FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The last few rainy weeks have been perfect for Colorado gardeners.
"The tomatoes love the rain. The peppers, not so much," Lisa Leicht, a Broomfield homeowner, said.
Her massive garden is already set up with a drip irrigation system for part of it, but the system can't reach all the plants in the backyard.
"It's just not enough with the irrigation, we'd have pipes running everywhere," Leicht said.
She recently picked up a rain barrel at a stormwater event hosted by the City of Westminster.
"We thought a rain barrel is perfect. We can hook it up, stick the watering can under it and hit everything that we can't reach," she said.
Her family isn't the only one looking to harvest all of the rain Colorado's been getting.
"Business has been unseasonably booming, and courtesy to the rain for all of that," Lindsey Singh, manager at Colorado Rain Catcher, said. "This year [business] has tripled- both at the municipality and city level and with individuals purchasing on their own. So much so that we are almost completely out of inventory."
Colorado Rain Catcher launched not long after HB 16-1005 made it legal for Colorado residents to collect rain in specific containers.
By law, the barrels are required to have sealable lids and must collect rain from the downspout of a roof. The law makes it possible for people living in a single family home, or a multi-family residence with four or less units, to collect the rainwater for outdoor purposes only. The law prohibits using the collected rainwater as drinking water or any indoor uses. Residents can have no more than two rain barrels with a combined capacity of 110 gallons. Under special circumstances, rural residents are able to apply for a permit to collect even more.
"Once [a standard barrel] fills up, then you'd be able to use 55 gallons worth of water to water your lawn and your flowers in your garden. But rain barrels fill up over and over and over again," Singh said.
It's an appealing option for those who want to save money and save water.
"We water three or four times a week for 10 minutes maybe. It's probably quite a bit. Yeah. This should be a really good savings," Leicht, said. "Overall, I mean, it's silly. Right now we've had rain for days and it's just running away."
Rain barrels connect to a home's downspout through a hose. A rubber diverter moves falling water into the barrel, and when the barrel and hose are full, the excess water flows down the gutter as usual.
"I think it's important to utilize what we already have as a natural resource, it makes sense to me. The ground already is rained on 24/7, or snowed on, already. It's not any different from what the ground or plants or gardens already experienced in nature. This is just utilizing what we already have," Singh said.
