Rain, rain don't go away!

I always stop and stare at the huge rain barrels outside of Whole Foods and think to myself, "If I ever live in a house, I am going to have one of those."  I just think they are super cool!  What a great and easy way to go green.  They come in all shapes and sizes, so you can find the right one for you and your needs.  According to www.simplyrainbarrels.com, the average homeowner will see a reduction between 30-70% in their monthly water bill when they implement a rain harvesting system.  WOW!  With the extremely high cost of water in the city of Atlanta and other areas across the country, this could mean major savings. 

Go to http://www.simplyrainbarrels.com/rain-barrels/?show=all to check out the different options (my favorite is pictured above).  Since rain water is naturally pure and fresh, it can be used for a multitude of purposes including gardening, watering your lawn, and washing your car. 

Here is some more important information on water usage from www.simplyrainbarrels.com:

Water is a scarce resource that is essential for our existence and our supplies are increasingly coming under pressure. Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh and less than a third of 1% of this is available to humans. A typical household uses over 650 liters of water every day. This equates to around 240,000 liters (or 5 average sized swimming pools) each year! Up to half the water supplied to household ends up as waste water. The main uses of water at an average home are:
1. Watering the garden and other outside uses (35% or 94,500 liters per year)
2. Flushing toilets (20% or 54,000 liters per year)
3. Showers, bathing and the bathroom (20% or 54,000 liters per year)
4. Laundry use, washing clothes (15% or 40,500 liters per year)
5. Dishwashing and the kitchen (10% or 27,000 liters per year)

If you live in a house, please consider investing in a rain barrel.  It will save you money and help conserve one of our most precious resources.  If you are like me and don't live in a house, do your part by only running your dishwasher and washing machine when it is full (or changing the setting to the lowest/lightest load), taking shorter showers, and not leaving the water running when you brush your teeth.