Barrels of fun

By Tom Opdyke  |   2008-6-7  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CLASSES teach residents ways to conserve water, but building a rain catcher presents its own challenges

No matter what anybody tells you about making a rain barrel, long arms and a pair of long-handled pliers are the key.

"You're going to have to climb into the barrel," a frustrated Annaleise Fredeman told her helper as they tried to fasten a PVC elbow to the threaded faucet shaft inside the barrel near the bottom.

She was among 25 participants in a recent free barrel-making class sponsored by the Cobb County Water System.

It costs the agency about US$40 for the fittings and the rain barrel, a food-grade 55-gallon drum, and participants take home their barrels.

Most of the work is easy: a hole drilled here, a cut in the top with a jigsaw. But fastening that elbow about 15 centimeters from the bottom of the barrel takes patience and reach. Long-handled pliers are your best choice.

Fredeman, an emergency room nurse, said she came to learn ways to avoid the dire consequences of drought that her homeland of Australia is experiencing.

"They're doing a lot of this at home, and I thought I would give it a try," she said.

Parts of the country are in the worst drought in a century, and many areas are doing all they can to encourage conservation.

Paula Hensel of east Cobb came because she doesn't want to worry about her plants and shrubs through another arid summer.

"I'm learning more about the value of water," she said, standing proudly in front of her finished barrel.

"Now, if I can convince some neighbors to do the same thing."