SAN DIEGO -- The city of San Diego is getting into the rain-collecting business, as the Storm Water Department has installed several rainwater collection systems at several city buildings to save money, for water landscaping and to prevent polluted runoff.

The program, called the Municipal Rain Barrel/Downspout Disconnect Program, is a system that the city will use to collect rain off rooftops in a 55-gallon barrel -- as opposed to letting the water run down the street into a storm drain.

Storm Water Department officials said the program saves money on their water bill by using the rainwater for watering landscapes. Additionally, the program helps conserve water and it prevents rainwater from dragging pollutants down a street, into a storm drain or out to the ocean.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Nichols Kearns said the system is a no-brainer, "especially with the new water regulations; so really it's a triple banger."

Officials said each system is relatively cheap to buy and install, and costs about $300.

There are two systems at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center, but Jay Wilson, Executive Director of the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation, said anyone can install it in their home with "materials that you can buy at your, like, Home Depot or Lowe's." San Diego also does not require a permit for the system.

However, the missing ingredient for most of these systems is rain, and Nichols Kearns said, "We may not get rain but we get the marine layer. We get dew every morning, and you'd be surprised how much that daily condensation can contribute to what's in your rain barrel."

Nichols Kearns said the city will measure how productive the rain gathering systems are over the next year before expanding to other buildings.