Released April 9, 2008
WOOSTER, Ohio -— Here’s your chance to win one for the dripper.
For the downspout from your gutters, that is.
Ohio State University’s free Wooster Campus Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair will have — among its 90-plus eco-activities — a demonstration on how to make a rain barrel. As part of it you can enter to win one, though even if your name’s not picked you’ll still end up knowing how to build one yourself.
Rain-barrel benefits include free water for your plants, which cuts your water bill, and less storm runoff to neighborhood sewers, which helps keep lakes and rivers clean.
“It’s surprising how much water comes off a roof during a rain event,” said Joe Konen, urban programs specialist at the Ohio State University Extension Center in Wooster. He’ll lead the demonstration.
Rain barrels, he said, let you store and use that water.
“They lessen the peak flow of water into the sewers during a rainstorm,” he said. “They help, especially those with ‘city’ water and sewer, to save on the cost of water — free water for plants and gardens.”
A typical setup employs a diverter attached to a gutter downspout; a barrel — one that can hold, say, 35-50 gallons — to receive the diverter and the rain; a spigot near the barrel’s bottom to allow you to get the water out; and a lid to keep out mosquitoes.
Automatic diverter shutoffs, overflow spigots and hoses, and connectors that let you add barrels are options.
Up to 20 rain barrels will be built at the fair, with instruction and materials provided. As each barrel is completed, there will be a drawing to give it away.
See what the finished barrels will look like and the plans to be used at http://www.cwp.org/Community_Watersheds/brochure.pdf.
Smith Dairy Products of Orrville is donating the empty barrels, while J and L Contracting is donating the hauling of them.
The fair takes place from 1-7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, at the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.
The aim is to celebrate, educate and demonstrate that “it’s easy being green.”
Environment-related displays, exhibits, demonstrations, presentations, student contests and food will be featured.
Find a complete list of activities at http://www.wcsen.org/WCSGGF/. Ohio State’s Agricultural Technical Institute (Ohio State ATI), also in Wooster, is the co-host of the event.
Coordinating sponsors are the Faculty Council of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, of which OARDC, OSU Extension and Ohio State ATI all are part; and the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network.
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http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=4559
Contacts: Kurt Knebusch, (330) 263-3776, knebusch.1@osu.edu
Joe Konen, (330) 263-3799, konen.2@osu.edu
