RainSaucers - Standalone Rainwater Harvesting System, any Barrel OK, No gutters needed, Funnel collector, DIY Kit

How do uninstall and reinstall the Fasteners?

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:38:47 +0000

Each RainSaucer™ comes with 5 fasteners- 4 for the install, 1 as a backup because we realize that small parts can get lost. We also know that while they are made of industrial strength nylon, they can also be broken if accidentally stepped upon. Having said that, each fastener should provide many years of use even when installed and uninstalled many times. Here's how we recommend you do this.

Each fastener starts as one single piece with both top and bottom halves pre-aligned so that you just place in the matched up holes, press, and "snap" into place.

After installed, you can easily remove each fastener by using a flat head screwdriver (or a fingernail) to separate the top and bottom halves.

The two halves look now like this.

To reinstall the two halves, place the bottom half in first to the matched up holes and with one hand, try to maintain some space in the center.

Then with the other hand press and snap in the top half of the fastener and your re-installation is done!

Now available in Texas

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:41:12 +0000

After talking to a lot of Texans at the Self Reliance Expo last weekend, I now realize that opinions on RWH there are truly divided. On the one hand, you have pessimists who believe the Texas drought is here to stay and so there is no point in collecting rain. These naysayers think there just isn't going to be enough rain to justify rainwater harvesting on any scale.

Fortunately, I also ran into quite a few optimists who see the multi-year Texas drought as a wake-up call. They were the ones that pointed out to me that even in a bad year (say 25 inches in Dallas which usually gets 37) that's still more than a lot of other places (San Jose, near us, for example only gets 15 inches). They also understand the increasing value of water (and rain) in any drought conditions.

Two Texans who understand the value of rainwater are our new resellers. Going by the name Texas Rain Disk , Vera Smith is a Jacksonville, TX based rainwater enthusiast who plans on using the profits from her business for her nonprofit which helps area veterans. Terry Dennis meanwhile is a gardener which goes by the handle Island Rainsaucers and plans on selling units to the budding organic gardening community in Houston and Galveston.

Where can I find those blue drums (and other food grade containers)?

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:00:00 +0000

A customer recently wrote us asking for advice about how to find those 55 gallon blue drums (which are sometimes white, but blue is better for algae prevention). We understand the interest in these- they're durable, food-grade, stable in wind because of their cylinder shape, and already have the standard 2" NPT hole (check before you buy) making them easy to connect. The only issue with these drums is that they do no not nest with each other. So it makes them expensive to ship, forcing most folks to find them locally.

So here is our advice on how to find drums, or other food grade barrels, in your area:

For used drums and barrels the best source is Craigslist*. You might have to try a few locations over a few days to get just what you want. Search on "55 gallon" or just "barrel" and your options will appear. $20 is the going rate from my research. Used drums and barrels are ideal for gardening as long as the container previously contained food.

For new drums*: Both Costco and Sam's Club carry drums. Or if you have an emergency preparedness store somewhere in your area they would most likely have them. New drums are used for potable water storage. They can be used with our system for emergency drinking water but please note, unless the water will be consumed fresh after each rain event, we would recommend that you use a preservative and disinfect before consumption. This applies to any water storage not just rainwater.

For new barrels: Rubbermaid's BRUTE line of containers that are the "round" type are food grade. They come in grey, yellow, and white colors and are certified to meet NSF standard #2 for "Food Equipment". Look for models 2610, 2620, 2632, 2643 and 2655, which hold 10, 20, 32, 43, and 55 gallons respectively. Home Depot and Wal-Mart both sell them. You can use a BRUTE for water storage but as mentioned above, preserve and disinfect if not consuming the water immediately.

*Remember, If you are looking for a drum for a 59" RainSaucer, make sure to get one with a removable lid.

Come see us at the Self Reliance Expo

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:43:06 +0000

For those of you in the Dallas area or if you are a fan of ours from the prepping community, consider attending the Self Reliance Expo where we will be exhibiting later this month (April 26-27). We will have RainSaucers™ available for sale and our CEO Tom Spargo will be presenting on the topic "Don’t let rain go down the drain (why now’s the time for Rainwater Harvesting)". We hope to see you there!

Can you really drink rainwater? Is it potable?

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Time for some more mythbusting. This time let's look at the notion that rainwater (in its pure form not off a roof) is somehow unsafe for drinking because of pollution. It's an understandable misconception given that most modern humans get their drinking water after its been filtered in any number of ways. So one can see how we tend to think "drinking water= filtered water".

There is also the old fear of "acid-rain" from the Industrial Age. People seem to think rain can hurt you when it becomes acidic. But what they don't understand is that "acidic" simply means a PH less than 7. A lot of beverages have a PH less than 7. Orange juice has a PH of around 4. Coffee has a PH of around 5. Rainwater is rarely that low and even if it was, it would just taste sour not hurt you.

Aside from our many posts related to rainwater as drinking water, it might be easier to prove that rainwater is potable by reviewing the scenario in which rainwater did actually became toxic. In other words, what would happen if rain became so polluted, it could cause damage if ingested?

The first signs of toxic rain would probably be seen in aquatic life since to fish, water is like air. They would begin to die off immediately as they started absorbing the chemicals from the rain into their gills.
Apart from the food chain aspects of dying fish (animals who eat those fish would also perish), the demise in fish would be followed by damage to wildlife in the area who would be hurt because unfiltered rain is their main source of water. Along with the wildlife, plant life would be destroyed by these same chemicals which damage roots and and destroy nutrients in the soil. The pollution would also damage the waxy protective layer on leaves making plants vulnerable to pests and diseases.
Humans meanwhile, might start feeling the effects of the toxic rain immediately- not necessarily from the rain itself but from the underlying pollution. Particulates in the air causing toxic rain could easily lead to an epidemic of asthma, bronchitis, or worse. Any person spending a lot of time outside would be at risk of absorbing the particulates through their lungs and like the fish, perishing in short order.

In the United States, the above scenario has not happened in modern times especially since the Clean Air Act. Yes, there was severe pollution and acid rain during the 19th century. Fish died. Some Forests were affected. But the toxicity level thankfully never reached the point of mass destruction described above.

