How to harvest rainwater — and why you want to

Though people have been collecting rainwater for thousands of years, the process can be mystifying.

“Most homeowners know what a rain barrel is. They know the design they want and how much they’re willing to pay, yet they don’t know how to connect them to their home properly,” says Kara Young, creative director of Rainplan, a company that helps homeowners find contractors and incentives for storm water collection. “It’s sort of like home-buying, with lower stakes, of course. Most of us know the generalities of the process but when we actually start, we realize there are a lot of considerations and details we weren’t aware of.”