By Dean Hickman
I have seven rain barrels, three around a detached garage and four around the house. Needless to say, I am a proponent of the humble rain barrel. These barrels collect water when it rains and provide “soft” chlorine-free water for the garden, including my fruit and vegetable plots when it’s dry. Some folks even wash their cars and windows with collected rainwater. Rain barrels include a spigot so you can access the water, and a mesh mosquito barrier.
Rain barrels are not only a water conservation tool; using rainwater instead of your domestic water supply will also reduce your water bill. During storms, rain barrels even contribute to preventing excessive water from reaching impervious surfaces that ultimately channel into local streams, ponds, and rivers, sometimes overwhelming so-called combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which, as a result, discharge sewage water into the Alewife Brook in neighboring Cambridges.
Rain barrel purchased several years ago with downspout diverter. Photo: Dean Hickman
Ideally, CSOs would not exist. Save the Alewife Brook is a local organization that is working to address flooding and water quality problems in Alewife Brook, which is fed by Belmont’s Wellington Brook via Clay Pit Pond/Blair Pond and Winn’s Brook via Little Pond/Little River. By capturing and using rainwater, Belmont residents can help reduce the volume of water that needs to be absorbed. This in turn helps minimize the pollution caused by CSOs, and supports the health of Alewife Brook. Finally, using rain barrels conserves domestic water usage, decreasing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions at water treatment plants.
To learn more about the barrels and participate in Belmont’s 2025 Rain Barrel Program, please visit www.greatamericanrainbarrel.com/community and select our state and town. Barrels and downspout diverters are available for purchase until the order deadline of April 20, midnight. Preordered rain barrels will be available for pick up on Saturday, May 3, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM at the Belmont Department of Public Works, 37 C Street, just as the growing season gets into full swing.
About the Great American Rain Barrel Company
This local food-import company has been repurposing food-grade shipping drums into rain barrels since 1988. The Great American Rain Barrel Co. has been designated an approved vendor by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection since 2010.
Dean Hickman is a Belmont resident and the chair of Sustainable Belmont (www.sustainablebelmont.net/).
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