Action Overview

Clean water is a precious resource. We drink it, we use it to keep ourselves and our homes clean, and many of us use lots of it to keep our lawns and gardens looking good. Water is also a limited resource, which makes it even more important to conserve and use wisely. One way we help conserve this resource is to collect rain and use it to water your landscape. To calculate the rain harvesting potential from your own roof, you can use a rain gauge. This activity leads you through creating your own at home rain gauge.  

Instructions

1. Gather materials: clear plastic container (tall enough to collect rain, measuring 4-8 inches in diameter and flat sides), ruler, permanent marker, handful of gravel.
2. Print this DIY Rain Gauge Data Sheet. 
3. Place the gravel at the bottom of the plastic container to keep it from tipping over outside.
4. Fill the container with water up to the level of the gravel. This will be the “zero” when marking measurements on your container.
5. Using the ruler, place a mark every half inch along the side of your container so you can measure how much rain you capture.
6. Place the container outside in an area that will receive full rainfall.
7. Complete the DIY Rain Gauge Data Sheet.
8. Return to your computer and complete the easy Google form below to help your community leaders make plans for the future.

Evaluate and Report

Your City will want to know how popular rain harvesting is in your community. This information might lead to educational programming or distributing additional resources toward these solutions. Submit your findings to your jurisdiction. 

Submit findings