For rain to be toxic when consumed, the concentration levels of pollution in the atmosphere would have to be so high, that many us would already be sick from the air. In that case, most other organisms would be dying off taking our food supply with them. And that just hasn't happened with the exception being the rare nuclear event. When things go radioactive, the only option is to get out of dodge and move far, far away.

How do I collect rain in the open field environment?

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the most part, collecting rain with our system is the same no matter where you deploy it. A backyard or community garden can be just as windy as an open field, so securing your barrel is equally important. The main difference would be in the turnover of water. In an open field, the water may not be accessed as often as a residential system. For example, a user may deploy a system out in the open to have it ready as a backup source of water. Such long term storage out in the open is OK but it may develop algae if the tank is not a dark color. The easy solution: paint the tank black. Another potential issue (which to some people like hunters is an opportunity) is the system may attract wildlife if it is continually overflowing at the top (will only happen with the 59"). The easy solution: install an overflow hose that leads away from the system.

Rainwater Harvesting is not Illegal

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:11:09 +0000

One urban myth that seems to persist is that rainwater harvesting (RWH) is illegal when that is absolutely not the case. First of all, to say it is illegal implies a federal ban, which does not exist. Water supply is regulated by individual States. Yet there is no State that has an outright prohibition. In fact, the majority of States are completely silent on the matter which means individuals are free to do as they please. Meanwhile, of the 12 States that do have laws, none of them prohibit the practice, only regulate it. Those states are Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Some worry that regulation means severe restriction. But that is not the case either. For some states, it can mean the reverse. In other words, the State is promoting the practice. Texas, for example, offers a sales tax exemption on the purchase of rainwater harvesting equipment. Meanwhile Oklahoma recently passed the "Water for 2060 Act" which initiates grants for information campaigns on capturing and using harvested rainwater. Even in Colorado where RWH actually was illegal until 2009, residential property owners are now allowed to collect rainwater. Colorado recently authorized 10 pilot projects where captured precipitation was used in new real estate developments for non-potable uses.

Much of the blame for the persistent myth that rainwater harvesting is illegal comes from media overexposure. For example, headlines were made in August of 2012 when an Oregon man was jailed for having three private reservoirs without a permit. But does the requiring of a permit make something illegal? As long as the issuing of permits is actually occurring and does not appear to be arbitrary, I would call that a bureaucracy rather than a prohibition. Ironically, Oregon is fairly progressive on the residential RWH front. Oregon Building Codes allow for the creation of both potable and non-potable RWH systems. Portland, Oregon meanwhile is a hot bed of rain barrel activity. Just ask our reseller partner the Rain Barrel Man who has been successfully marketing cedar clad rain barrels since 1998.

The DIY Rain Barrel KIT Revolution

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:34:52 +0000

There is a good reason why we only make RainSaucers™ and not Rain Barrels . It's because the general public has now caught on to the fact that anyone can make their own rain barrel for under $35. No need to buy one for up to $200 from your local nursery. All you need is a recycled barrel or cheap trash can, a bulkhead fitting or grommet, a faucet, and some other minor hardware. It's so straight forward that you can now choose from a variety of kits which take you through the entire process. These kits are everywhere online and even at Walmart.

The upswing in rain barrel kits has been a great enabler, not just for end users, but for municipalities and nonprofits trying to promote water conservation. It seems like almost every week there is a rain barrel giveaway, workshop, or subsidy program announced- all relying on DIY RB kits or something similar. Yet while this trend has been great for water conservation, it has meant a big decrease in new Rain Barrel Sales. We know this from our conversations with major online gardening websites and garden centers. One well-known garden supply website which ranks in the Top 5 on Google search for "rain barrel" told us last year "rain barrel sales are in the toilet".

This trend has mainly been a good thing for our startup. Since we make our own rain barrel kit and offer the RainSaucer™ as its own DIY kit, our Sales have continued to grow. But when we mention that to garden centers (where rain barrels have historically been sold) they are usually incredulous, having had a bad experience with rain barrels. A good example is a nursery we recently spoke to in Livermore, CA. Their owner was initially so excited about rain barrels, he bought a whole pallet of the terra cotta vase style. Years later his nursery still hasn't gotten rid of all the units, in spite of deep discounting. So we can see their logic- rain barrels don't sell so why should other rainwater harvesting equipment. To us that's like throwing the baby out with the bath water (which could easily be clean rain from our system BTW). Instead, they should just embrace the DIY rain barrel kit revolution.

Why not use tarp to catch rain?

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:00:00 +0000

A tarp can be an essential survival item. When secured properly it can provide shelter from the sun, wind, rain and it can even act as a rain collector. Tarps are also cheap and portable. So why not incorporate a Tarp into our product line? Truth is we've considered it many times as an alternative to plastic sheet. And we may someday incorporate tarp material into our designs. But for right now, there a few key issues :
- Poor Wind resistance: even when secured tightly to three or more points, a tarp will act like a giant sail. This may be OK for a temporary setup but not a permanent one. Our product counteracts wind by being as flat as possible and securing directly onto the barrel. This would be difficult to do with a tarp and not run the risk of tearing at some point.
- It needs anchoring: which is fine if you have trees and/or tall posts handy . But the need for anchoring makes an install much more complicated and time consuming. Our rain catchers are designed to be DIY, no tools required, with a less than 10 minute install.
- It can be an eyesore: especially if in your backyard. We hope our customers think Rainsaucers look cool.

The above just means more engineering work lies ahead for us to make tarp work. The main reason we are still looking at it at all is because of its low cost. It may be one way for us to make an ultra low cost version for those people making less than $1 per day in developing countries.

Can I collect Dew, Frost, Snow, or Fog?

