On Friday we had our first real rain in months. This was not the evaporate-as-soon-as-it-hits-the-sidewalk rain that we are starting to get used to, but the type of downpour that Vancouverites used to experience on a regular basis. Right now we are in the middle of an epic drought, with water reservoirs running low and watering restrictions, so the rain made me very happy.

We have a Vancouver rain barrel on the side of our house which fills up fast. In a downpour, up to 25 litres of water a minute pours through the drain spout from the roof, fills the barrel and then the overflow flow through the green hose near the top of the barrel to the drain. When the barrel is full we pump water from the barrel to the top of the garden.

Typical Vancouver rain barrel

Rate limiting step: the pump.

The rate limiting step is the pump. It takes a it of adjusting to reach a steady state between the water running into the white bucket and the amount of water being pumped out. The water is pumped through a PVC pipe permanently sitting along the property line to the back, where we have all the rain barrels.

This winter the man is going to obtain another rain barrel for the roof that drains towards the front of the house, and is going to get more storage barrels. I think he is going to put the storage
barrels in the driveway, which will further disturb the Feng Shui of our front garden.

Empty rain barrels from two weeks ago.