Released September 14, 2009
WAKEENEY, Kan.-- Growing interest in wiser, “greener” ways to use natural resources is creating a small, but enthusiastic group of Kansans. They’re adapting barrels to collect rain water from their roof to use in their home landscape.
Their “how-to” support now includes county agents, as well as area and state specialists with Kansas State University Research and Extension. Local governments, businesses, schools and county Conservation District staff are getting involved, too.
Since early spring, Extension educators have been coming up with advice, factsheets, instructions and workshops to help Kansans become self-sufficient as rain collectors. Some of that information is already making its way onto the Web.
“In the heat of the summer, the average American family of four uses nearly 40 percent of its household water outdoors -- up to half of which gets wasted in overwatering and inefficient sprinkling. That really costs, in more ways than one,” explained Stacie Minson, K-State watershed specialist and a leader in the educational effort.
In contrast, collecting rainwater and distributing it to landscape plants slowly costs nothing and is almost 100 percent efficient – no water waste, Minson added. It provides naturally soft, chemical-free water for the landscape without drawing on public supplies.
At the same time, by encouraging soil infiltration, the approach helps forestall runoff. Most landscape runoff goes down a street gutter, into a storm drain system, and ultimately into a nearby natural body of water. In rural areas, it simply follows the paths that excess rain takes.
“Landscape runoff is never truly clean. It can include such nasty stuff as sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus, pet droppings and E.coli bacteria – all of which end up in local creeks, rivers and lakes,” Minson said.
The watershed specialist has been offering two-hour workshops throughout the growing season, to help Kansans produce their own rain catchers. Her September calendar alone lists stops in both Victoria, Kan., and Russell, Kan., on the 12th and a final workshop in Wichita Sept. 30.
Plus, Minson is now sharing information on YouTube (under “Roll Out the Rain Barrel”), as well as on K-State’s KCARE Web site. Links to her illustrated factsheet and “how-to” instructions for rain barrels are at http://www.kcare.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=914.
K-State Research and Extension’s News site is also offering a video. It shows how Douglas County Extension horticulturist Jennifer Smith is helping residents make rain barrels on the other side of the state. The video is available at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=36&itemID=1047.
Although they meet infrequently, Extension’s statewide network of agents and specialists are helping and learning from each other as they nurture this educational effort on “recycling” rain water.
Still, Minson remains a natural source. She piloted the state’s first Extension workshop last April, involving Fort Hays State University horticulture students and getting barrels from the City of Hays, the Post Rock Rural Water District and the Victoria, Kan., Coca Cola facility. Her “Roll Out the Rain Barrel” project helped Hays residents transform 120 barrels into rain catchers.
It also sparked immediate interest from other parts of the area where Minson works -- the Big Creek and Middle Smoky Hill River watersheds. Both watersheds feed Kansas’ first-ever federal reservoir, built in 1948. The Kanopolis Reservoir supplies the public drinking water for seven communities and four rural water districts in west-central Kansas.
“Unfortunately, Kanopolis also is one of many state bodies of water now impeded by sediment and excessive nutrients – usually nitrogen and phosphorus,” the specialist said. “That’s raising concerns about their future recreational and water-supply use.
“So, in addition to our project’s monitoring numerous stream locations from the Cedar Bluff to the Kanopolis outlets, we are doing everything we can to encourage less runoff.”
Minson has seen many types of containers recycled for collecting rain – trash cans, pots, buckets, old bathtubs, and barrels made of wood, metal and plastic. For her workshops, she prefers 55-gallon plastic barrels that in a previous life only contained a food-type product (i.e., not oil, chemicals or such).
Her 2009 workshop participants have been lucky, she said, in that the Wichita Coca-Cola bottling plant has donated the lion’s share of their barrels. The plant also became this year’s final workshop site. And, even before planners started to promote that event, they had a waiting list of people wanting to attend.
Beyond that, volunteers to help participants build their barrels at September’s three workshops included some Coca-Cola employees. Fort Hays State University horticulture students were still involved, too. County Conservation District board members and local youth volunteered, as well.
Minson is beginning to believe rain barrels are an old idea whose time has come … again
“Or, for more information about all kinds of ways to save water and preserve the quality of our natural water supplies, people can always visit their local Extension office,” she said.
Sidebar
Even during hot, dry summer weather, a single rain can fill lots of storage barrels. Stacie Minson, watershed specialist with Kansas State University Research and Extension, explained:
- An inch of rain on 88 square feet of roof will fill a typical 55-gallon rain barrel.
- Estimates put the average home roof at between 1,200 and 2,000 square feet. An inch of rain on a surface that size will generate between 750 and 1,250 gallons of downspout water.
- The formula for figuring the potential harvest from a 1-inch rain is: square feet of roof area, times 0.623.
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http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/ksrenews/story/rain_barrels091409.aspx
Source: Stacie Minson, 785-650-1282, sedgett@ksu.edu
Writer: Kathleen Ward, kward@ksu.edu
