Build a rain barrel, help Lake Champlain

Update: This event has been postponed.

Ready for spring? Then join the Rethink Runoff stream team in a rain barrel workshop and build and paint a rain barrel in preparation for warmer weather.

By installing a rain barrel you can save water and money and help local streams at the same time. The stream team is hosting a workshop to teach you how to build, paint, install and maintain your own rain barrel.

When it rains, stormwater moves quickly over impervious surfaces such as buildings and roads, picking up pollutants like nutrients, sediment, oil, chemicals, road salt and metals. By capturing stormwater before it flows over roads urban residents can help decrease the amount of pollutants entering Lake Champlain.

The water you save in a rain barrel can be used for watering lawns and flower gardens and washing your car or tools. Rain barrels help decrease runoff to Lake Champlain by capturing and holding rain water during a storm, and that means cleaner water for everyone.

Two workshops will be held on Friday, April 14, at the Public Works Facility, 291 Avenue A, Williston, 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m.

To sign up, visit bit.ly/3T7q24L.

Priority will be given to Shelburne residents, but residents of other towns (see list below) can register, and their names will be added to a wait list. The cost is $40, which covers the cost of supplies. Email Adelaide Dumm with questions at adelaide@winooskinrcd.org.

Rethink Runoff, a program managed by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, is an ongoing public outreach effort to reduce dirt and pollutants in stormwater runoff in the Lake Champlain Basin.

The Stream Team is a project to engage citizens across a nine-municipality area — Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction, Milton, Shelburne, South Burlington, Williston, Colchester and Winooski — to implement projects that reduce nonpoint source pollution and stormwater volume at the local level. The program is coordinated by the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District.