Burbank Woman Ahead Of The Rain-Recycling Trend
BURBANK (CBSLA.com) — When you're in a drought, a rainy day is a good day, and Tuesday was a perfect day for residents who use rain barrels to collect water.
As California's restrictions are mounting and sources are drying up, more people are looking at the barrels as a way to save water for those not-so-rainy days to come.
"The water runs off of the roof down into the gutters," and then over a screen and into the barrel, Rojeanne Herbel of Burbank told KCAL9's Lauie Perez on Tuesday.
She has eight rain barrels stationed around her home.
"Yes, I was very excited it was gonna rain," Herbel said.
Over the past few years, she's taken advantage of her city's barrel-rebate program, and basically got the containers for nothing, in turn using them to collect free water that she used to saturate her mostly drought-tolerant landscape.
"I think I can get two rounds watering the yard when these are full," she said, pointing at the barrels. She pointed at one of the barrels and remarked at how much water was collected in just a few hours on Tuesday.
That's proof for the city of Los Angeles' barrel program. Its data says if every home in the city had a barrel they could collect about 9 billion gallons of rainwater runoff a year — or 9,600 gallons her home per year. Eligible residents can get a barrel for free.
"Hooking it up was very simple," Herbel said.
Like her flowers, the idea is spreading. Next door, Jose Rosales saw Herbel's system and got some barrels of his own.
