A fish leaps upstream through cascading water in a river.

Skagit County Water Source


Close-up of a worn, metallic fountain pen nib on a black surface.RainBank Rainwater Systems hasbroken through the barriers that have restricted rainwater collection as anapproved water source for single family residences in Skagit County.

With the instream flow rules,many property owners in the Skagit River Basin were unable to develop their properties. WA State Department of Ecology encouraged SkagitCounty to adopt the practice as a solution that would benefit the river and salmon habitat, while providing a viable water source. Limited permittingfor the affected areas was consideredas recently as 2015.

A group of residents from Guemas Island petitioned the county to accept rainwater for potable use for homes that were experiencing salt water intrusion in their wells. RainBank Rainwater Systems, along Tim Pope, ARCSA educator and pastpresident, met with Skagit County in January 2017 to encourage acceptanceof potable rainwater collection as a viablealternative source,not only in the instream flow rules affected areasbut to those who are experiencing other hardships regarding potable water.

RainBank Rainwater Systems is pleased with the recent design approvals from Skagit County forpotable residentialRWC systemsoutside the instream flow rules, allowing for more property owners in Skagit County. We look forward to assisting Skagit Countyresidents with their dreams of developing or purchasing properties with limited water resources.

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.