Rain Barrels

What is a Rain Barrel?

A rain barrel is used to harvest the rain water that drains off of your roof to water your plants, flowers, and gardens. Rain water that falls onto your roof usually flows through your yard, washes into the street, and eventually flows into the storm drainage system. By collecting what would have been washed away, you are able to use that water to irrigate your plants, flowers, and gardens. The benefit? You save money on your water bill and have a supply of water during droug restrictions, while reducing stormwater runoff and conserving our water supply. It’s a win-win situation!

How Much Can I Collect?

For every inch of rain that falls on a catchment area (roof area + eaves) of 1,000 square feet, you can expect to collect approximately 600 gallons of rainwater.
 
Example: If your house has a catchment area of 2,000 square feet and it rains ¼ inch, you can collect 300 gallons of rain water. You only need 55 gallons of water to fill a rain barrel! Multiply that over the course of a year… 

(Using the example) If it rains 50 inches a year, you can collect 60,000 gallons of rain water each year!

Rain Gardens

What is a Rain Garden?

A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression that is planted with deep-rooted native plants & grasses. It is constructed to receive runoff from impervious, hard surfaces such as parking lots, roads, and roofs.  It can also be used to collect runoff from pervious surfaces like lawns. Rain Gardens slow down the flow of water from these surfaces, hold the water for a short period of time, and allow it to naturally infiltrate into the ground. This infiltration reduces the amount of runoff and filters out stormwate pollutants. Ultimately, this will decrease stream bank erosion and water pollution, helping to preserve our creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.

Why Plant a Rain Garden?
 
Because of their native plants, Rain Gardens often require less maintenance, watering, fertilizer, and pesticides than lawns with a typical commercial vegetation. This low maintenance factor will save you money on general upkeep, supplies, and your water bill. In other words, by buying native plants and collecting & holding stormwater that would otherwise enter storm drains and ditches, they allow you to have an attractive landscape that involves less watering and maintenance.

How Do Rain Gardens Work?

A Rain Garden receives stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, sidewalks, and roads. The native plants, mulch, and soil in a Rain Garden combine with natural physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove pollutants from runoff. Many pollutants will be filtered out and broken down in the soil over time, helping to reduce runoff pollution and ultimately, improving water quality.

Because Rain Gardens provide for natural infiltration of rainwater into the soil, they also filter out pollutants such as fertilizer, oil, and other chemicals, while reducing peak storm flows, helping to prevent stream bank erosion and lowering your property's risk of flooding.

Pet Waste Receptacles

Pet waste contains many harmful bacteria and viruses that pose a consideralbe threat to human health.If your neighborhood has a park, wouldn’t it be a great idea to install a pet waste receptacle?  Often the reason why pet owners don’t pick up their pet’s waste is because they do not know where to put it.  Pet waste receptacles make it easy for pet owners to dispose of their pet’s waste and help keep pet waste out of the storm drainage system and out of our local waterways. York County has installed 3 pet waste receptacles at Ebenezer Park.  Many of the campers bring their pets, so giving them a place to dispose of their pet’s waste is a tremendous help in improving water quality. Pictured right is a typical pet waste receptacle.  Light weight and durable, these receptacles can withstand the stresses of time, and make for easy use.