save your rain water for plants

Saving water is important, especially in warmer months. Rather than facing a fine during water bans or ratchet up your water bill, you can find ways to re-use water around the house for watering plants and gardens. Here are some handy ideas for catching wasted water and using it for other purposes.

Rainwater

One of the easiest ways to save water is to catch the rainwater from your gutter downspouts in large bowls or buckets. Some even set up large barrels permanently under the spout. Such barrels can be fitted with spouts that you can open anytime you need water for the garden and houseplants. Another way to use these barrels in larger areas is to intall soaker hose throught your garden area or lawn and hood it up to the barrel near the bottom. Gravity wiil force water through the hose, keeping the ground consistently most for your plants.

A typical 1/2-inch rainfall would fill a 55 gallon barrel. You can collect a half gallon of water per square foot of roof area during a 1-inch rainfall. So, a 2,000-square-foot roof can collect about 1,000 gallons of water, after accounting for runoff losses.

Cooking Water

When you boil noodles, vegetables and other dinner foods, stop pouring the water down the drain. Hold onto it and let it cool. The water becomes nutrient rich from the cooking, making excellent fertilizer for your houseplants. The dog will enjoy this water too, much more so than the plain old tap water he or she is used to.

Shower/Bath Water

So much water is wasted in the shower and bath. There is no reason you cannot catch this water in buckets. Rather than flush the toilet with water from the tank, you can pour it down the toilet, causing it to flush that way.

What other ways have you thought of to capture and use otherwise wasted water?