Eight Ways To Use Rainwater

These days, an increasing number of people are doing their best to conserve water and reduce their carbon footprint. It's an admirable way to minimize environmental harm. Collecting rainwater is a great way to start, especially when you consider how many ways you can use it.

Rainwater has many uses, and you can even drink it if you distill and treat it, unless you collect it from the roof. You can also wash your car, water your plants, and clean your clothes using collected rainwater. That said, the best way to use rainwater is for your plants, as it typically requires no preparation.

It’s worth noting that rainwater gets tainted by environmental contaminants as it falls. Unfortunately, your roof and siding may contain forever chemicals, so you shouldn’t drink rainwater from that source. Follow along as we highlight eight uses for rainwater and explore why collecting rainwater is so important.

How To Use Collected Rainwater

There is no shortage of ways to use rainwater, so long as you do some homework. For example, you shouldn’t drink from your roof-collected rain barrel because you can get sick. However, other uses include:

1. Distill And Drink It

While you shouldn’t drink fresh rainwater, you can with some preparation. The atmosphere is polluted, and rain collects many impurities as it falls. You can only safely drink it if you distill it or use a reverse osmosis process. Water distillation systems remove impurities and contaminants to make it safe.

That said, a system is quite expensive, but a worthwhile investment if you live in a rainy climate. You can also make rain potable by using a UV lamp and a reverse osmosis filter.

2. Water Plants

What better way to use rainwater than to water your plants? Not only is this practical and convenient, but it can also help you reduce your carbon footprint. You won’t need to run your hose as often, which saves water and money over time. Don't use roof-collected rainwater for your plants unless you distill it first, since it's prone to more impurities from the chemicals in roofing materials.

You can safely water plants with rainwater collected a distance from your roof. This may even be significantly better than watering your plants with tap water. Many homes have hard water, which isn’t great for plants due to the excessive minerals. It’s worth collecting water for your plants without unnecessary chemicals, like chlorine.

3. Moisten Compost

Compost is quite resilient, but it can go bad over time, especially when it becomes dry. Composting is all about sustainability, so you can moisten it with rainwater. Be careful doing it, as overly damp compost is as bad for the compost as it being brittle and dry.

Not enough moisture will slow a compost’s decomposition rate, which makes it largely ineffective. There is no exact, universal moisture level for compost bins but the general rule of thumb is that it should consistently feel like a freshly wrung-out sponge. On the flip side, your compost should never feel too wet, or else it will become anaerobic and start to smell.

4. Clean Windows

Anyone who has hard water at home can relate to cleaning windows and mirrors and leaving streaks of minerals behind. Hard water has a distinct residue that reduces the effectiveness of cleaning, but rainwater is a perfect alternative, unless you collect the water from the roof. That rain may contain chemicals and impurities from roofing materials.

While you can clean exterior windows with fresh rainwater, you should distill it for interior windows and mirrors, sinceeven rainwater that doesn’t roll off the roof can collect pollutants.  If that’s out of your budget, you can simply focus on exterior windows. That alone can save you plenty of water and money compared to blasting your windows with hard water.

5. Wash The Car

Your car likely gets pretty dirty. Cleaning it isn’t necessarily fun, but it’s necessary. People typically use at least 40 gallons of water when washing their car, and that’s on the low end of the spectrum. A lot of that gets wasted while you’re scrubbing and rinsing your car.

You can save a ton of water and money by using rainwater instead. You may need to use your hose for a bit, depending on how much rainwater you've collected, but you can save at least a few dozen gallons of water each time you wash your car with it.

6. Save Toilet Water

Today, you can connect your rainwater collection to your toilet to minimize wasting water. You can find commercial rainwater storage systems that connect to a toilet to reduce how much municipal water you use at home. This lets you flush the toilet for free, saving money and reducing your carbon footprint in the community.

Getting started can cost around $4,500, but it depends on the materials needed and your current plumbing setup. It can cost much less if you already have the materials and must only pay for the plumbing work. The key is to use a food-grade hose and connect it from your collection system to the toilet, for sanitary purposes.

7. Fill Birdbath/Fountain

Assuming you’re not using roof-collected water, you can use rainwater to fill a birdbath. It's what normally sits in a birdbath anyway, so why not top it off? That’s especially true if the birdbath is dirty and full of debris. It's the perfect time to clean and refill it with a fresh batch of rainwater.

Not only will your local bird population appreciate it, but you can also protect them. Stale water is susceptible to harmful bacteria and insect larvae, which will eventually hatch. You can do the same with any fountain on your property, as rainwater is better than hard tap water. Just make sure you only use rainwater that hasn’t rolled off your home’s walls, roofs, and walkways.

8. Wash Clothes

Whether you do it by hand or use a gravity-feed washing machine, you can wash your clothes with fresh rainwater. Only do this if it’s been distilled and treated, or if you know it didn’t come from the roof. Rainwater is “soft”, which makes it better for washing clothes than hard water that’s full of minerals, like magnesium.

Fill a clean tub with rainwater and a mild detergent, scrub and stir your clothes. This is a great way to make the most of collected rainwater, save money on laundry, and be as resourceful as possible.

How Long Will Rainwater Stay Fresh?

Rainwater typically stays drinkable for up to 2 months after collecting and treating it, but you can keep it fresh for years if you only plan to water your plants with it. However, you can ruin rainwater by storing it in a contaminated container. It may go bad immediately, and you shouldn’t drink it or water your plants with it.

You must store it in an opaque container and seal it well. Otherwise, flying insects could enter the water container and lay eggs on the surface. This is less of a problem if you only plan to use the water in the garden. However, you shouldn’t drink rainwater that has mosquitoes and other insects, even if it’s “fresh”.

Summing it Up

You can collect rain and use it to water your plants, moisten your compost, and clean your windows. It's also better for doing laundry and washing cars than tap water in many cases, as it doesn’t contain excessive minerals. You can also connect a rain collection system to your toilet to save water and money and lessen your carbon footprint.

Related Guides:

• How To Save Plants From Heavy Rain
• How To Keep Rain From Blowing On Your Porch