Below is a picture of one pair of rain barrels that we have set up in our yard.
These 55-gallon food-grade plastic barrels were painted on the outside to match
the color of our stucco house with spray paint for plastics.
There's a
faucet near the bottom for watering my plants (mostly the vegetable gardens--the rest of the yard is planted primarily in natives, which don't require supplemental watering).
There's a green hose connecting the two barrels at the bottom to equalize the water between them.
The
black hose going off the top of the right barrel is to channel the overflow
out into the yard.
The opening in one barrel is covered with screen to prevent
mosquito breeding.
I have a total of 8 barrels at 4 downspouts. It doesn't take very long for them to get filled up. About half an inch of rain fills all barrels, giving me over 400 gallons of water.
