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.
Infrastructure, Rainwater Catchment

California Drought – Immediate Action is Required

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Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times The effects of California’s ongoing drought are evident at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet as shells, once under water, lie in the soil of recently exposed banks.

When a NASA scientist writes that the California drought has reached such epic proportions that the state is in danger of turning into a dustbowl, we need to stand up, take notice and act.

According to Jay Famiglietti, the senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech and a professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine, in an op-ed article for Los Angeles Times. “Statewide, we’ve been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011.” 

Famiglietti also writes, “Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.

In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.”

Please click here to read this interesting and compelling article in LA Times.  Click here to read another report on the California drought from FeelGuide.

Action throughout the world on conservation is needed now – and it must be immediate and decisive.

Rainwater Harvesting Education

Rainwater Collection and Quality of Life

Sierra Leone Africa School_RainBankLLCThe United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) mission is to “provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.”

UNEP was created in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly for a wide range of environmental concerns and strategies, including Rainwater Harvesting and Utilization. A recent newsletter,  “An Environmentally Sound Approach for Sustainable Urban Water Management: An Introductory Guide for decision makers, cites nations around the world that are currently practicing rainwater collection as a source of water.

Examples are Singapore – with limited land resources and rising demands for water – has done a recent study of urban residential with conclusion of 4% savings from $1.17 per cubic meter to $.96 per cubic meter.  A non potable application at the Changi Airport accounts for a 28 – 30% savings.

Tokyo, Japan rainwater harvesting and utilization is promoted to mitigate water shortages, control floods, and secure water for emergencies.

About 750 private and public buildings in Tokyo have introduced rainwater collection and it is now flourishing in private and public sector.

Berlin, Germany rainwater utilization was introduced in 1998 as part of large scale urban development to control flooding and save city water. Germany is a leader in rainwater collection technology. Many products used in the United States come from Germany.

China has seventeen provinces that have adopted rainwater collection on a large scale with 5.6 million tanks supplying drinking water for 15 million people.

Of course, Africa is experiencing expansion of rainwater collection systems throughout the continent with the help of many NGOs in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and many others.

Other countries  such as Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, and more are recognizing sustainable solutions to the worldwide need for a clean reliable source of water.

Rainwater Harvesting Education

Rainwater Collection is Catching On

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SeaScoutBase_Galveston_RainBank_projectBoth commercial and residential rainwater collection customers are expressing more interest than ever before, which is a large part of the reason that RainBank Rainwater Systems has seen a 50% bump in growth over the last year.

Architectural  and engineering firms are including rainwater collection systems in their designs. Cities, and counties throughout the state are beginning to understand the connection between stormwater management and rainwater collection.

Developers are saving money on large water bills with rainwater collection, while complying with he “Green Storm water Infrastructure” (GSI). Green building and low impact development are becoming more popular with the general public.  Residential customers, new construction and retrofits are recognizing the long-term cost savings, water quality, and security of a more decentralized water system. As a whole, the public is becoming more environmentally aware of our environmental impact and are finding ways to make that impact positive.

County and City planners, building departments, and health departments need to have the tools to make proper choices of acceptance, promotion, code and permitting of rainwater collection systems. RainBank’s president, Ken Blair is the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association’s (ARCSA) Northwest regional representative and can schedule an ARCSA workshop for those civil departments, engineering and architectural firms this summer in Seattle. Interested parties please contact Ken using the contact form, or directly at Ken at RainBank dot info.