Rain Harvest - Rain Barrels, Utah Rivers Council

PARK CITY, Utah - Aug. 5, 2016 - PRLog -- Popular Rain Barrel Program Returns.

Municipalities Offering Rain Barrels to Help Residents Save Water and Money

The Utah Rivers Council is proud to announce the highly anticipated return of our popular RainHarvest program with Park City and Summit County. Residents of Park City and Summit County can purchase rain barrels for a greatly subsidized price of just $50 (quantities are limited). Rain barrels are also available for just $75 for residents outside these participating municipalities, a significant discount from the barrel's $129 retail price. Residents can pre-order discounted rain barrels online at www.savesomethingutah.org.

"This program is an important step toward conserving and protecting clean water in our community because it offers an inexpensive and proven option to help people make a difference in their own backyards," said Park City Mayor Jack Thomas.

"We want to encourage as many residents as possible to conserve water," said Claudia McMullin, Summit County Council Member. "Harvesting the rain can help us reduce demand on our municipal system and helps improve water quality at the same time."

Utah residents have the highest water use (per person) in the U.S. and rain barrels are one of many tools Utahns can use to reduce our high water use. Over 3,000 barrels have been purchased through the RainHarvest program thus far, meaning that 150,000 gallons of water are saved every time it rains enough to fill a 50-gallon barrel. Capturing rainwater also improves water quality by storing water on site and preventing urban runoff from flowing through streets and gutters and washing pollutants into streams and lakes. Rainwater harvesting is legal in Utah.

"Once someone starts capturing the rain, they grow passionate about conserving water and more conscious of how our water use is connected to our rivers and the wildlife species they support," said Nick Schou, Conservation Director for Utah Rivers Council.

After the barrels are purchased online, Park City and Summit County residents can pick them up on Saturday, August 20th from 9am to 12pm at the Treasure Mountain Middle School (2530 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060). At the barrel pick-up, volunteers will be on hand to teach participants about the importance of rainwater harvesting and other water conservation strategies.

Members of the media can contact Nick Schou at (801) 486-4776 or (801) 599-9223.

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