, blowers, trash cans to lug around with you while cleaning. No additional clean-up needed. You stay clean and safe on the ground while your gutters are squeaky clean and your rainwater will be cleaner as well.
No you can't borrow my Gutter Clutter Buster but you can do what I did and go to their web page at www.GutterClutterBuster.com and see for yourself if this tool can make you life easier, safer, cleaner, and save you money. Good luck and "Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled!"