You are in Bonita, saving 55 gallons is a grain of sand in all the worlds beaches compared to the deep water you have.

Home Depot/Lowes should sell these items and they should compost bins too. Save the planet, one gallon of water and waste at a time.

I don't get these 55 gallon drums...which I'm supposed to install in my downspout of my gutter...and I'm a nature nut.

Sometimes....we get a lot of rain...ALOT.

So Beetle is supposed to go out in the freakin rain and disconnect the GINORMOUS BARREL, and then hope the barrel will detach properly?

I've thought about the feasability of this for years as they say it is the right thing to do.

THEN...THEN...How does one EXTRACT THE RAIN FROM THE FREAKIN BARREL?

ENLIGHTEN ME??????

When I think about a FULL 55 gallon barrel..it seems tricky to get the water out once it's in there.

It's like ripping off my piggy bank when I was a kid...the money was easy to put in, but getting anything out was tricky.

55 GALLONS....that's a lot of water.

But how do I get this water out of the barrel when all is said and done?

Been doing it for 35 years. Helps during very dry times, to water the flowers and garden, saving some well water for your home. Mother nature refills the barrels many times during a year. When water shuts down for one reason or another, bucketing from these barrels flushes toilets really good.

Beetle, from what I know of this system, there is usually a hose fitting, a spiggot or both installed near the bottom of the barrel. Hope this helps.

Ooooh.....I didn't know. THANKS.

I shoulda known this. But I would think the spiggot would leak.

I might try this now.

The thought of barrel wrestling in a rain storm ended the idea for a while...then the idea of getting the water out of it nixed it even more.

ive been doing this for quite awhile,but i use an old fiberglass water tank,,,that holds about 80+ gallons,i set it up on solid concrete pilings,laying on their sides,,,, and drilled a hole about 2 inches up from the bottom, then screwed in a PVC insert,and simply worked it so that a hose bib screwed into it,,, now i just turn that on to keep the dogs,etc watered as well as plants,, lol, now Of course Nature is doing all that For me, seeing that my land is still under about 4 inches to 2 feet of water,,:-),,,,

I'm so sorry about your land bullbat, and now I'll try to collect water better.

Beetle gave up on the idea 2 quickly.

thanks for the kind words Bettle,,, if you need a hand with that just let me know, :-),,,ill do what i can,,,

errrr uuummmm Beetle,,,,,,,<sorry>

Seriously, this is 2008 and were holding rain barrel workshops...

I remember seeing big storage tanks attached to homes in the Keys years ago which were used for rainwater collection. They called them cisterns, the Extension Service did a study on them. Here it is:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae029

CTL,,, which barrels do you mean ?

Who foots the bill for workshops, what do barrels cost supplier (cost of barrels (material, labor, transportation etc)?
What does consumer pay?

All great ideas as long as you take measures to keep out mosquitoes.

The old Florida cisterns were rather notorious for breeding them. swamp4u2 is right if you decide to make modifications to your house itself.

The modern barrels are normally set up to prevent skeeter breeding!

I set up a system 3 years ago, out west at my second home. The primary barrel is directly below, and attached to, the drain spout. It has a wire screen cover to keep debris out, and a diverter valve that runs overflow water into the regular downspout.
I hooked up 5, 55 gallon barrels in tandem, connected with PVC pipe. They run under a raised deck area, surrounded by trees and shrubs, thus out of sight. Thus it's a gravity irrigation system, hooked up to the last barrel, to give me water for the trees and shrubs. It's nothing but a $12.00 battery operated hose timer and black drip hose without the end plugs, since it's working on a gravity system, and not a water faucet pressure system. Cost me about $300 in materials to set up. Pretty simple, because I'm an idiot when it comes to things mechanical.
Works great. Good luck beetle.

CTL,,, ya know on the 55 gal barrels im just not sure,,,,, the one i use is from an older water system, and i simply cut a tight fitting hole in the top for the down spout,and it has over flow holes around the top covered with screen,,,,,,,,, i live on Kent rd CTL,and tho its dropping ,im at a point that its still running across my place from way East,,,i guess ill be ok when it stops running arcoss Bonita Grande,,,,

BS1,,,, from what i read the attendees pay for them selves,,,

Swamp4 ,, youre sure right there, them brown shirts are worse than skeeters,,,,lol,,,,,hey have you read the latest on Permits ?, to add to the party permits,,now they say we even need a permit for a BBQ with just a RADIO playing,,,,,,,,

Bullbat,
From what I read, money raised in Bonita donated to city Tree Advisory board. How and who paid for people conducting meeting, promotional materials, barrels/hardware presented and sold at Bonita and other workshop events.?

BonitaSprings1,,,,probably the best thing to do would be to contact ,Arleen Houston,,at the City,****For information on the Bonita workshop, call (239) 949-6262.**** you raise some good points,,, if you call, ill hope you share the experience with us,,,,:-),,,,,,,,,

how can acid rain running across asphalt shingles being funnelled through a nasty downspout then being contained in a barrel in 100 degree heat be good for anything?

just a thought

,,, good question,,,,, i have a metal roof, when i see that the rain is leaving dimples and grooves,ill stop bottling and selling it to tourists as Nature Cleaned Swamp Water,,,,,,and re-name it Natures Acidic Nail Remover,,,,,