Rainfall is becoming less predictable in our changing climate and so water butts and rain barrels are becoming a common feature of sustainable garden designs.
Hosepipe bans are now common in the UK and can last for over six months in times of drought - whilst flash floods continue to terrorise the nation.
The average house roof in the UK sheds some 45,000 litres of water per year which means that nearly 25% of the water we currently use could be harvested from our roofs.
The simplest way to capture rainwater is to use diverters on your downpipes and feed this into water butts or rain barrels. Many water companies now offer financial discounts on water butts to encourage customers to use water more efficiently.
Water butts are perfect for small gardens. You can buy manufactured systems or use reclaimed oak distilling barrels. Dustbins can be used, although as a garden designer I wouldn’t recommend it as they are not designed to store water and may not be strong enough, nor have well-sealed lids.
The downside of water butts is there limited capacity. Even to harvest 5% of the runoff of water from a room you would need an average of 18 water rain barrels! It can be frustrating and time consuming to effectively use water when your water butts are scattered around the garden.
For larger gardens, a grey water recycling scheme or a borehole is likely to be a better solution.
