I ordered a rain barrel for my Mother’s Day gift, and last week I installed it in a corner of my yard where it has always been difficult to drag a garden hose. I pretty much can’t shut up about how much I love my rain barrel, which makes it a snap to water beds at the back of the yard and provides a convenient source of water for my chicken coop. I highly recommend getting one…both a rain barrel AND a chicken coop. We can talk about chicken coops another day, but for now, here’s a look at rain barrels, by the numbers.

700: Number of rain barrels recently subsidized and distributed by Metro Water Services in an effort to reduce tap water usage and to divert runoff from Nashville’s stormwater drains and the Cumberland River

600: Gallons of water that can be collected for every inch of rainfall that lands on a 1,000-square-foot roof

400 Approximate weight in pounds of my new rain barrel when it is full

$52.50: Cost of a rain barrel after subsidy from Metro Water Services

50: Gallons a typical residential rain barrel might hold

30: Minutes it took to saw off an aluminum downspout and place a 50-gallon rain barrel on a pair of cinderblocks below it.

5: Minutes it took an afternoon thunderstorm storm to fill the rain barrel

2: Minimum number of additional rain barrels I’d like to acquire, now that I know how simple they are to install.

For more information about how rain barrels work and where to get them, visit Metro Water Services.