Bringing in snow is a lot of work, because a huge heap of snow doesn't amount to much water. But, it does give you water, so I suppose you could do it. As for the pH of stored water, it stays the same. The carbonic acid that acidifies the water is bonded with the water molecules, keeping the pH low. Apparently this is an issue for some areas that filter & store rainwater for human consumption, because the pH is too low for constant use, assuming storage in a plastic tank. Metals will bring the pH back up, be it a metal storage tank, or copper pipes, etc. When it comes to nitrogen, I believe it is negligable to begin with, so it's not really something to stress over, because either way, you can't rely on the minute amount in rain water to do much of anything. As for getting a rain barrel, you're better off to get a 55g plastic barrel then to buy a "rain barrel". Check out classifieds or craigslist, because people have them all the time, usually selling them for 5 or 10 bucks. It's funny though how the eco-nuts want everyone to be green and use things like rain barrels, but then they just completely rip you off with the prices for the "green" things. I was at the Milwaukee Zoo yesterday and they were selling "rain barrels", which were nothing more than 55g drums from chemicals of some sort, for $50. These drums were from MMSD, which is the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. So they were basically selling used chemical barrels as rain barrels, and ripping people off with the price at the same time. So spends a little time looking around, because there are plastic 55g barrels available for cheap, or even free, all around. Joe

Heres is a warning about grey water. DO NOT STORE. The soap and other organics (food stuff from the kitchen sink)will very quickly spoil if stored. It is much better to run grey water straight out to plants in the garden. Do this underground if you can. The bugs will take care of the organics and the plants will get a good watering. You can set up a system to diverate the grey water to various plants by running the house pipe to a distribution point. This is all underground. The distribution point is simply a spot where the grey water can collect and can be as simple as an overturned large plastic barrel. From this point you run a few pipes leading to shallow ditchs leading to plants. The shallow ditches are filled in with sand or small stones and covered over with mulch. All this has to be at an incline directed towards the plants to be watered. Sounds like a long of work but it really is simple. Oh and use the smallest pipe you can. This creates more flow (pressure is the wrong word) but think of it this way; a smaller pipe will have more water filling it than a larger pipe would for the same volume of water. The more the pipe is filled up with water the easier it is to push along any particles that could clog up the pipe. The other option is to run the grey water to a small (or large) bog area/pond. There you can enjoy bog plants and they will take care of the organics. BUT DO NOT STORE GREY WATER! Use it as you make it. Now run off from the roof is another matter all together. You can safely store this water. You might want to invest in a diverter on your gutter downspout that is "open" during the first few gallons of rain coming down the drain. This allows any leaves and trash to be cleaned out of the drain (goes outside). When the diverter is "off" clean water fills your storage containers. This water came be stored for a fair amount of time. Do remember any water stored over a long period of time will spoil. Hope this helps :) Mike

A1.) Watering for 30 mins doesn't really tell us much. Sprinklers can very by brand and by which type you are using ex.(rotary, rotators, and spray). What i would do is set a couple of tuna cans or use clear 4oz disposable cups with measurements in 1/4" increments by using a permanent marker. Water a particular zone and keep track of how long it takes to reach 1" and then set that zone run time to the time that you got. and so on and so forth. If the yard still looks dry after you have done this then up the time until it looks good to you. A2.) I'm not familiar with the rain birds because I run a hunter. What I do since I have 8 zones for the yard and 1 for beds, I water every other day (mon ,wed ,fri) this allows me enough time to water the yard and the beds before the sun dries out the morning dew. A3.) 4am-10am is an excellent time to water. I start mine around 3 or 4.

Hi y'all. Hubby and I have made 5 rain barrels. Ours are soda syrup barrels. We used the bung to attach the spigot. In the center of the the bung we found ours had 3/4" threads. Although it was sealed over, we were able to drill out the seal without damaging the threads. We then attached a 3/4" threaded 2" nipple, a threaded elbow, another nipple and then a pvc 1/4 turn ball valve, and another 3/4" threaded nipple to attach a hose to. Everything was wrapped with teflon tape and silcone caulk was used on the bung and the overflow hose then we turned it upside down and cut a hole for the downspout. About 2 or 3" from the top we drilled a hole just big enough for another 3/4" threaded nipple. This was used for a overflow hose. It also could be used to add another barrel. another option we are considering is stacking the barrels. Using the bung hole we would put a pvc pipe from the top barrel to the the bottom barrel, thus using only one spigot and giving more pressure. I use the rain water quite frequently to water my many flower beds. I attach another hose to the spigot and run it to where I need it. A full barrel will put out a 4' spray from a sprinkler until about the barrel is half full. Like I said earlier the threads on the bung are 3/4" you could attach a garden hose and a shutoff valve on the end of the hose.