According to the EPA, during summer months, lawn and garden watering account for roughly 40% of a typical home’s water use.  It’s a statistic that reminds us how “green lawns” can be wasteful to both the environment and household budgets  – especially with drought conditions expected and water costs rising in many U.S. municipalities.

As a homeowner in Lakewood , to help Mother Nature and your wallet, consider added a rain barrel to your home.  A rain barrel is a rain-capturing system that collects and stores water runoff from your roof. Often attached to a home’s gutter system, a standard rain barrel collects and holds 55 gallons of water which can then be reused to water plants, wash cars, and clean driveways among other uses. Because the water is natural (i.e. not treated with chlorine or lime), it’s also ideal for window washing.    

Rain barrels can be purchases at most hardware or garden stores, or online via Amazon.com, for example. Or, they can be hand-built.