How much money can you save by collecting rain water?

hierophant wrote: ↑ You just came across rain barrels when they've been around several (~10) years???!?? Most municipalities offer them at a discounted rate in the spring. I have a similar setup that I bought from the city without having to buy anything extra. I certainly wouldn't use garbage pails like this guy to save a few pennies. Im pretty sure I paid $10, $20 at most for one. Also it's about being water efficient given all the water we misuse not so much about saving money.

CuriousC wrote: ↑ Living near a lake like Lake Ontario I would not be worried about our water resources.
If I lived in California or any other water stressed area I would understand that.
If anything I would worry about polluting the water but that is another discussion.

If the humanity needs something urgently that is non polluting agriculture and transportation solutions. Overall we have way too much water on this planet :-)

What do you use the water for?
Gardening. Where I live they charge for every $1 of water used, a $2 sewage charge - so a $100 water bill will be a $200 sewage bill with a total bill of $300.

CuriousC wrote: ↑Overall we have way too much water on this planet :-)

CuriousC wrote: ↑ Living near a lake like Lake Ontario I would not be worried about our water resources.
If I lived in California or any other water stressed area I would understand that.
If anything I would worry about polluting the water but that is another discussion.

If the humanity needs something urgently that is non polluting agriculture and transportation solutions. Overall we have way too much water on this planet :-)

oh ..add to that waste management. Just burying everything we can't burn and recycle is not a solution :-(

CuriousC wrote: ↑ OK green guys, I am with you, maybe less informed than you so let's focus of the question please.
If the cost of building this offsets the savings then it is not worth it, no matter what your morals say.
Having that said if the cost is too low then they should fix it to reflect what you are saying
Me saving a few barrels per year here is not going to solve the problems elsewhere, I hope you understand that
The taliban approach does not help, the measures you are talking about MUST be applied where it is needed
Trying to save water in the middle of a lake just because other regions of the planet experience severe lack of water does not make sense
IF you want to equate this to the equivalent of pollution caused by extracting purifying and distributing the water then make the cost reflect that and I will have my answer

CuriousC wrote: ↑ OK green guys, I am with you, maybe less informed than you so let's focus of the question please.
If the cost of building this offsets the savings then it is not worth it, no matter what your morals say.
Having that said if the cost is too low then they should fix it to reflect what you are saying
Me saving a few barrels per year here is not going to solve the problems elsewhere, I hope you understand that
The taliban approach does not help, the measures you are talking about MUST be applied where it is needed
Trying to save water in the middle of a lake just because other regions of the planet experience severe lack of water does not make sense
IF you want to equate this to the equivalent of pollution caused by extracting purifying and distributing the water then make the cost reflect that and I will have my answer

CuriousC wrote: ↑ I was browsing the net this morning when I came across a solution for collecting rain water...

l69norm wrote: ↑ ? ?

It's not about saving money on your water bill, it's all about saving money on your municipal taxes

It reduces the peak amount that the city storm sewers need to handle during a big rain storm. A lot of storm sewer infrastructure upgrades need to be done. If enough people have rain barrels, it could save the city $$$$$. This is why many cities subsidize the cost of rain barrels

CuriousC wrote: ↑ I will just say this: F the City!
The city takes lots of property taxes and the planning should have been done ahead.
Moving a city expense that was paid for over the years to the citizen's budget was a fraudulent way to solve the problem
Many home owners are now fighting water problems around their properties since discharging that on their lawn creates other problems
If you live on a sloped street and the bottom of the slope the water level in the soil increases exactly due to this measure and this might get some into problems
Others don't have a way to discharge the water that comes from their gutters other than putting it on the driveway and from there it goes to the same sewers so ...what did they solve with that ?
This is a problem of the core city where the sewer system is small and where many also discharge the gutters on the driveway because the lots are narrow

Evil Baby wrote: ↑ I highly doubt financially it would ever be worth it.

At a super basic rate, the city of Toronto looks to charge $0.01879620/gal.

A full 80 gal barrel would cost roughly $1.50 to fill with your tap.(this ignores other surcharges, but you're already paying for those anyways.)

I suppose you could get some of those 264 gal tanks that farms use.

Your next issue is, how do you collect the rain water? Most people will have their eavestrough run directly into the barrels, this is likely the only way you'd fill the tanks with any regularity. So what are you going to be using that water for? If it's for your garden, that wouldn't be food safe according to public health. There are lots of chemicals on your shingles. That being said, I'm sure millions of people a year do this are just fine.

Perhaps it's to water your yard? That would certainly be fine.

Anywho, my point is, from a strictly financial point of view, it's going to take a while to recoup those costs and honestly, would you even notice the savings year over year? However, from a fun project / self sustaining POV, nothing wrong with it.

DoorCrasher wrote: ↑ nice attitude, Body...

CuriousC wrote: ↑ I will just say this: F the City!
The city takes lots of property taxes and the planning should have been done ahead.
Moving a city expense that was paid for over the years to the citizen's budget was a fraudulent way to solve the problem...

l69norm wrote: ↑ Who is going pay the higher taxes for a storm sewer upgrade ? ... surprise ......... you do
Toronto upgrade cost = $3Billion

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.5396886