Drip Irrigation Systems: Simple, Efficient, & Eco-friendly

In our opinion, adding a drip irrigation component to your rainwater harvesting system is one of the most worthwhile things you can do. One of our favorite aspects of a drip irrigation system is its simplicity. Moreover, we like to think of the drip irrigation system as a "robotic rain barrel." In today's post we'd like to demonstrate the following:

• Creating a drip irrigation system is simple
• A drip irrigation system is easy to use and will simplify your watering routine
• Drip irrigation is a very eco-friendly and efficient way to water

Creating a drip irrigation system:

To start your system, we recommend getting a drip irrigation kit, which can be found at home supply stores, and which usually includes 25 or 50 feet of black irrigation tubing, a variety of watering tips (also referred to as drip emitters or sprinkler tips), a small plastic tool to puncture your tubing and install your drip emitters, connectors (like tee fittings and 90-degree elbows), hole plugs, and a threaded connector that attaches to the valve on your rain barrel, much like the end of a garden hose. 

Above is a picture of the black irrigation tubing with a tee fitting that connects three separate ends of the tubing. The tee fitting allows you to create a larger system  by "branching out," your water flow, which makes it simple to to water multiple sites that may be spread out over some distance.

Pictured here is one of the watering tips that was included in the drip irrigation kit we purchased. If you look closely, you can see the drops of water from the gentle stream that is emitted from this particular tip.  As mentioned above, there are a variety of tips available, some producing very heavy streams of water and others whose output is much less.

To begin, simply unroll your tubing and lay it on top of the ground next to the plants, trees, etc. that you intend to water. This is a great way to start, as you can get your first look at how much tubing you will need, how many tips you will need and where to insert the tips in the tubing. You will also get a feel for where, if anywhere, you will need a tee fitting or an elbow to change the direction of your water flow. Be sure to place one end of your tubing at your rain barrel, since this is where your water flow will originate. 

Once you have decided on where you will need to water, and are happy with your layout of the tubing on the ground, all you need to do next is puncture your tubing at your plant sites with the tool provided in the kit. 

Then, insert the sprinkler tips from the kit into the holes you just created. 

TIP! Your kit is going to come with several different kinds of watering tips. We recommend trying all of the tips in the different holes. Some will inevitably work better with your system than others. Once you have placed the watering tips into the holes, connect one end of your irrigation tubing to the valve on your rainwater harvesting system. Then turn on/open the valve and let the water start flowing through the tubing and out of the tips, so you can see how each of the tips works. You may find you need to move the tips around, discontinue use of a particular tip, or purchase additional tips of one variety, depending on how much water the plants you are irrigating need and what type of output the tips you are experimenting with actually produce. Keep in mind that in many cases with harvested rainwater systems we are operating off gravity alone, and some of the watering tips are designed for use with pump-operated systems, so the output may be less than advertised.


Once you've used your drip irrigation system for a bit, you'll likely want to expand the system, especially (if you're like us) if you have a tendency to keep adding more and more plants and trees into your landscape. It's not unreasonable to have a drip irrigation system consisting of 100 feet or more of tubing connected to a single rain barrel. 


Let's talk aesthetics. Once you have your system working, you might decide you don't want to look at the tubing laying all around your yard. To this end, you can simply lay mulch or other cover over the tubing. Or, you can create a narrow trench and actually bury the tubing underground. If you decide to bury the tubing, be sure it will be out of reach of lawn mowers and other equipment that may damage or sever the tubing. If you feel you might want to expand your system down the road, you might not want to bury your tubing right away, as this makes it a bit more work to expand, since you will need to dig up certain areas to attach tee fittings and elbows. 


WHAT WE DID: When we created our drip irrigation system (which we are always expanding, by the way) we buried some of the tubing, while leaving some of it uncovered. Why you might ask? The part of the system we buried carries water to two trees, which we knew we were going to keep around for a long time, and which we knew we would not place other plants near. Therefore, we would have no need to dig up the tubing in this area of the landscape for any reason. However, on the other side of the yard, we have several in-ground garden beds which we are constantly adding plants to. When we add a new plant, we will need to puncture new holes so that the water from the drip irrigation system will reach them. Thus, it's much easier to simply leave the tubing on the ground and cover it with mulch, so that we can easily access the tubing to allow for the addition of plant sites to water. 


If you are certain that you will not be adding additional plant sites (maybe you are replacing one plant with another in the same (or a nearby) location) burying the tubing works well. Just be sure to keep the watering tip a little above the surface.


What if you remove a plant or tree from a particular spot and don't want the water to be emitted there anymore? No problem! Most drip irrigation kits also come with "goof plugs" which you simply insert into the hole you originally created (after removing the watering tip of course) and your hole is now plugged.


