Groundworks Rain Barrel Resource page

Guide to build your own rain barrels

Rain barrels are simply a storage tank for temporarily holding run-off water from your roof. Water from the roof is diverted into a barrel connected to your downspouts and stored for later use on your garden or lawn. Rain barrels drastically reduce runoff water during a storm. They reduce domestic water use, lowering water bills and demands on city water system, especially during peak summer periods and they are simple and inexpensive to build. On May 10th 2009 the Global Education Association led a rain barrel construction workshop in order to build rain barrels for the community garden as well as to show community members how they can build rain barrels in their own yards.

Finished barrels:

Here are some of the resources we used in order to create the rain barrels for the GroundWorks Community Garden;