Rain barrel puts resource to use

Megan Feddersen — Staff Writer
FAIRMONT — “Every one of those ran to an underground tile,” said Scott Akers at Hawkeye Food Service, pointing to the rain gutters now directed into a translucent 1,060-gallon barrel.

Akers, vice president and general manager of the Fairmont facility, learned about Martin Soil & Water Conservation District’s rain barrel program several weeks ago and decided to apply the concept at Hawkeye.

“I’m not a tree hugger,” he said. ... “It’s a responsible thing to save your rain water. I grew up on a farm, and we did it. ... Now we’re all going back to things we did 50 years ago.”

The local conservation district has sold nearly 150 of the 50-gallon rain barrels since the program began earlier this year. According to information from SWCD, more than 700 gallons of water will run off a typical roof with an inch of rain from a moderate storm. That’s enough water to fill 14 bathtubs — and more than enough to fill the huge rain barrel at Hawkeye.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” Akers said.

He nodded at Hawkeye employee Kenny Goerndt: “Kenny’s an old farmer. I talked to him about it and he said, ‘I can do that.’”

Goerndt picked up the barrel at Ceylon Days, and he and fellow employee Jamie Thompson set up the new system, which cost about $1,000.

“It took some time to just stand back and visualize,” Goerndt said. “But it took just a day to switch all this over.”

A motor pumps rainwater from the barrel to sprinklers, watering lawn as needed on the east side of the property, where grass is just starting to grow. Overflow from the barrel is directed into underground tiling, to keep the ground dry around the factory.

“It’s been a learning process for all of us,” Goerndt said, including Fleet & Farm in his statement since the store provided some parts, equipment and knowledge for the project. “... So far the thing has worked good — so far. It’s not really that hard to do.”

Goerndt estimated a quarter-inch of rainwater running from the roof could nearly fill the barrel. Hawkeye also was getting water in the rain barrel on days when it hadn’t rained. When the freezer units defrost, evaporators at the plant produce 35 to 40 gallons per day, which is now collecting in the barrel and providing more water for the lawn.

“The only problem is that a thousand gallons doesn’t last for long” on a lawn the size of Hawkeye’s, Akers said. The company is looking for more barrels, thinking rainflow off the roof could fill three to four of the giant tanks.