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:34:44 +0000

The short answer is yes. Just as your RainSaucer™ will collect rain, it will also collect other forms of precipitation. But before you plan on seriously harvesting these water forms, please be aware of the following:
Dew and Frost: the amounts are not significant for plant watering purposes. At best, the surface of the RainSaucer™ may retain a cup of water per day resulting from the changes in temperature. But this cup will not fall easily into the middle. You still need a squeegee to stimulate the process. And in the case of frost, you also have to wait for it to melt in the sun. A cup a day is not significant but in the event of an emergency , it could be a real lifesaver.
Snow: in small amounts is OK but too much can potentially damage the product so it is not advised unless the water is needed in an emergency or disaster.
Fog: results in Dew when it touches cold surfaces. So the above advice applies. However, we are very interested in methods which will increase the amount of Fog our system can turn into Dew. Stay tuned for more developments in this area.

Rainwater as Drinking Water- UPDATE

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:46:44 +0000

We think we've finally developed an optimal implementation method for those customers in developing countries who want to harvest rainwater for drinking water purposes. The results of our research can be viewed in this photo album we created. This method was created in direct response to the feedback we received from our 2011 field trial in Guatemala. The key to the implementation is that by reducing dust, and funneling the harvested water into 5 gallon bottles, the result is a high quality product that can easily compete with the drinking water services so prevalent in Latin America. For poor families in these countries which have to rely on bottled water, the savings from harvesting rainwater can be significant.

The main reason for developing this method is that in spite of our successful trial and the clear ROI of our product, we have yet to identify a partner to license and manufacture our product in developing countries. We're hoping this new technique is what the market has been looking for.

Clean Water on the Peace Corps Packing List

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:32:08 +0000

A few months back I had a nice conversation with a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who was home temporarily from his assignment in Nicaragua. He explained to me that in countries where access to clean water is limited, the Peace Corps actually provides an allowance for clean water which can sometimes be used for implementing a rainwater collection system. My first thought was: what a perfect target for our product! After all, the 48" RainSaucer™
- can be checked in as a piece of luggage (we've done it before)
- deployed in minutes on whatever water storage the PCV can find locally (also done several times before).
- with no special skills (a PCV can easily implement)

So now the question is how do we get our product in PCV hands? There are several sites on the Internet that maintain Peace Corps Packing Lists. Now we just need to get these sites to mention the product. Suggestions welcome through our contact page.

Rainwater Harvesting Education

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Back in September, we were given the opportunity to present our product to a fourth grade class at a local school (more pictures at our FB page). The teacher there had already taught the children about solar ovens and other technologies for developing countries. But she felt the lack of access to clean water was equally critical for the kids to understand- so she asked us to explain the problem and how rainwater harvesting is one potential solution.

What a great experience it was! Great questions, great understanding of the problem, and an intuitive grasp of how the sun and rain power life on earth. The students also really enjoyed the RainSaucer™- touching it, drawing it, trying to mimic it with paper, testing its ability to catch matter and direct it to a center point. And judging from the essays they wrote us afterwards, all that experience with the product led to a pretty good understanding of the RWH concept. So now we know our product works well not just or for rainwater collection but as an education tool.

Catching Rain for a Community Garden

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The gardening trend is here to stay as people have begun to realize the benefits of growing your own food. Beyond saving you money and tasting better, homegrown produce increases your community's sustainability. So it's no surprise that community gardens have become so popular as the gardening trend has extended out to apartment dwellers, schools, and those who simply want to garden in a shared environment.

As highly visible, public spaces, community gardens also tend to become showcases for gardening best practices . In addition to composting and organics, we are just now seeing rainwater collection enter the scene. This is especially true in dense urban environments where the community garden may just be a vacant lot with no water connection or a borrowed one only. In other cases, we have seen rainwater harvesting added as a hedge against droughts and bans on the use of hoses. Meanwhile other locations add rainwater catchment as a form of education for the community. Here is the obvious opportunity for our rainwater collectors. Community gardens have a true need for standalone rainwater harvesting. Please help us spread the word.

What is the difference between Food Safe and Food Grade?

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

It took us a few years in this business and lots of discussions with plastics companies to finally understand the subtle difference between food safe and food grade plastic barrels. Part of the confusion is that both types are made of HDPE, a material that is designated as "food safe" by the FDA. Food safe means it can come in contact with the food you eat and you will be safe. Food safe is OK for a wide variety of kitchen uses but not necessarily for long term storage. That is where food grade comes in. The FDA reserves food grade for food packaging and is designed to ensure the long term safety of the food in the container. The idea is to prevent leaching: food grade plastic does not contain any dyes or recycled plastic deemed harmful to humans. In addition, the food grade designation means no other harmful chemicals were used in either the resin or in production of the plastic container.

So what does this mean for RainSaucers™ and the application to drinking water? As you may know, our catchment system is made of 100% virgin, no-dye HDPE- meaning its highly food safe and ideal for catching water and relaying it to a barrel or bucket. The key then is to make sure that any barrel being used in conjunction with our system for drinking water should be food grade and say so on the container. This is in addition to the other considerations we have mentioned previously.

New Standalone DIY Rain Barrel Kit

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:22:36 +0000

We love posting announcements about rain barrel sales and subsidies because they demonstrate the big trend in RWH- namely that rain barrels have gone completely low cost and DIY. A few years ago a rain barrel was easily $100 but nowadays you can either get one for free (if your town has a program) or easily make one on your own for $25-$50.

Among our customer base, the DIY crowd is in full force, and we continue to get a lot of questions about how to install a spigot and tie down a barrel. Most of these folks are pretty comfortable with buying the parts at the local hardware store and setting everything up. But a few months ago we started thinking it might be nice to save them the trip with a fixed bag of parts. The result: we are now able offer customers our own DIY standalone rain barrel kit (see picture left).

