Rain Barrel

We have installed a rain barrel on the back of the porch. This structure has 2 primary purposes: (1) it reduces the volume of high-speed runoff from rainstorms. In an natural environment, trees or other vegetation absorb rainfall and allow it to slowly infiltrate the soil, eventually reaching groundwater or a stream. Developed areas are rife with surfaces that are impervious to infiltration, such as roofs. The altered hydrology has several negative consequences: stream flow volumes and intensities are altered, with high flow following rain events and lower flows at other times. This high flow volume can scour stream bottoms and reduce the quality of habitat for stream invertebrates - which in turn feed the fish and birds. Runoff from impervious surfaces also causes surface erosion, and can carry with it any pollutants - such as oil - that are on that surface. Water flowing across over-fertilized suburban lawns or poorly-managed animal enclosures also carries nutrients, which fuel algal blooms in the water, which in turn deplete the oxygen in the water. So the rain barrel is meant to reduce all those problems by capturing the rain off the roof and allowing it to slowly infiltrate the soil. (2) we can also use the rainwater for our garden. Natural rainwater is better for the plants than water that has been purified for drinking - plus, it's a bit of a waste of resources to treat water to drinking standards and then use it to water plants.

You can see in the picture that our contractor also added some lattice fencing across the bottom of the deck. GHI required this modification in order to prevent raccoons and other animals from taking refuge under the deck. Turns out it improves the aesthetics - at least in my opinion.