Rain barrels attach easily to your home's downspouts and collect the rain shed by your roof.  There is usually a spigot at the bottom where a hose may be attached for lawn and garden irrigation or for car washing, saving you money on your water bill.   This simple storm water management strategy is one of several types of catchment systems that have far reaching positive benefits to the local water supply as well as to the Chesapeake Bay.   

How Rain Barrels Help Save the Bay

    Pollutants that accumulate on your roof due to air pollution are washed off during a rain storm.  During a very heavy rain, water that cannot be quickly absorbed becomes storm water runoff.  With a rain barrel, water is captured and used later at a time when the ground is better able to absorb it.  Pollutants in this rainwater can then be filtered out naturally as the water percolates through the layers of soil, eventually returning to the aquifer, or groundwater.  

    Without a catchment or retention system, whether it be a barrel, a rain garden or even a green roof, these harmful pollutants are washed onto the surrounding land and eventually make their way into the Chesapeake Bay and the municipal water treatment facilities.  These aging sewage treatment plants were not designed for today's population densities.   When overwhelmed by sustained or heavy rains, treatment plants must discharge the overflow, now mixed with raw sewage, directly into public waterways.  This adds to the streams' already high volume runoff and further scours stream banks as it gathers more sediment along the way.  Finally, the entire toxic load is delivered to the wildlife of the watershed and the Chesapeake Bay.  This non-point source pollution is the single biggest obstacle to the recovery of  the Bay, and it can only be corrected if we each take steps to hold on to our rain water.