Trace of Rain

It's been an unusual spring weather wise. We had extremely warm temperatures in March and April. We had a lot of water early, but we haven't had much lately.

I use water barrels made of recycled plastic by a man in Vermont to collect water from the roof of our house to use when I water the garden. There are 8 water barrels. Each in theory holds about 45 gallons. The "in theory" part rests on a couple of assumptions, which I know are not precisely true. Each will hold 45 gallons, but I am not sure if that is measured with or without the overflow spout each has.


I've connected the barrels with a hose network. My assumption that each holds 45 gallons also assumes that each is exactly the same height. Because the water flows to and from each via the hose system, if one is higher than another, it will have less water because the water in each is the same height from the earth. This means that the one that is set highest, in my case, the one that gathers the water from the drain spout (on the left), has the least water. The one set lowest to the ground has the most water. I've tried to more or less get them all on the same level.

I've been using water regularly for weeks. I don't usually make much of a point of watching how much water there is. However, because of the long period without rain, I decided to look. I used a walking stick Jason made, set it inside the barrel, and marked where the water was.

It is supposed to rain today, but I didn't expect any yesterday. I was surprised that there was actually a trace recorded. It was probably less than 1/8", maybe only 1/16". This morning I thought I would check it out to see if that trace added anything.

I calculate that the water level rose about 1-5/8" from just that little sprinkle. With about 1-1/4 gallon per inch per barrel, that means the trace of rain added about 16 gallons to my barrels. It's not great. I calculated based on my gallons per inch estimating formula that I have about 200 gallons left. I am not up to the 350 or 360 gallons that I am theoretically capable of storing, but I like the idea that the water gathering system works well enough to benefit from just a wee bit of rain. I look forward to a real rain. Perhaps there will be one today.

There are places out west, like Utah, where it is illegal to capture water from your roof. I'm sure there must be a reason for such a silly law. I'm glad I live where it is perfectly legal to capture water this way.