The kit includes everything you need to make a RainSaucers™ compatible barrel, including
- 1 Hose Seal: requires 1 1/4" hole. This rubber grommet secures the faucet into the barrel
- 1 3/4' MPT x 3/4' MHT Faucet: Allows for dispensing of water by tap or hose
- 2 Double Loop Cables: one loop secures to the barrel while the other loop can be used to secure the unit by s-hook, stake, or heavy object.
- 1 S-hook: enables barrel to be secured from underneath by connecting double loop cables to each other.
- 2 Heavy Duty Steel Stakes: enables barrel to be secured to ground by connecting each double loop cable to a Stake.
- 1 Single Loop Safety Cable (Optional): used with the 59" RainSaucer™, this cable creates a connection between the edge of the RainSaucer™ and the barrel and is used for safety purposes.
- 2 10' Cables (Optional): also used with the 59" RainSaucer™, this extra set of cables lets the user keep their first full barrel in place so they can take their 59" RainSaucer™ to a second barrel. The goal is easy system expansion.
- Instructions: provides step by step instructions on how to install on either an open top or closed barrel.

The kit has two main applications. The first and most obvious one is to complete your first RainSaucers™ system. But this kit can also be used to let you expand your water storage. In other words, once your first barrel is full, you can use this kit to port your RainSaucer™ to a second barrel. Then you can switch back between barrels with ease so that you always have one collecting rain while a second (or third) is ready for use.

This new DIY Standalone Rain Barrel Kit is being offered for $15, shipping included. We also sell the necessary hole saw for $8. Click here to see more photos. See our Buy page for purchase information. Also see Instructions.

Solar Water Purification (SODIS)

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:46:46 +0000

As we've discussed in this blog, rainwater is pure and doesn't need purification before drinking, if the catchment is clean and the water is fresh. But if the rainwater has been sitting outside for a while it needs to be purified. The surprising thing most people don't know is that water can purified for free thanks to the power of the Sun.

The technique is called SODIS which is short for solar disinfection. And all you need to do it put the water in a recycled PET bottle and put it on a shiny metal surface (to increase the exposure) for 6 hours. During this time, the UV-radiation of the sun kills any harmful bacteria which may be in the water. The water is then ready to drink- it's that simple. In our view, this makes SODIS superior to chlorine (the other common disinfection method) and ozone because it is 100% renewable and free, of course.

Chlorine and Plants

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

One of the big arguments for using rainwater vs. city water on your plants is the effect of chlorine. Rainwater, as you might imagine, contains nothing harmful to the plants (it's what nature intended for them) while city water has Chlorine, a bacteria killer that sometimes kills the bacteria the plants need to flourish. However, there is much debate about this and the studies don't all agree. Some say a little chlorine is OK while others say there are plenty of chlorine sensitive plants out there.

Where general consensus occurs is that for young plants, distilled water (or pure rain) is preferred for optimal growth. In our view, this means that collecting rainwater is a must for your average gardener because rainwater can help your seedlings get a good start. Even if you live in California where it stops raining in May, its worth using rain in the beginning to set the stage for a good harvest.

We'll be at SOCAP12

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:17:34 +0000

We will be attending SOCAP in San Francisco this year as both a Scholar and exhibitor in the Innovation Showcase taking place on Wednesday, October 3rd. SOCAP is the leading conference on social capital investing and a lot of the big names will be there. We're hoping it provides a platform to connect us with like minded social entrepreneurs, to help us reach our goal of distribution in developing countries. Please come by and see us- we'll be demonstrating our 59" version.

Filtering rainwater during and after collection

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We get at least one email per week about the need for filtration of water with a RainSaucers™ system targeted at drinking. Until now we have been referring customers to our series of posts on the topic which basically say that rainwater is pure when it comes out of the sky. It's what happens after which determines the need for filtration. But it ocurred to me when I was talking with a customer on the phone recently that there are really two types of filtration we should always consider with rainwater harvesting in general (not just our system).

The first type of filtration is during collection targeted mainly at keeping particles out. This can be a first flush system, a mesh screen, a cloth, or any device which attempts to filter the water on its way into the tank or barrel. With our system, this is applied with our mesh screen filter. In developing countries, where we have drinking water as our main focus, we have also experimented with adding first flush and cloth screens to combat dust.

The second type of filtration is after collection, typically at the point of consumption, designed to make sure the water is safe and free of harmful bacteria and chemicals. Reverse Osmosis, Microfilters, and UV are some common types we see. For example, in Mexico a company called EOZ offers a UV filter that can be added to a typical home drinking water system. Now here is where our product is unique. We don't offer such a filter because our catchment is food safe. So chemicals are not a concern. And since our system is small scale, easily cleanable, and can be consumed immediately bacteria is generally not a problem. In our trials in Guatemala we had several families drinking rainwater on a regular basis with our mesh filter as the sole filtration. The families kept the unit clean and brought each harvest inside immediately for consumption. The end result: many of the participants thought the taste and quality were better than the bottled water they were use to drinking.

Rain and Solar Powered Outdoor Shower

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Solar powered outdoor showers are becoming more common these days as folks have begun to realize just how easy it is to use the sun to heat water. The residential models we've seen use a garden hose hookup and a black vertical shower tower to get about 10 gallons worth of hot water. Meanwhile camping versions use a 5 gallon black bag which you heat then suspend from a tree. Both are great concepts but they have a major dependency- access to clean water, which may not be on hand in developing countries. As a RainSaucers fan who frequently travels to Mexico pointed out to us recently, poor rural families have enough trouble finding water to drink and cook let alone take a shower.

So that got us thinking about a solar outdoor shower with its own independent water supply from rain. All it would take is two rain barrels: one painted all-black (for hot water), and one covered in a tarp (for cool water) suspended at least 6 feet off the ground (we have seen such stands, they look like tripods). Each barrel would have its own faucet piped into a third faucet with a shower attachment, just like you would expect. A single 59" RainSaucer™ would be deployed permanently on the cool rain barrel with the first (hot) and second (cool) faucets left open. After an inch of rain, both barrels would have 5 gallons (the open faucets allow for simultaneous fill), enough for a nice shower. When the sun comes out the black barrel would be in full sun for maximum heat while the covered barrel would stay cool under the tarp and shade from the RainSaucer™. The user could then adjust the release of hot and cool to find the right temperature. For privacy, a rope run between the cool barrel stand and a tree or post could easily support a shower curtain.

P.S. If anyone reading this is interested in such an application of the RainSaucer™, please contact us. We would be happy to support such testing.

