Harvest The Sky! Hamilton starts a rain barrel program.

Hamilton, MA has partnered with the Great American Rain Barrel Company in Hyde Park, MA to offer recycled barrels to residents of Hamilton as part of a community wide water conservation program.

Hamilton is offering the Great American Rain Barrel in three colors; Forest Green, Earth Brown or Nantucket Gray at the low cost of $75. To take advantage of this community program discount go to the Town of Hamilton Website http://www.hamiltonma.gov/Pages/index under Quick Links or please visit www.greatamericanrainbarrel.com, look for “community programs” and click on “Hamilton” or email info@tgarb.com or call (800) 251-2352.

Deadline for ordering is June 15th at 5pm. Barrels will be available for pick up on Saturday, June 20th from 8:00am-Noon at the Hamilton DPW - 577 Bay Road Hamilton MA 01982

Water shortage is also a growing global concern. In New England this spring rainfall is at a record low at a time when residential water usage increases up to 60% from outdoor watering needs such as watering gardens, lawns, filling pools and, washing cars. Rain Barrels can offset that usage by capturing and storing rainfall. This saves homeowner’s money and helps the community manage water supplies. Rain barrels can also reduce runoff. In watershed areas, runoff from homes and developments can harm existing water sources because overtaxed storm sewers discharge polluted runoff. Over time this takes a toll on the fragile aquatic ecosystem that the area is dependent on.

Homeowners can easily connect the barrels to their downspouts and significantly offset their watering needs. In this region there is typically 16” of rain from May 1st – September 30th. For every inch of rainfall a 1000 square foot surface can collect 620 gallons of water, that means that over the course of the extended summer months an average roof of 2400 square feet could see more than 20,000 gallons of fresh rainwater passing over its surface from May through September. That is a pretty significant source of water that homeowners could be tapping into for free. Just keeping a small 10’ x 10’ garden irrigated during the summer months can mean using up to 1700 gallons of water. Based on the average roof size, more than two 60 gallon rain barrels would fill for every 1/10” of rainfall. The Great American Rain Barrel Company recommends one barrel for every 100 square feet garden.