Tag Archives: rainwater harvesting

Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Is Rain Collection a Trend?

garden-617272_640The rise of the rain collectors may sound like a scary Halloween prank, but it’s a trend not to be ignored.

According to a recent article published on Earth911, more and more folks, from millennials to baby boomers, are learning how, and then capturing the rain, to mitigate higher water bills and help in conservation efforts, largely due to drought, but also associated to aging infrastructure.

Do you know that by capturing one inch of rainfall from the roof of a 1,000 square foot home, it means you could save up to 312 gallons of water (or what amounts to almost eight, 40-gallon baths).

If you want to know how much rainwater you might collect from your roof runoff, browse to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) rainfall calculator, which can estimate rainfall in areas from a couple square feet to several square miles.

Rainwater collection isn’t only for the home gardener.

Businesses are using collected rainwater for washing vehicles and toilet flushing facilities. Schools are collecting rainwater for community gardens and new multi-family construction could collect rainwater for potable use for tenants or homeowners.

As rain collection trends, it can create a confusing frontier of information and solicitations.

If you decide to have a system professionally installed, we encourage you to know whether or  not your chosen contractor has the accreditation and experience needed for a properly installed, potable or non-potable system. Visit ARCSA (The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association) to search for a designer and installer with the knowledge and experience to meet your needs.

Potable, Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Community Rainwater Harvesting

Community rainwater harvestingBhagwati Agrawal has been named a 2015 Top 10 CNN Hero. Voting for CNN Hero of the Year takes place through Sunday, November 15. All of this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes will be honored during, “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” Sunday, December 6, on the global networks on CNN.

When he lost his corporate job, Mr. Agrawal decided he wanted to focus his energy on creating a solution to his homeland’s drinking water crisis. Fresh water was so scarce in his community, it needed to be trucked in.

Click to watch a video showing  how his non profit organization, Sustainable Innovations, built a community rainwater harvesting system which captures rain from rooftops during India’s monsoon season, providing safe, clean drinking water to six villages with more than 10,000 people in India’s driest area.

“In many parts of the world, you never think of water. In other parts, you think of water day and night,” said Agrawal, 70. “My mission is to end water scarcity, not only in India, but globally.”

The rainwater collection system is called Aakash Ganga — Hindi for “River from the Sky” – and consists of a network of rooftops, gutters, pipes and underground reservoirs that collect and store monsoon rains, which fall from July to September. By saving this rainwater, 6 villages have potable water all year long.

Read more at CNN

Rainwater Catchment, Sustainability

Our World’s Water Supply is Limited

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Water drop earthDo you know that up to 60% of the human adult body is water?

According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and lungs are about 83%. The skin contains 64% water while muscles and kidneys are 79%. Even bones are a watery 31%.

With that said, here are some important facts about current limited global water availability:

  • 783 million people do not have access to clean drinking water
  • One half of the world’s hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water borne disease.
  • 64% of households throughout the world rely on women to get the family’s water when there is no water source at home.
  • Globally we use 70% of our water sources for irrigation and only 10% for domestic use.

Water is a limited resource; it is not infinite. What each of us does in the world and how we live affects our water supply. We can make a difference. We can take steps globally to protect our water resources by simple conservation techniques.

Sierra Leone CrowdEducation is the key to protecting the water supply in developing countries and industrial countries as well. Non-profit organizations such as Bank on Rain are spreading the word about rainwater collection and teaching conservation techniques to those who do not have a clean source of drinking water.

Ken Blair, RainBank LLC
Ken Blair, AP, IS, presenting educational seminar about rainwater collection. Do you know that up to 60% of the human adult body is water?

Ken Blair, president of RainBank Rainwater Systems is a lifetime member of ARCSA. The Mission of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association is to promote sustainable rainwater harvesting practices to help solve potable, non-potable, stormwater and energy challenges throughout the world.

Ken has also achieved the status of Accredited Professional, Systems Inspector, and is ARCSA’s Northwest Regional Representative.