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.
Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Contaminated Water At Home

contaminated waterDo you think contaminated water only exists in developing countries?

The other day, there was a Boil Your Water Advisory in Washington State. According to KIRO News, “About 800 residents in Wauna on the Key Peninsula were affected when E. coli was detected in their water supply.” The water system in Wauna is a community well system. The contamination was found during a routine monthly test, but the source of the contamination has yet to be determined.

E. coli has been recently detected in the Mount Baker area. The water system serves about 220 homes. One child died and 2 others got sick in Lincoln County, Oregon last week. In addition, Mercer Island City water system had a suspected outbreak as well. Local restaurants were affected and lost profits due to the scare. Earlier this year dead birds were found in a Portland city reservoir.

There have been 26 contaminations this year – and 25 last year as well. These boil alerts are becoming increasingly more common throughout our country.

Why is this happening? Aging infrastructure can partly be attributed to the cause.  With increased population density and larger demands on our centralized water and sewer districts, rainwater collection and decentralized water systems may be the better answer for Seattle. A small urban rainwater collection system for residential use is easy to maintain and has less potential of contamination if installed and properly maintained.

Rainwater Catchment

Millions of People Have No Access to Clean Drinking Water

earth with water dropletThroughout the world, more than 780 million people have no access to clean drinking water.

Here in the United States, we use filtered, disinfected water to flush our toilets, water our lawns, and wash our cars. For most NGOs, the focus for clean drinking water is shallow water wells. The problem, in many regions of the world, is that naturally occurring arsenic is found in these wells; arsenic is harmful to bone development. While fluorides are added in trace amounts to most public water supplies in America, high levels of fluorides can be found in shallow water wells throughout the globe and can cause dental decay. However, the most common threat to drinking water globally is cholera. According to the World Wide Health Organization, there are 3 to 5 million cholera cases with 100,000 to 120,000 deaths per year. It is considered to be endemic in many countries.

Ken Blair in Sierra Leone, AfricaSimple techniques of rainwater collection and natural solar water disinfection can saves lives in developing countries. Rainwater collected from the roof and screened before storage comes in no contact with sewer materials or human feces, leaving only bacterial contaminants to be disinfected. This can be achieved as simply as filling a 1 litter, clear bottle with rainwater and leaving it in direct sunlight for approximately 4 hours or 8 hours in overcast conditions.

RainBank’s president is a founding director of Bank on Rain and traveled to Sierra Leone in 2012 and 2013 to teach rainwater catchment and solar disinfection.

Rainwater Catchment, Residential Rainwater Collection

Rainwater Collection for Potable Use in an Urban Environment

seattle-skylineSupplementary whole-house use of rainwater in an urban environment is more complex than collecting for potable use in a rural environment. In a rural environment, there is typically more room for storage, allowing the homeowner to store more water than that in an urban setting.

The larger question, however, is – what is landing on my roof and how do I know my collected water will be safe to drink?

In a rural setting, organics are what you need to filter out before the water is to be disinfected and considered potable. A sediment filter, followed by a carbon filter prior to ultraviolet disinfection can achieve this. Bird droppings are the primary concern in this situation.

In an urban environment, other constituents coming in contact with your roof may need to be addressed. Consider where your home is located. Environmental considerations such as automobile and truck emissions can have an impact on your roof runoff and must be removed with proper filtration. Pesticide use is more likely to be encountered in an urban setting than a rural environment. Simple sampling and laboratory testing should be conducted of raw water so proper filtration can be used to eliminate possible contaminants.

Urban potable usage of roof top collected water can be achieved with the proper filtration as with any rural potable system as long as the right filtration is used.

Photo: Julie Gentry