All posts by Ken Blair

A rainwater collection systems designer and consultant, Ken has designed and installed residential and commercial systems, primarily in the northwest United States for more than 10 years and, in 2014, began consulting and managing builds in other states. Ken is an accredited ARCSA Professional Designer / Installer and Life Member, the Northwest Regional ARCSA representative and advisor to its education committee and is available to speak about Rainwater Collection Systems design and builds. Ken is a United States Navy veteran, having served on active duty during the Vietnam War era. A career entrepreneur, Ken created a new business focus with a commercial dive company in Hawaii in the mid 1980′s to respond to and clean up oil spills, oil spill equipment training, service and maintenance for the oil co-op service industry. Ken is passionate about having a positive impact on the environment and is also a founding director of BANK-ON-RAIN (2011-2014), whose mission is to create grassroots solutions for rainwater collection for consumption and agriculture in developing areas of the planet.
Commercial Rainwater Harvesting, Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Rainwater Collection a Reliable Water Supply Alternative

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Rainwater Collection a Reliable Water Supply AlternativeAccording to a recent article published by ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association), whose mission is to promote sustainable rainwater collection practices to help solve potable, non-potable, stormwater and energy challenges throughout the world, a well-designed, installed and maintained rainwater harvesting system can provide high-quality water for potable and non-potable, residential and commercial uses.

Below are some notable findings on rainwater collection compiled by ARCSA from the 2013 Report Card on America’s Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Water Companies:

• 7 TRILLION gallons per day are wasted due to 240,000 water main breaks each year
• Over $1 TRILLION is needed over 10 years to repair water systems

ARCSA is the premier national educational and technical rainwater harvesting organization. Decentralized onsite rain and stormwater harvesting systems can deliver a partial solution to our aging water delivery infrastructure and support new job creation.

To learn more about how individuals and businesses can protect their water supply from disruptions by supplementing utility water with rainwater harvesting, click here to read the entire ARCSA article.

Commercial Rainwater Harvesting, Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Rainwater Collection in an Urban Setting

Rainwater Collection in an Urban SettingRainwater collection is becoming increasingly popular for commercial and residential consumers in urban settings, driven largely by centralized water unable to meet demands caused by droughts, increased population, along with supply and demand.

Quality of water is threatened by an aging infrastructure and environmental concerns such as the chemical spill in West Virginia last winter.  Awareness and concerns of fluorides and chlorine in municipal water supplies are adding to the interest of alternate solutions.

Increased costs to meet storm water management and GSI (green storm water infrastructure ) requirements for new construction of commercial and residential projects are driving owners, designers, engineers, and architects to offset some of the costs involved with implementation.

In a recent report by “the National Resources Defense Council” eight cities were studied for potential economic impact of rainwater collection. It is estimated the residents of these cities could save 90 million dollars each year by adopting simple rainwater harvesting techniques.

Water closet and laundry facilities using rainwater collection are now becoming integrated into designs for both commercial and residential application.  According to the American Water Works Association, water closets account for approximately 51% of water usage in commercial buildings and approximately 50 % water usage for water closet and laundry facilities in residential applications.

Commercial Rainwater Harvesting, Rainwater Catchment

Commercial Uses for Rainwater Collection

Uses for Rainwater CollectionRainBank Rainwater Systems has been retained to design and build a rainwater collection system for Cherry Valley Dairy in Duvall, WA.  The goal is to collect and treat enough rainwater to mitigate the farm’s city water usage by 100%. Currently the farm uses over 7,500 gallons monthly for watering the livestock and milking equipment wash down. With over 12,000 square feet of roof area and approximately 36 inches of annual rainfall, that’s over 269,000 of available rainwater – more than enough to supply the farm’s usage.  (Click to see more about Cherry Valley Dairy on Facebook and while you’re there, don’t forget to like RainBank on Facebook, too!)

RainBank is pleased to see more innovative uses of rainwater collection in the Pacific Northwest.  As the economy is growing again, businesses are looking for ways to save on operating costs. With large roof areas and high use operations such as the dairy, commercial customers are recognizing that a return on investment can be achieved in a realistic time frame. Their customers appreciate the “echo friendly” approach to the production of their goods and products.

RainBank is looking forward to working with Cherry Valley Dairy and supports their business approach to be the first in the area to use rainwater collection as their water source.