A Water Story

Almost two years ago (ack! have I been blogging that long?), I suggested you check out The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. It's a quick, 20-minute video about—yep, you guessed it—stuff.

Now, just in time for World Water Day (which was yesterday), Ms. Leonard is back with another video. This one: The Story of Bottled Water. It's only 7 minutes—the perfect length for an afternoon procrastination session.

I find these videos delightfully entertaining and informative, which is a good thing considering I'm in charge of discussing The Story of Stuff in my night class tonight. (By the way, Leonard just released a book on the same subject. I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy soon.)

In other news, L-Town had a boil order yesterday. Few things generate appreciation of World Water Day quite like having to boil any water you use for drinking, hand-washing, and tooth-brushing.

Fortunately, the order was lifted this morning so we can go back to using water from our faucets with regular abandon. Perhaps it served as a reminder to some of us that water is an incredibly precious resource we should work to protect.

Or perhaps not.

Making a Rain Barrel

Guess what I did Tuesday night?

If you said, "Run a marathon?" you'd be wrong. And if you said, "Entered a pizza eating contest?" you'd be wrong too (although I have won one before, in case you were wondering). But if you took cues from the title of this post and asked: "Did you make a rain barrel?" you would be correct.

I've written about rain barrels quite a few times before (most recently, I posted about rain water harvesting at The Home Know-It-All). And I'd even contemplated doing things the consumerist way and just buying one—you can find all sorts of attractive options from Gardener's Supply Company, and you can even buy rain barrels at Wal-Mart (they have them at the one in L-Town in case you're interested). But I wasn't really keen on spending all that money on one—you're going to end up forking over more than $100 in most cases.

So when I read about rain barrel making workshops hosted by the Ecology Action Center, I jumped at the chance to participate. The best part? For a mere $35, I got all the supplies I needed to build my own rain barrel—and instruction on how to do it too.

Here's a sneak peek at what the finished rain barrel looks like.


It's currently sitting in my garage because I am waiting to ensure I have the proper precautions in place for when it fills up (as I'm pretty sure Conservative Boy will kill me if the overflowing water invades our basement, and I can't imagine the neighbors would appreciate it if it soaks theirs either).

So stay tuned. Soon I will post a step-by-step on the making of said rain barrel in case you want to make your own. And once I get the barrel in place and ready for action, I'll share that with you too.

In the meantime, here are a few quick reasons why you might want to make your own rain barrel:

• In the summer, as much as 40 percent of a homeowner's water use goes to the yard. Who likes high water bills? Not me. So why not use rainwater instead?
  
  
• A rain barrel can save you about 1,300 gallons of water during peak summer months, according to the EPA.
  
  
• All that water that pours off your roof during big rainstorms works its way toward waterways like your local rivers and lakes—and on the way picks up some nasty chemicals and contaminants. So why not stop some of that toxic runoff?

(Oh, and in case some of you are shrieking about how ugly you think this rain barrel is going to be sitting outside our house, rest assured I have that covered. It will be tucked behind some bushes in the backyard so nary a soul will see it. And if I get really creative, maybe I'll even paint some pretty flowers on it like this or grow some real-life flowers around it like this next year.)