The Utah Rivers Council is proud to announce the highly anticipated return of their RainHarvest program with Murray City, Salt Lake County and Eagle Mountain.
Residents of Murray, Salt Lake County and Eagle Mountain 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 Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams.
“We want to do everything we can to help residents conserve water,” said Murray City Mayor Ted Eyre.“Harvesting the rain can help us reduce demand on our municipal systems and helps prevent water pollution at the same time.”
“We acknowledge that Utah’s water future will change as our population grows, and we have a responsibility to plan for that future” said Eagle Mountain Mayor Chris Pengra. “Participating in this great program is one step we can take to accept this responsibility as stewards of our water resources.”
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 2300 barrels were purchased through RainHarvest last year, meaning that 115,000 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, Murray and Salt Lake County residents can pick them up on Saturday, June 18thfrom 8am to 12 pm at the U of U tailgate parking lot (adjacent to the Salt Lake County Sports Complex, 595 S. Guardsman Way, Salt Lake City). Eagle Mountain residents can pick their barrels up at a date and location still to be determined.At the barrel pick-up, volunteers will be on hand to teach residents about rainwater harvesting and other water conservation strategies.
