LIVE: Make Your Own Rain Barrel

It couldn't come at a better time.

We’re looking down the barrel of a long, rainy weekend to come with more precipitation expected over the next week.

But hey, that’s early April in the upper Midwest for you.

And that’s why these new workshops from River Keepers couldn’t come at a better time.

They’re teaming up with the Clay County Water and Soil Conservation District to teach us how we can build our own rain barrels.

And the first one, set for May, is already full-up, said River Keepers’ Kim Morris.

Morris joined the Morning Show’s Emily Welker and Clay Soil and Water’s District Coordinator Amanda Lewis live in studio to show us what goes into making and installing your own rain barrel.

Part of the reason the workshops are so popular is because people who’ve taken the class write back to tell Morris, months later, that after installing their new rain barrels, their gardens were the best-blooming they’d ever had.

It’s partly because the water you collect from rainfall isn’t treated the way city water has to be, Lewis said.

Rain barrels can also lessen the effects of fresh precipitation on flooding, since homeowners collect it instead of letting it run off to the river.

It can also lessen the effects of clay erosion on farms and other properties in rural areas, Lewis said.

Check out our video, above, and the interview, below, to get a look at what goes into making your own rain barrel.

And don’t forget to sign up for an upcoming session with River Keepers at the link, here.

https://www.riverkeepers.org/content/uploads/2019/01/2019-01-05-Rain-Barrel-Brochure-2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2b4_yJjBXyF4uZ5YaOb6g5a8s2TDg4QjpuS-Tiu_mBrq8HAnESWuVrWN0