RainSaucers for the UK

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Ever since launching the first RainSaucer™ last year, we have been getting inquires from the UK. But each time, we had to apologize because we did not yet have a distributor there and it was simply too expensive to ship individual units overseas. But all that has now changed thanks to Haydon Robinson over at UK-based Guttermate, our latest distributor.

Haydon sees big potential for the RainSaucer™ as a source of water for allotments. Like the US community garden concept, allotments are plots of land made available for non-commercial gardening on a rental basis. But the UK version is much bigger (between 50 and 400 square metres per person) and is often farmed by an individual or family rather than a community.

According to Haydon and others that we've spoken to, allotments are in desperate need of a rainwater based solution because the recent droughts in the UK have grearly restricted the use of hoses for non-commercial farming. And while there are sometimes sheds on the allotment from which to collect rain, they are usually small, gutterless, and far from where the water will be needed. Some allotments on the other hand do not allow sheds in the first place because of appearances.

Haydon thinks that a few RainSaucers systems placed strategically around an allotment could not only provide the water needed, but do it a convenient way without it being an eyesore. If Haydon's right we think the same concept can easily be applied to urban community gardens in the US which now have similar hose bans because of this year's drought.

Seeking Apartment Dweller Volunteers

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Do you live in an apartment and have plants on your balcony?
Do you water them by hauling water across your apartment?
Don't you wish you could have a water source already on the balcony ready to use?

We think most apartment dwellers would answer "yes" to these questions. We also think these folks would love to make rainwater their balcony water source, if only there was a way to collect it in decent amounts. The solution: a RainSaucer™ of course. Yes, that's right we are developing a RainSaucers system just for balconies!

This new system will operate on the premise that rainfall just in front and behind the rail of a balcony is at least as heavy as the rainfall in open sky. Our theory is that wind blowing rain in combined with the drips and leaks from balconies, rails, and roofs above make for pretty good rainwater collection. At least that's the theory we want to test...

So we're asking apartment dwelling RainSaucers fans to help us prove the viability of this concept by measuring the rainfall around their balcony rail for us. All it takes is three plastic cups (taped down with duct tape) at three points around the rail as show in the below picture. Drippier spots, if any, are of course preferred. The data we need:
- diameter of plastic cup being used
- start and end date and time of collection
- amount of rain collected in ounces
- location of plastic cup on balcony (1-3 based on picture)
- number of balconies and/or roofing above you
- zipcode

With this information we can determine whether rainfall on the balcony rail is significant enough to collect and water plants on the balcony. Won't you help us? Please use our contact page to volunteer.

Lessons on Water from Japan

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

My recent trip to Japan was extremely enlightening- not just about RWH but about water conservation in general. In spite of being blessed with copious amounts of rain each year (60 inches in Tokyo), the Japanese are surprisingly conservative with their water. Here are some examples of how the Japanese are good stewards of this precious natural resource:
1. Rainwater collection: is pervasive. We witnessed many homes with car ports where the gutters were attached to rain chains and buckets (see picture).
2. Bathing: use of water is low because families use a quick 1 minute (soap up then rinse only) shower followed by a shared 50 gallon tub of bath water.
3. Laundry: is grey water for many families. Laundry machines are often located near the family bath. Home improvement stores sell special long hose pumps that pump all the bath water into the laundry machine.
4. Dishwashing: is usually by hand, the same way that baths are done. They wet everything in a bucket, soap and clean the dishes with the faucet off, then rinse. Just a few gallons to wash the day's dishes instead of 40 gallons for a dishwasher.
5. Toilets: often have hand washers attached. After a flush, the water that refills the bowl comes out of a faucet where hands can be washed before that water enters through a hole in the toilet bowl lid. Saves a few gallons per day.

Top 5 US Cities for Rainwater Harvesting

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

As purveyors of rainwater harvesting equipment, it is important for us to know where the industry is doing well. We've always known that Austin, where the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association has its headquarters, was clearly at the forefront. But when you look at other aspects such as city rebates, annual rainfall, and the number of practitioners there are some other leaders- namely SF, Portland on the West Coast, Atlanta in the South, and Cleveland in the Midwest. Runners up which we did not add this list but where we at RainSaucers are seeing a lot of activity would be Raleigh-Durham, Detroit, and the whole states of Hawaii and Florida.

East Coast vs. West Coast

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Yes, even in the world of rainwater harvesting there is a big difference between East Coast and West Coast. And frankly speaking, the East Coast is winning but not because of anything the East Coast does. It's all really up to Mother Nature.

On the East Coast, it rains throughout the Spring and Summer. This means some plants get watered naturally with only occasional watering help from their owner. It also means that a single rain barrel may be all a homeowner needs to meet those occasional needs because that barrel will always be refilled.

On the West Coast however, we are not so lucky. Not only do we get less rain (especially in LA) but it all comes in the Winter and early Spring. So a single rain barrel may not even last until the start of Summer. Real rainwater enthusiasts here need to have several rain barrels (or a large tank) and that means its more expensive and a much harder sell. Fortunately, subsidies are coming in major cities such as Oakland and SF. There is also a big shift here towards native species which are incredibly drought resistant.

RainSaucer Reviews and Coverage

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:42:00 +0000

It always feels good to be loved. For our email feed readers, here are some of the nice things that have been said about us in the the Social Media space. Here is Localblu's recent article. Also our Pinterest page is worth a look. Finally here is a nice post from our distributor in Michigan.

Rain Barrel Faucet Alternatives

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:00:00 +0000

A lot of our customers these days seem to be folks who are seeking out simplicity when it comes to collecting rain for their garden. In other words, they want a rain barrel but find the whole downspout hookup process too much of a hassle. They are inclined to buy barrels with faucets already in them. But it is worth noting that there are two potentially cheaper and easier alternatives to installing a faucet:

The first is the trusty siphon pump which we've posted about before. Siphon pumps work best when you can take advantage of siphon action to auto-fill your watering cans. In our experience siphon action can make a pump work just as fast as a faucet for the same price with virtually no installation.

