Why waste free water?

Something I have noticed is it takes a lot of water to keep the animals hydrated and the garden watered.  I also am not really excited about watering my garden with chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride, as well as trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs.  It is bad enough we have to drink it, so why not use a healthier substitute if one was available?  Well wouldn't you know it!  There is one!  We call it rain.  

Below is a quick, down and dirty, and mostly free rain water barrel collector! 

First thing I did was acquired a couple of "food grade"  plastic barrels.  

Second, I cut off the downspout about 4" higher than the barrel.

Next I got a piece of old fire hose that was laying around the house and removed the thin rubber inner liner, fashioned a funnel with some staples, and attached it to the downspout with some small screws.

Lastly, I scooted over a barrel and inserted the rubber funnel into one side of it making sure the caps were both off (so as to allow it to overflow away from my funnel).

As far as getting the water out, we use a simple siphon (with the assistance of a foot pump usually used to air up pool toys) to fill buckets and watering cans.  The intent was to get a hand pump for them but the fact that the free solution is working makes the pump less of a priority.  

A couple things I am going to add are several more barrels, a connector of some kind (to allow them to overflow into each other, relieving me of the duty of moving rain collectors after every storm), a hand pump, and probably some black paint or plastic to keep the algae from growing inside.  


Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions on topics or Ideas for other projects we could do?  Leave them here in the comments and we will be happy to address them!