I don't think we're technically allowed to have rain barrels in our HOA strict neighborhood so we purchased this one because it doubles as a planter and looks like a planter. It's very sturdy and from afar truly looks like a large planter. It's very high quality and we have already noticed a big difference in our watering, we have been able to do a lot of watering from this barrel. You don't need a lot of heavy rainfall to fill it up.