Catching Rain One Barrel at a Time Dr. Dotty Woodson Extension Program Specialist Water Resources Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Urban Solutions Center Dallas, TX

Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Part of the Texas A&M University System TAMU is part of the Land Grant System Extension is the Largest Adult Continuing Education Provider in Texas Office in Every County 12 Research and Extension Centers

Texas AgriLife Research and Extension State Rainwater Harvesting Team Local Water Team Master Gardener Specialist Program American Rainwater Catchment System Association Texas Rain Catchment System Association

Why Rain Barrels Water Conservation Water Quality Stormwater Control

Barrels Recycled food grade containers 55 gallons Stackable Non-stackable

Cost of Classes Barrel Hose Bib Adapter Caulk Insect Netting Drills –Spade Bit –Hole Saw Transportation

Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Collaboration with Cities Extension Provides: –Program Specialist –MG Volunteers –Barrels –All other Supplies –Fact Sheets –Invoice Cities Provides: –Scheduling –Marketing –Registration –Assistance –Location –Cleanup

City/County Departments Water Conservation Public Works Parks Stormwater

Teaching Method Lecture Power point Demonstration Hands-on Making the Rain Barrel –Indoors –Outdoors

Cities/ Counties Tarrant County Allen Garland Mesquite Arlington Denton

Instructor and Assistants City Personnel Water District Personnel Extension Educators Master Gardener Specialist – Rainwater Harvesting

Making a Rain Barrel Drill Hole for Hose Bib 1” or 15/16” spade bit for ¾” faucet ¾” spade bit for ½” faucet

Making a Rain Barrel Caulk Faucet Threads Screw Faucet into Barrel Hold in Place with PVC Adapter

Making a Rain Barrel Drill Hole in Lid or Top with 6” Hole Saw

Making a Rain Barrel Cover Hole with Insect Netting

Making a Rain Barrel Decorate Barrel Downspout Landscape Drip Tubing

Attach to Downspout Many choices at hardware stores Professional gutter installers

Challenges Finding a reliable source for barrels Transportation Storage Cleaning Class Location

Barrel Sources Barrel Vendor Food Production Companies Feed Stores Cleaning Contractors

Transporting Barrels Truck Trailer Weight Time Storage

Before Class At Class

Cleaning Barrels Provider Storage Power Washer Car Wash

Class Location Flooring –Carpeting Elevators Stairs

Demonstrations

Success Story Barrels, Barrels and More Barrels 700 barrels 38,500 gallons/rain event 1,232,000 gallons/year

Success Story Evaluations 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the activity. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the information being what they expected. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the information being accurate. 94% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the information being easy to understand. 94% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the completeness of information given on each topic. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the timeliness of information given on each topic. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the helpfulness of the information in decisions about your own situation. 94% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the quality of course materials. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the relevance of the examples used. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the instructor’s knowledge level on the subject. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the instructor’s speaking / presentation abilities. 100% of respondents were mostly or completely satisfied with the instructor’s organization / preparedness. 100% of respondents plan to take actions or make changes based on the information from this activity. 92% of respondents anticipate benefiting economically as a direct result of what they learned from this Extension activity.

Success Story Testimonials Great class Best class I ever had Everything was great I will be making more of these Thanks for the great information ‘On behalf of Shelley Franklin and myself, I am writing to let you know what an outstanding job Dotty Woodson has done at both the Garland (March 14th) and Mesquite (April 25th). These classes have exceeded both my and Shelley’s expectations and it is so rewarding to see that every evaluation form filled out by the participants have all indicated that the class has “completely” met their expectations. What I have appreciated most about the classes is the response from the participants who not only thanked Dotty for the excellent teaching as they left, but have thanked me for providing these classes and have commented that they would gladly attend another class taught by Dotty. As the Water Conservation Coordinator in my city, it is very satisfying to know that we are meeting a need in our community for these types of educational opportunities to teach our residents about the importance of water conservation.’

Resources horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/index.html

For More Information Dotty Woodson Extension Program Specialist- Water Resources Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Coit Road Dallas, Texas