University City's Free Rain Barrel Initiative is Nearing End

University City residents have until next month to apply for  a free rain barrel from the City.

"The end of March is the last chance to get the free barrels," said Eric Karch, Chair of the River Des Peres Watershed Coalition. The barrel is installed free of charge. "If you're a U City resident it's a great deal," Karch said.

The City was able to provide the free barrels through a federal grant, which is expiring. 

So, why the need for rain barrels?

Karch said the big problem in St. Louis is combined sewer overflows. "We're all just trying to keep poop out of the river (River des Peres)," Karch said. He noted that because St. Louis is an old city, it only has one pipe for both sewage and rain water, where new cities have two separate systems.

Rain barrels reduce the amount of water in sewers thereby reducing the amount of sewage and polluted runoff that overflows directly into the River des Peres.

Karch said the point of a rain barrel is to hold water back onto your property and keep it out of the water system. "If you can do that, you lower the frequency with which we release raw sewage into the river."

Karch said ideally, an average size home would have four rain barrels.