Our summer reading program this year is dedicated to the world's oceans and water supplies. Only about 1% of the world's water is drinkable and every living being needs water. Meanwhile, the Great Lakes account for more than 22% of the world's fresh water supply. It is an incredibly valuable resource that we have been made stewards of by living in the Midwest. It's time we take a look at what we can do to keep it healthy and usable. As such, we are taking a look at some of the things we can do to help take care of our waterways. Every week this summer we will be taking a look at some of the little things we can do to keep our waters clean, healthy, and usable, maintain the ecosystem, and in general do our part to take care of our planet. Let's take a look:
Let's Get Down & Dirty
You've heard the phrase "Charity begins in the home?" Water conservation does as well. We started in the home and are moving into the yard and garden. We'll look at some easy changes you can put into effect that can have a significant impact on the quality of our drinking water and waterways.
#8 - Gardening (cont.) - Rain & Burn Barrels
This next entry is a good practice / bad practice sort of post. Let's start with something we have probably heard at least in passing more than the other and move on to happier topics.
Burn Barrels:
Maybe you have a place in the country where trash pickup and similar inaccessible or yardwork means a much bigger area to work with (aka farmland), and let's not get started on what gardening might entail (see above). Maybe you know someone out there or you yourself have special dispensation from the DNR. Truth is, with the amount of rural communities in Wisconsin, a decent number of people here know about or actually use burn barrels.
Like I said, or at least implied, most burn barrel use tends to be a little more rural with few exceptions. According to ApplianceAnalysts.com, "The goal of a burn barrel is to burn safe refuse cleanly and without a lot of smoke. In some places, it’s hard to get to a legal dump site. That’s where burn barrels come in. They’re a simple way to get rid of yard waste, sensitive documents, and burnable, non-toxic household trash." That last part is extremely important if you are one of those that use a barrel. There are plenty of issues with people either not being careful enough about what they put into it or how they burn as well, but either way, use in a city or urban area is usually prohibited and many states have instated a blanket ban on the subject.
While there might be reasons for having burn barrels on your property, it's also true that there can be some serious health and safety concerns. In fact, the EPA stresses that smoke from these fires often contain dangerous chemicals that affect your health and pollute the environment. Burn barrels, especially those improperly done, are a major source of dioxin, a proven carcinogen. If you live in an area where a legal dump site is hard to come by and you have to use one, here's what ApplianceAnalysts.com has to say about what makes a proper burn barrel to burn your nontoxic refuse safely:
First, the body and interior of the barrel should be fireproof and able to stand up to high temperatures. Hot fires produce less smoke than low-temperature fires, so metal is typically the best material for a burn barrel.
Second, the barrel has some holes in the bottom and the sides. The holes in the bottom allow rainwater to drain out of the barrel if it gets wet. Meanwhile, the holes in the sides and bottom let oxygen into the barrel. The more oxygen your fire gets, the hotter and more efficient it will be. That means that there will be less smoke, smell, and pollution from the fire.
Third, the high walls of the barrel are there for your protection. Sometimes things make it into a burn barrel that don’t react well to high temperatures. If something explodes, strong, high-walled burn barrels contain the debris and keep anyone from getting hurt.
More advanced burn barrels can have additional parts. Some will have ash-catchers in the bottom for easy cleanup. Others have grates and flanges to keep burning material collected in one place for a hotter burn. Most have grates on top to contain sparks, as well as lids to keep out the weather when the barrel isn’t in use.
For instructions on how to build a better burn barrel, see their site. And again, only nontoxic, nonexplosive materials should be disposed of this way. Plastic, hazardous waste (see previous hazardous waste post), and unstable compounds should not be disposed of in this manner.
For more information on necessary (but easily acquired) permits and restrictions, please visit the DNR at the below locations.
Rain Barrels:
Living in Wisconsin, we probably hear a little more about burn barrels than rain-, especially as conserving water, though important, is farther down our list of obvious concerns than in other locations with less prevalent water sources. However, that means that perhaps we need to focus on protecting and preserving those resources even more and showing some appreciation for what we have been blessed with.
Rain barrels are a great way to recycle a natural resource, rain, for later use. Lawn and garden watering uses about 40% of household water usage during the summer. Even if ecology and conservation isn't your thing, just think of your water bill. Using something like a rain barrel can drastically reduce that bill, utilizing runoff for things that don't need the level of water quality as that from your faucet.
How it works is rain that falls on the roof travels to the downspout or tubing into the barrel for later use. These barrels fill up fairly quickly. If connected to the downspout with a gutter diverter kit, there will also be an auto shut off valve when full, otherwise you can include an overflow valve to help keep the barrel from overflowing. Most barrels, while lacking a pump or any kind, have a spigot near the bottom and rely on gravity to expel it out of the barrel. Needless to say, the more water in the barrel, the faster the water is expelled. Having the barrel raised slightly, though not required, does also help. There are two important things to consider.
The overflow or shut off valve is important if you keep your barrel next to your house's foundation to divert excess, or at least some way to do so away from potential problem areas.
Since gravity is the sole expelling force, water will not flow uphill. Make sure the barrel is higher than what you are planning on watering and understand that the less water there is, the slower the flow.
For more information on the environmental impact and great ways to use your rain barrel, please see EPA.gov, LawnLove.com, and GetBusyGardening.com. They have some great information and ideas. UWM, Rutgers, and a number of other locations also have some great info, so give them a search. You might be surprised at what you find.
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