Free Water: Collecting Rainwater Is Catching on in the U.S. Bill Gates Foundation has just budgeted $4m to investigate the potential of rainwater harvesting in the third world. But what about the first world? America is rapidly catching on to water caching, as rainwater harvesting is also known. In the Bay Area, Tara Hui, a rainwater campaigner, climbed under her deck, nudged past a cluster of 55-gallon barrels and a roosting chicken, and pointed to a shiny metal gutter spout. "See that?" she said. "That's where the rainwater comes in from the roof." Hui is one of a growing band of people across the country turning to collected rainwater for non-drinking uses like watering plants, flushing toilets and washing laundry, reports Associated Press. Concern over drought and wasted resources, and stricter water conservation laws have revitalized the practice of capturing rainwater during storms and stockpiling it for use in drier times....