A drip irrigation system is easy to use and will simplify your watering routine.
Once your drip irrigation system is up and running with your rain barrel or other rainwater harvesting system, we bet you will find that it is incredibly easy to use and will cut down the time and energy it takes to keep your landscape healthy and beautiful. Literally, all it takes is opening the valve on your rain barrel, and all of your plants and trees are watered simultaneously. Gone is the need to makes dozens of trips back and forth to your rain barrel with a watering can. No more unrolling the hose and dragging it around the yard, wasting water while you walk, snagging it on every tree, plant, and rock as you go. Hey, add a timer to your rain barrel and you've basically got a robot that waters for you!

Drip irrigation is an eco-friendly and efficient way to water.

One of our favorite features of a drip irrigation system is its efficiency. With drip irrigation, you can direct your water to exactly where you want it, down to the smallest of areas. Try achieving that with a traditional sprinkler...we've all seen driveways and sidewalks being watered by sprinklers, but they never seem to grow! In addition, the design of the drip irrigation system is such that much smaller amounts of water are used in each irrigation cycle, which helps conserve your stored rainwater supply. Plus, by reducing how much water goes to each plant site, we can essentially prevent flooding our plants and help control erosion.

We hope this post has been helpful and demonstrates that adding drip irrigation to your rainwater harvesting system doesn't have to be difficult or intimidating, and can make irrigating easy, efficient, and hassle-free.

Check out our video below, which walks you through some of the basic steps to create a drip irrigation system.

We would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or ask a question if you feel so moved, and we will gladly respond. Help us spread the word and get the discussion going on water conservation. Every little bit helps!

Happy harvesting!

~Sarasota Rain Barrels

Can One Rain Barrel Really Make a Difference?

Here's a question we know runs through the minds of many people who may be contemplating whether or not to install a rain barrel, : will my rain barrel really make a difference?


The short answer is: Yes!

Now, let us explain.

There are an estimated 150,000 occupied dwellings in Sarasota County, Florida. A quarter-inch of rain will easily fill a 55-gallon barrel. If each of these 150,000 buildings installed one 55-gallon rain barrel, that's 8,250,000 gallons of water per just .25 inches of rainfall that can be harvested, used for a variety of different applications, and then released back into the ground. That's over eight million gallons of rainwater that can be recycled without tapping into any groundwater resources!

Every step taken towards conserving groundwater supplies is like taking two steps forward. How? Every time we recycle rainwater, we're not only conserving groundwater resources, but the use of harvested rainwater (on landscapes in particular) helps to recharge the groundwater supplies, which are incredibly overburdened. For instance, in Sarasota County, 28.71 million gallons of fresh water are withdrawn for public use each day. 97% of this water withdrawal comes from the ground, and 3% comes from the surface (City-Data.com). With numbers like this, it's easy to see that our current water usage situation is not permanently sustainable. We are taking water out of our groundwater supplies at a much faster rate than it takes to replenish them. Now, if we all install our one 55-gallon rain barrel, we are not only withdrawing less, we are taking steps to put more water back to refill Florida's aquifer. That's making a difference!

Another question you may have is this: with the scarcity of rainfall events in some geographic locations, is it even worth having a rain barrel?

Again, the short answer is: Yes!

We here in southwest Florida are no strangers to drought conditions. By capturing the rain when it DOES fall, we've now got a supply for use in between rainfall events. In our own personal gardens, we solely irrigate with harvested rainwater. In most cases, we will use our supply of rainwater 6 to 10 times in between  rainfall events, so if our plants could talk, they'd tell you it has "rained" a half dozen times or more during the dry spells, while many of the neighbors' plants would complain of dry, hot conditions. This is why cisterns are very popular in many desert regions. On the surface, it may seem counter-intuitive to have a rainwater harvesting system in the desert, however, many desert-dwellers do have rainwater harvesting systems, and very large ones, in an attempt to capture as close to 100% of the rain that falls as possible.

Below is a rainwater calculator (customized for Sarasota, Florida's average annual rainfall).

To calculate your rainwater harvest potential, find the estimated square feet of your house, and remember to factor in that your roof is larger than your house because of the overhangs. Find this number in the left blue column. Then follow the row across to the right to estimate how much water is falling on your roof during various sized rainfall events. The column labeled in yellow on the far right shows the harvest potential for Sarasota, Florida's average yearly rainfall.

With a rainwater harvesting system, you can be the master of your own weather! Make it rain, any time, night or day--just use your rain barrel! How's that for a rain dance?

We hope that we have shown that even in small steps, we can make a difference in a positive way.

~Sarasota Rain Barrels

Rain Barrel Water Pressure Demonstration.

Hi everyone, we thought this would be a good first post on our blog. We want to share one of the most important components in a gravity-fed rain barrel: THE VALVE. In our 37-second YouTube video, you will clearly see the massive difference in water flow between a 1/4 turn ball valve and a standard silcock valve. Many rain barrels aren't sold with the more efficient ball valve but can easily be converted! We hope this inspires you to begin to explore the possibilities of what you can do with harvested rainwater.

Stay tuned...we'll be back soon with more tips, tricks and info!

~Sarasota Rain Barrels