Although it will be a few months yet before we can get our hands back into our rooftop garden, we’ve been thinking about ways to improve our operations in 2011.
We have a water source on our rooftop that we use to water our garden, but we haven’t ventured into the world of rain barrels. 2011 might be the year, especially after discovering the beautifully designed Pure Raindrop and Raindrop Mini by Bas van der Veer:
The Pure Raindrop rain barrel has a watering can built in that fills up automatically and makes plant watering easy. When the watering can is empty, open the tap at the bottom of the Raindrop and refill it!
Here’s the Pure Raindrop exhibited at the Trend Garden in Appeltern, The Netherlands:
For urban and small space dwellers, van der Veer developed the Raindrop Mini, and it is just as beautiful as the original design:
It was designed specifically for use on balconies and in small gardens, and it comes in a variety of colors (shown here with the designer):
Did you know rain barrels could be so sleek?! Neither did we.
Images: Bas van der Veer
via Inhabitat
Sorry to be dour about your enthusiasm for sustainable practices, and as much as I want to say that all rain harvesting is good, this isn’t it. I love the sleek design but this isn’t a rainbarrel, and neither is it in any way an effective measure to advance rain harvesting. Yes, RwH needs good aesthetic design, but that’s no replacement for efficiency. These would achieve virtually no beneficial gain in terms of what RwH’s primary goals – stormwater capture, and/or potable water demand management. The amount of rain which would bypass this product is probably 90+% of flow, meaning that it would rapidly need an alternative water supply. Gardening and lawn maintenance, even on a small scale, requires far larger amounts of water than generally understood. Most municipalities typically produce 40% more potable water per irrigation season than in non-irrigation seasons – an indicator of just how much is demanded, and how much we have to cut back on yard irrigation. Possibly you’d like to install a RiverSafe Rainbarrel or a Water Hog, both excellent designs.
These look awesome. I hope they, or something similar, eventually become available in the US.
Wow Bas van der Veer pure raindrop looks stunning and raindrop mini looks more classy!
I love that garden in Appeltern. Beautiful!