Rein the Rain! SB Channelkeeper Partners with Vintners and Brewers to Help Community Conserve Water with Repurposed Rain Barrels
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Partners with Vintners and Brewers to Help Community Conserve Water with Repurposed Rain Barrels
At long last, a series of welcome winter storms dropped some much-needed rain on the South Coast.
In an effort to help the community conserve water by capturing that free, clean rainwater for later reuse, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is partnering with local breweries and wineries to repurpose barrels previously used to age beer and wine into rain barrels.
Through Channelkeeper’s Rein the Rain Project, several local brewers and vintners, including Figueroa Mountain Brewery, Beckmen Winery, Buttonwood Winery and Imagine Wines, have donated used barrels to Channelkeeper.
Channelkeeper has purchased simple kits that convert the barrels into rain barrels and is offering the barrels and kits for sale for $100.
These oak barrels hold 60 gallons and fill quickly by capturing rain running off even a small roof with just one-quarter inch of rain, storing it for later reuse for plant and landscape irrigation.
The barrels are available for pickup at the Channelkeeper office, 714 Bond Ave., Santa Barbara. Tthe conversion kits come complete with step-by-step directions and all the pieces needed to connect the barrel to a rectangular downspout.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with local breweries and wineries to recycle used barrels and turn them into attractive water-saving devices that anyone can use,” said Kira Redmond, executive director of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
“Even with all the recent rain, we need to make conservation a way of life in Santa Barbara,” Redmond said.
“This is such a fun and innovative way for us to spread the word about water conservation to a broader audience, and to give people who want to make a difference an easy tool to conserve water, save money and prevent pollution at the same time,” Redmond said..
Despite the recent deluge, Santa Barbara’s primary water supply source, Lake Cachuma, is still only at 14 percent capacity, and Santa Barbara County remains one of the last remaining regions in California still in an extreme drought.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper has been championing sustainable water supply solutions in response to the drought, including rainwater capture, recycled water and heightened water use efficiency, over more expensive and environmentally harmful alternatives like seawater desalination.
Helping set community members up with simple tools like rain barrels (which conserve water and reduce stormwater runoff, the main source of water pollution) complements Channelkeeper’s advocacy and public education efforts to facilitate a transition to a more sustainable water supply portfolio on the South Coast, Redmond said.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s mission is to protect and restore the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds through science-based advocacy, education, field work and enforcement. To learn more, visit www.sbck.org.
— Kira Redmond for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper,