LOS ANGELES (CBS) — As the storm clouds begin to clear from the skies above Los Angeles, the city says it wants to help homeowners harvest any leftover rainwater for their gardens.

KNX 1070′s John Brooks reports the city is bringing back technology from the old days by giving away hundreds of rain barrels.

The grant-funded Rain Barrel Pilot Project will convert trash cans to rain barrels and distribute them to selected single-family homeowners throughout the city.

City Councilman Tom LaBonge says the water that comes off your roof — instead of wasting it — will go through the down spout and into the barrel through a hose connection on the front, recalling the more traditional technology of a bygone era.

“They used to have spittoons, they used to have everything,” said LaBonge. “Everything old is new again.”

An estimated 14,000 gallons of water runoff is created in the average Los Angeles home every year.

Officials say rainwater harvesting will cut down on water utility bills and help ease future water shortages by reducing the amount of polluted rainwater that flows untreated into our rivers, lakes and oceans.

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