The second is the use of an open top barrel with a wide mouth. This allows the user to remove the lid and stick a watering can inside to fill with water. Use of this method is ideal when you have two barrels so that one is harvesting rain while the other is being used to fill watering cans. This method costs nothing but means you should probably have two smaller barrels, instead of one larger one which may ultimately be a tad more expensive.

Can I drink the water from my RainSaucers system?

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:30:00 +0000

The short answer is yes* under one key condition- that the rainwater is fresh. This may seem like common sense- but water, like any food or drink, has less bacteria in it when it is consumed fresh. So if you're thinking of drinking the water from your RainSaucers' system first ask yourseif "how old is the oldest water in the barrel?". More than a day old and you should consider disinfection of some kind especially if the barrel has been exposed to light and heat from the sun (they generate bacteria and algae).

Having said that, it is not difficult to set your RainSaucers' system up so that the catch is always fresh. This is what we did in Guatemala last Summer. We used two 4 gallon buckets in rotation so that one bucket was always inside full of fresh water stored in a cool dark location (to maintain freshness) while another was outside awaiting the next rain.

So our advice to RainSaucers' users thinking of using their system for both irrigation and emergency drinking water: in an pinch you can use your barrel but definitely disinfect, just in case. And then have buckets on standby so that your future harvests are fresh. Considering a lot of notorious natural disasters (SF Earthquake, Haiti Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina) happened sometime within or near the rainy season, a RainSaucers system has the potential to serve as a real life saver.
*Note: private drinking water supplies such as wells as rainwater catchment systems are regulated by each U.S. State. Please consult with your States rules to make sure your system is in compliance with the appropriate regulations. Homeowners are additionally responsible for ongoing testing and maintenance of their systems.

Launch of the 59er

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:11:45 +0000

It's finally ready for prime time! The 59 inch version of our product. It's 50% bigger than the 48 inch version and has better wind resistance and rain flow. For one unit implementations, its the best thing especially in places where it rains throughout the growing season. It fills a 32 gallon barrel (see picture) with just 3 inches of rain (fill rate is 10 gallons per inch of rain)
Please read our press release for more details.

How do I get that nice funnel shape when I install?

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:30:47 +0000

RainSaucers™ often come to you rolled up in a tube to enable them to be shipped efficiently. Since they are made from flexible plastic, they take on the curled shape, but only temporarily. If you try to install them in the curled shape they will look more like a Sombrero than a Saucer. So we highly recommend you remove the curl by laying the disc flat for at least 24 hours or until all of the curl is removed. If you don't have 24 hours, just lay the disc flat in direct sunlight. The sun and heat will accelerate the process.

Rain barrel Marketing in Hawaii

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

We love our Distributors, especially the ones who get creative with their Marketing of our product. Waterworks, our partner in Hawaii, recently launched the following print and ad campaign. Helena who runs Sales over there says the feedback has been great!

New distributor for NYC

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:58:34 +0000

We finally have distribution in NYC. This was a personal goal of ours given I grew up there. Specialty Deck was introduced to us by our friends over at Rainwater Hog who also sells their product through Rob Ryan the proprietor over there. Specialty Deck makes beautiful custom decks for urban rooftops and balconies. Rob sees the RainSaucer as an elegant way to bring rain catchment into his solutions. We look forward to seeing his implementations!

Roof vs. RainSaucers Smackdown (aka Why Standalone RWH?)

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:37:00 +0000

What a day of contrasts! I started the day off with a polite email from a rain barrel veteran in the South who said she didn't see a need for standalone rainwater harvesting because in her area, everyone has roofs and downspouts. Reminds me of when Bill Gates apparently said some years back, "640K is more memory than anyone will ever need." Some people just don't see the future.

Fortunately in the afternoon a sustainable gardener wrote from the Midwest with some nice praise and some great questions which really showed an understanding of our concept. Actually, she sounded like the ideal customer wanting to harvest rainwater for her vegetable garden with the added benefit of having a source of clean water in the event of a disaster.

Her email inspired us to briefly summarize the difference between roof runoff and rainwater collected straight from the sky:
- The RainSaucer™ has a food safe surface. The roof does not. The roof adds chemicals like zinc and chromated copper arsenate that kill plants and generous amounts of accumulated atmospheric pollution and bird scat. The RainSaucer™ meanwhile is in arm's reach and can be kept as clean as the user desires through maintenance and storage in the off-season. Furthermore, birds and other animals are not generally attracted to the shiny white material which would not support their weight anyway.
- The RainSaucer™ takes 10 minutes to set up with no tools required. Accessing a downspout may take as long but almost always involves a hole saw or hacksaw. Many people are not comfortable with this level of tooling, not to mention the permanency of such changes.
- A free standing rain barrel can collect rain anywhere on a user's property. A traditional rain barrel can only be placed near a downspout. In suburban or rural areas, where lots can be quite large, a vegetable garden is not necessarily near the house. Even in urban areas, there is need for an alternative because downspouts are sometimes not accesible (in wrong area or made of tough to cut galvanized steel).

Store water for free?

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:26:42 +0000

When we first got into the rainwater harvesting business, our trusted advisor Vishwanath Srikantaiah of India's Rainwater Club told us that cheap water storage is the key to making rainwater collection pervasive. After all, he emphasized, if you cannot store the collected water at a reasonable cost, you run into issues with capital availability especially in developing countries. But even here in the US, we see price sensitivity amongst consumers who are increasingly likely to make their own rain barrel rather than buy one. Or in cities where rain barrels are provided free or subsidized, demand is almost always greater than program supply.

Since RWH is so dependent on water storage, it's worth asking then "is it possible to store water for free"? In the United States, the answer happily is yes. Here is a list of ways we've stored water for free with a little effort to find and clean the container:

- 55 gallon food safe plastic drums- we got ours from a Microbrewery. Other sources include bottling plants and food manufacturers. Just make sure to get one with a 2" NPS fine thread hole if you want to make it a free standing rain collector using our system.

- 5 gallon buckets- from local restaurants. Soy Sauce for example is often sold in such containers.Most proprietors are happy to help in the name of recycling.

