Mayor's Office To Give Out Rebates As Rain Barrel Supply Dries Up

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An initiative from Mayor Eric Garcetti's office to provide barrels for Angelenos to conserve rainwater has proven to be quite popular with residents.

Due to overwhelming demand, the Rain Barrel Pilot Program in which about 1,000 45- and 55-gallon syrup barrels were re-purposed and distributed to city residents free of charge were no longer available as of Monday, according to a Garcetti spokesperson.

The syrup barrels, along with 1,000 conversion kits, were donated by Coca-Cola and were set to distributed over five Saturdays throughout the city. They can be connected to residential roof gutters and spouts and and can be used for watering plants and irrigating gardens or lawns.

While 400 additional barrels are expected to be made available in January, in the interim Angelenos can obtain a $100 rebate when they buy a rain barrel by visiting the Mayor's drought website and clicking "Rebates and Free Stuff."

Garcetti said the demand for the barrels was encouraging.

"Using rainwater to water your yard lowers your water bill and helps conserve our drinking water supply," said Garcetti. "It's tremendous to see Angelenos respond so strongly to our call for action against the drought."

The $100 rebate is enough to cover most, if not all, of the cost of a residential rain barrel, officials said.