If I have discovered anything from my working with rain barrels it is that gravity works. It causes the rain to come down off my roof and into the gutters. It then pulls the water down into my rain barrel. When my rain barrel was sitting flat on the ground it kept me from using all the water in my barrel to fill my watering cans. However once I raised the barrel with the use of a rain barrel platform gravity was right there again to assist me. If you are planning on using a rain barrel plan on mounting it higher than the places you want to water.