- 1 gallon jugs- like you see every week when you buy milk. A great way to use these is by offloading water from a full rain barrel so that storage is freed up. Then with a few pin holes in the cap you have a watering can.

How do I keep my free standing rain barrel from tipping over?

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As you might imagine, free standing rainwater collectors are much more susceptible to tipping because there is nothing shielding them from the wind. This is especially true for those long thin pickle barrels which have a high center of gravity. However, in the year that the RainSaucer has been on the market, we've seen our customers secure their systems in a variety of succesful ways. In this post we'll share with you what seems to work:

1. Securing the barrel to the stand itself is good as long as the stand is heavy. Cinder blocks are often used as a stand because of their weight and because they have holes which permit a rope or cord to go through. The below video is an example of this from our partner DC Greenworks.

2. Tying the barrel off to the ground with stakes is another option. Just run two lines from opposite points on the barrel to stakes in the ground. If your barrel has handles, they make excellent end points.

3. Surround the barrel with a few fence posts. In high winds the barrel will bump up against the posts but not tip over.

4. Surrouding the barrel with ad-hoc objects. In San Ramon, we used patio chairs temporarily until the barrel had enough water weight in it to prevent tipping. 5 gallons of rain= 40 pounds of weight, which should be enough ballast support.

5. #1,2 above via holes in the edge of the RainSaucer. If for some reason holes cannot be made in the barrel, the holes at the edge of the RainSaucer have enough extra room to accomodate a string or cord. This allows them to be be used as end points for tying around a stand or staking into the ground.

How do I put more than one RainSaucer on a barrel?

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:48:02 +0000

Our 48" RainSaucer comes with a 2" NPS (Nominal Pipe Size, a US standard) male fitting. This not only allows it to be screwed into barrels which already have such holes, it also enables the user to scale their system with compatible fittings and piping available at your local hardware store.

2 RainSaucers per barrel is easy if you have one of these ubiquitous blue or white barrels (see picture). These barrels have 2" holes as part of the mold and since these barrels are so thick, they can easily support the weight. To implement, it's just 2 x 24" sections of 2" PVC with a Tee used in the middle and at the ends if you want clean-outs or elbows if you don't. Female/male adapters are also used with the tees to connect each RainSaucer, cap (optional) and the barrel itself.

If you don't have one of these barrels or you want to deploy more than two RainSaucers, the best strategy is to make an arm. All you need is 2" PVC piping, the appropriate amount of tee connectors, elbows to begin/end the arm, and a either fence post or other structure (as shown below) to support the "arm".

How do I cheaply install a Faucet in a Barrel?

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:47:18 +0000

Like most common installs there are a number of approaches. Here is what has worked for us and costs just $5-$6:
- a Faucet ($2-$3), we like King Brothers SFT-0750-T Faucet Sink Celcon 3/4" (pictured here)
- a #19 O ring 1.25" outer diameter ($.10)
- a reducer bushing with 3/4" threads ($1.25)
- a 15/16" spade bit ($2-$3)

Installation is simple:

Use the spade bit to drill a hole 2-4 inches from the bottom of the barrel, depending on desired dispensing height. Then thread in the faucet and place O ring on side coming through (inside barrel). Thread on reducer bushing after O ring making sure everything is tight. If there are leaks, keep tightening until a seal develops. You may still get a little leakage from time to time but that should be minor.

The above only work for open top barrels. If your barrel is completely closed, use the O ring on the outside of the barrel and a long arm tool to hold reducer bushing on the inside.

Zombie Apocalypse Drinking Water

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

"Prepping" has gotten a lot of attention lately thanks to the approaching Mayan Apocalypse date and shows like Doomsday Preppers. Its probably no coincidence that the Walking Dead TV show is also so popular. But prepper or not, we all know that we need to be prepared in the event of disaster by having food, shelter, and an adequate supply of water.

FEMA recommends having a 3 day supply on hand, but preppers often have much more than that plus their own water treatment mechanisms. The rationale for water treatment is that in the event of a disaster, water will be available, but not clean.

We agree this might be true for certain disasters like floods where water might be everywhere. But there are plenty of disasters where your access to water might be restricted because your freedom of movement is restricted. For example, in the event of civil unrest your best chance of survival might be to "bug-in" and stay under the radar. In that case, where will your water come from when your supplies have run out?

This is where rainwater harvesting comes in, especially for people who are currently dependent on municipal water. By collecting rainwater you are actually increasing your chances of survival in the event of disaster because rain barrels are an independent and renewable source of water.

What is It?

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:27:26 +0000

The RainSaucer is appearing this week on PBS TV's Ask this Old House during the "What is It?" segment. You can already see the episode in its entirety here (see Episode 24, Section 3)

Don't forget the Motor City

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:25:00 +0000

It's taking some time, but we are finally starting to build out our MidWest and East Coast distribution. New to our reseller lineup is Maxi Container based in Detroit. We're excited to work with Maxi as its probably one of the largest and most diverse companies in our network. Maxi is a family owned business with several million in annual sales and a robust container recycling business. Although new to the rain barrel business, its a logical fit for their business and a great example of how the industry is trending towards recycled water storage.

UC Berkeley Wrapup

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:54:00 +0000

Many thanks to the folks who attended our discussion at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden on Saturday. Great thought provoking questions! One question really stood out. We were asked "if the RainSaucer were to become ubiquitous in California, what would people be using it for?" This question came after a discussion of the numerous benefits, but this attendee wanted a clear vision.

This was our response and I think it's worth repeating "We envision one of these beside every victory garden allowing customers to grow truly sustainable produce. An additional benefit is that the system would serve as a backup source of water in case of an earthquake or disaster."

Rain Barrels in Georgia

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000

We are proud to announce RainSaucers availablity in Georgia courtesy of our new distributor Rain Barrels in Georgia. Harvey Wilson, who runs the show over there, is a true craftsman making his own style of double height rain barrel stands and other accessories. He is also an experimenter having put the RainSaucer on a variety of tanks. We look forward to working with Harvey.

