Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Holler Down My Rain Barrel

Everything old is new again. The City of San Diego has rediscovered rain barrels. Our ancestors knew all about these; many in Hawaii use them today to collect fresh water and have used them for decades.

Do you suppose what they believe is new is the idea that rainwater runoff is dirty and pollutes the bay? We knew that on Guam thirty years ago. We'd get a big rainstorm, which would flush boonie dog droppings and garbage into the lagoons. The public health guys would place the lagoons off limits until the e coli levels went down.

Aha, I've got it. The new idea is to use rain barrels to cut down on runoff. I'll give 'em that one, I suspect it is truly new. Imagine how many thousand barrels you'd need to make a dent in the runoff from a good rain. Go here to see the article from the web page of the San Diego Union-Tribune.