I put a rain barrel under my downspout in Tucson and it actually cut my water bill by $18 a month

Drew Reed · 2026-09-22T09:10:04.488134+00:00

Back in 2021 my July water bill hit $94 and I got mad enough to do something about it. I grabbed a 55 gallon barrel off a guy on Craigslist for $25 and rigged it to the downspout with a flex hose and a screen to keep the mosquitoes out. I use the water on my two mesquite trees and the little veggie bed, nothing fancy, just a bucket. Turns out I was pulling about 300 gallons a month off the roof during monsoon season, which is free water I was paying the city for before. Anyone else in the desert doing this, and how do you keep the algae from taking over the barrel by August?

Babble Community

Loading…

I put a rain barrel under my downspout in Tucson and it actually cut my water bill by $18 a month | Climate Action - Babble Community