High School Turns Water Conservation into Art Work

We've heard of harvesting crops and vegetables... But harvesting water?

"Rain barrels became a very popular thing because if you can collect your own rain water and use that in your house plants and in your garden then that's very beneficial and financially nice," said Patty Hurley of the Clean Water Partnership.

And before these barrels were used for water conservation, they had a much different purpose.

“Instead of having going to waste or a landfill, that product is now being used in residence and other businesses, and it's also attractive, the artwork is amazing,” said Randy Ford of Coca-Cola Enterprises.

It took some time though before these former coke containers were brought to their present glory.

"The project was a little challenging to do because of the new medium and trying to get the acrylic on not to thick and not to thin, but the designs were kind of hard because I didn't know exactly what to put on a rain barrel," said Brittany Gunnells, a Junior at LAMP.

But after three months of planning and painting, barrels worthy of national championships emerged.

And they're selling for one-hundred dollars.

"Now the way these rain barrels work is fairly simply. All you do is attach the hose to your gutter. Then once this barrel fills up with water you can get the conserved water from this knob at the bottom."

The only hard part is choosing which barrel you like the best.

"I wanted to design my own and I wanted to do one for my dad, and because of the teaching process I wasn't able to get off to the side and do my own, but I have my eye on one," said Sally Chambliss, the Visual Arts teacher at LAMP.

The money raised from this rain barrel project is going to the art program and the school grounds beautification project.

via wncftv.com