Save drinking water: Rain barrels on sale at the City of Vancouver

The City of Vancouver is selling rain barrels to help residents collect rain water.

With water restrictions starting two weeks early this year, the city is advisingpeople to use the chlorine-free, slightly acidicwater collected in the rain barrels on their gardens.

The city says using the barrels helps save treated drinking water, which is often in short supply in summer months.

The barrels will be on sale on April 30 at VanDusenBotanical Garden from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. PT.

Rain barrels will be available in May in various municipalities.

They come at a cost of $51 each.

"It is an easy-to-install system. You just hook it up to your house, it captures the rain during our rainy months and makes it available for irrigation of your gardenduring our hot dry summers," saidJennifer Bailey, water conservation program manager at the City of Vancouver.

With files from the CBC's The Early Editionand Catherine Rolfsen.

To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled:Save water: buy a rain barrel from the City of Vancouver.