Rain Barrel Decoration Contest

"The Illinois Department of Transportation made a contest, and to win we have to make a design to decorate a rain barrel.  Usually when it rains, water goes in the sewer and floods.  But a rain barrel stops that.  Water goes in the rain barrel from the downspout so we can use it later.  We can water plants with this.  When that stops the rest of the water goes in the ground.  Then goes into the lake.  It takes a long time to get there.  By the time it is there it is clean.  If it was in the sewer it would be very dirty, and some people swim in the water in the lake."
--Dakota

"The Illinois Department of Transportation has made a contest to give a school a rain barrel.  Rain barrels help you be able to collect rain.  It then allows you to dump that rain in your garden.  It also helps us in a lot of ways.  When it rains, it goes into the ground anyway.  But we can have the power to dump later when it isn't raining.  This way we can save water for the school.  We can even save water for the whole community.  This is very useful and helpful.  This way we can conserve water.  I love rain barrels!"
--Jamari