If you have a sizable lawn, about a third of all your residential water use will go into landscaping. If you are seeking to cut costs in running your home without compromising features both essential and considered a luxury, you can turn to storing rainwater so that you can use it to irrigate the lawn during the dry, sunny stretches, for example.
Harvesting rainwater and then recycling it is very easy since most homes already have elaborate gutter systems. If your house is one of them, all you would have to do is get a storage tank and talk to a rain gutter contractor in Salt Lake City to slightly modify your guttering so that it feeds some of the rainwater into your tank instead of sending it all to the storm drainage ways.
If you remain unconvinced, industry leader Double T. Inc cites the advantages of storing rainwater below.
1. Rainwater is absolutely free
Rainwater for lawn irrigation as well as other water-related tasks is like solar power. The only bill you have to foot is the initial costs of purchasing the storage tanks. After this, you can use the water to do as much landscaping as you want without worrying about your local utility provider’s end month bill.
If your concern is the health hazards, there is no need to worry as the tasks you will use the rainwater for do not involve consumption. As such, there is also no need to spend on water treatment systems as the water does not have to be clean or disinfected.
2. Rainwater is as close to natural as it gets
Unlike your main water supply — which is likely treated with chemicals — rainwater has all the ‘impurities’ your lawn needs to stay healthy for longer. Rainwater does not have chlorine or other chemicals to make the water safe for human consumption.
Even though the water might not be good for human consumption, it is better for your plants and tuff; hence, you might even reduce fertilizer use without affecting your lawn’s health.
If you are on a tight budget, though, harvesting rainwater might be as simple as connecting a couple of rain barrels to your downspouts. These barrels come in different sizes and shapes, giving you the freedom to choose what suits your home as well as your family’s needs most.
As you can see, using rainwater to water your lawn as well as indoor plants offers numerous advantages. It is easy, cost- and power-efficient, as well as natural! It might be labor-intensive, but the benefits definitely outweigh that concern.
If the activity intimidates you, you could always start small. Use small containers first — a pail, buckets, dippers — whatever you can find in your house to harvest rainwater. You could then scale your harvesting up until you are capturing as much rainwater as possible to wean your irrigation needs off the municipal water. Just imagine the costs you save as well as the freedom you gain from using rainwater.
