Install a Rain Barrel

An increase in droughts and widespread water shortages in places like Australia and the United States, just for example, has a lot of people reevaluating their relationship with life's most precious resource.

Most recently Las Vegas, America's decadent oasis, has been hit by an urban water shortage crisis, prompting the state of Nevada to okay a request to pump billions of gallons of groundwater into the city from elsewhere in the state.

It's the sort of problem we're going to see more and more of as the planet warms and reservoirs dry up. But don't wait for someone else to deal with it; there are dozens of things, big and small, you can do to contribute to water conservation in your home.

Today's example is simple: install a rain barrel. Rural or urban, small or big, your home can be easily outfitted with a rain-collection system that will provide you with ample water perfectly suited for all kinds of things.

First, get your barrel. Just about anything will do the trick, but if you've got a big garden, you'll want something fairly big.

You'll need to decide if you want a closed-barrel or open-barrel system. Leaving your barrel open will obviously make collecting the water from your roof or eavestroughs easier, but it will also become an irresistible habitat for flora and fauna of all types mosquitoes, as always, being the prime example.

If you're using a closed-barrel system, you'll want a spigot somewhere near the bottom, which means either souping up something like a garbage can, or going out and buying a vessel that was designed for the job. They're easy to find and range widely in price.

And presto: you're all set. You're relieving a bit of strain on overtaxed municipal reservoirs, and you're cutting down on runoff-related erosion. A word of warning, however: don't drink what comes off your roof. Stick to your tap for that.

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