Izaak Walton League of America

Conserving water on your land can help you reduce your utility bills and protect water resources for other uses. Moving water smartly across your property can also help reduce flooding both in your basement and in the street. Two easy ways to manage water are rain barrels and rain gardens.

Rain Barrels

More and more homeowners and property managers are installing rain barrels to collect water off their roofs. What explains this growing trend? Rain barrels...

• Are good for the environment – they keep rain water from washing pollutants into local streams. They also help stop flooding and erosion.
• Save you money on your water bill.
• Save drinking water for drinking.
• Look great!

Rain barrels come in a variety of sizes, from 30 gallons to 100 gallons. Rain barrels can be added to any building that has gutters and downspouts. Each barrel has an outlet that can be connected to a garden hose to allow you to water your lawn and gardens. Rain barrels also have overflow outlets that can be directed to a native plant garden or rain garden on your property or into a grassy area away from the building foundation.

Rain Gardens

Lots of people are replacing exotic ornamental plants with rain gardens. Why? Rain gardens...

• Are good for the environment – they don’t need pesticides and fertilizers, which wash into local streams when it rains. They also help prevent erosion and flooding.
• Attract colorful birds and butterflies.
• Save you time – they don’t need much attention (and no mowing!).
• Save you money on all those pesticides and fertilizers you no longer need.
• Look great!

What is a “rain garden”? It’s a shallow depression filled with a special soil mix and native plants that like wet conditions. These gardens collect rain from hard surfaces – such as your roof or driveway – to slow and filter the water before it runs into local streams, eliminating pollutants such as fertilizer, car oil, road salt, and dirt.