UC Berkeley Workshop

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:25:00 +0000

RainSaucers CEO Tom Spargo will be speaking about the benefits or Rainwater Harvesting and the use of RainSaucers at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens on February 18th. Event details here.

TreeHugger features one of our distributors

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

TreeHugger recently wrote about one of our distributors in Florida, TCLynx who runs the website Aquaponic Lynx. The article features a video of TCYLynx with her zipgrow aquaponic tower system which uses RainSaucers for roofless rainwater catchment. New to us is that TCLynx needs to harvest rainwater because her well water has too high of a Ph for plants and fish. She also can't use the roof because its asphalt.

Looking back, looking forward

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

Happy New Year to all our supporters and thanks for all your encouragement this past year. 2011 was a great year for us as we finally launched our product after about 6 months of of R&D and field trials. The product sold well in 2011, but we expect it to sell even better in 2012 mainly due to the exposure we have gotten from bloggers and even mainstream media. We also received a lot of attention from our Guatemala field trial which showed that a RainSaucers system is a legitimate solution for clean drinking water.

This year, you can expect us to announce several new products, including the 59" RainSaucer (pictured here). We've made the 59er bigger, stronger, and better in several ways. You can expect us to make an announcement about the 59er in a few months.

Viva Los Canales

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:26:00 +0000

One of the places where gutters are not common is New Mexico. Rainfall is so minimal that is just doesn't make sense. So instead most traditional Soutwestern style Adobe flat roof homes have rain spouts called Canales. Canales enable roof run off to shoot out away from the house and they can be seen not just in New Mexico, but in other examples of flat roof architecture around the world.

To harvest rain water from Canales some people use a rain chain to direct the water into a barrel. Others try to catch the stream of water but this poses challenges without a large catchment area. So what we really want to do is see if a RainSaucer can achieve this. Once we get distribution in the Southwest, this is one of the first experiments we will conduct.

Filtration Shmiltration

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:15:00 +0000

How important is filtration to rainwater collection? That all depends on the catchment surface and air quality. If you are catching rain straight from the sky onto a clean food safe surface (like we do) you really don't need it unless you intend to drink the water and even then a simple cloth filter (for dust) will suffice.

But if you are catching rain from a roof you certainly need it to remove the zinc, hydrocarbons, accumulated pollution and droppings especially if you want to use the water for household or agriculture use. A first flush diverter (see picture) is often used as a front line defense. This filters water by diverting the initial roof runoff into separate pipe based on the assumption the first few liters contains alot of the bad stuff. But first flush is not enough as it only removes about 40% of both dissolved and suspended solids. After that you still need varying degrees of filtration and that adds up. From that perspective, standalone rainwater harvesting is not just simpler and cleaner but cheaper!

The DIY Cheapest Rain Barrel ever...

RainSaucers Inc. — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:43:00 +0000

Other than a freebie from your local Coca Cola plant, is actually a 32 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck Trash can which can sometimes be had for $10 on Sale. Does it hold water? Yes pretty well actually. Does it crack in the sun? Not for many, many years. Is it food safe? It's made from HDPE just like all other water tanks. RWH purists probably hate that these are so popular but the reality is they just work great for the price. Not surprisingly one of the top rain barrel videos on YouTube is this gentleman explaining how a Roughneck is all you need (200,000 views).

New Distributors in Hawaii, Santa Cruz, and the Florida Keys

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:02:00 +0000

RainSaucers are indeed catching on. Just in the past few weeks we concluded reseller arrangements with new distributors WaterWorks (Hawaii, pictured here), Laundry to Landscape (Santa Cruz) and Small Space Garden Club (Florida Keys). WaterWorks, as you can see, is a major player in private water systems in Hawaii offering both rainwater catchment systems as well as pools. Laundry to Landscape is a rain barrel system provider in Santa Cruz run by LeAnne Ravinale an expert in both grey water and rain water catchment. Finally, Space Garden Club is a brand new company in the Florida Keys run by Rick Smith who specialized in Community Gardening and Gardening with space limitations. Welcome new Distributors!

TC Permaculture Post

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:44:00 +0000

John Kitsteiner over at the authoritative TC Permaculture blog had this to say about our concept. We often get people telling us that they've thought about standalone rainwater catchment because the idea is so compelling as a potential solution to the world's water problems. It's what drives us and we are glad to get such support!

Now available in Portland, OR

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:40:00 +0000

As the rainy season winds down on the East Coast and starts turning to snow, things are just starting up here on the West Coast. As our fans know we recently went to Portland, OR to debut the RainSaucer at the ARCSA show. For our display, we implemented a RainSaucer on a barrel provided by the Rainbarrel Man who makes beautiful cedar clad rain barrels (see photo). John Elliotte, the actual Rainbarrel Man himself, thinks that super-rainy Portland is a perfect market for RainSaucers becase his customers have been asking him about alternatives to gutter connections. So he has decided to become our distributor up there. Welcome on board John!

Requiring Rainwater Collection

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:46:00 +0000

A RainSaucers fan recently alerted us to the situation in Tuvalu where a drought has drawn down the island nation's water supply to crisis levels. As reported in Reuters, rescue efforts are underway from nearby OZ and NZ which are providing emergency desalination equipment. Tuvalu is one of an increasing number of countries that are entirely dependent on rainwater. One could argue this means RWH always needs a backup for when weather conditions change dramatically. But we think it can also mean that RWH systems must be sized, not based on averages, but on the worst case situation. In other words, when rain falls, however little it may seem, it can go a long way if you collect it over the right collection area.

Furthermore, Tuvalu is not alone in its dependence on rainwater. Several island states face the same situation from the Bahamas to Hawaii. Meanwhile in Australia and Texas, droughts have created the same situation by depleting wells until dry. But even during "drought" conditions there is rain: one just needs to be ready to capture it whenever and wherever it falls.

Decreasing rain acidity?

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

One of the biggest takeaways from our recent attendance at the annual ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Association) is that while rain in the United States can be polluted in some places, it is generally stable thanks to legislation which has been capping emissions. Acid rain as the EPA likes to tell us is rain that has gone down the Ph scale from a normal 5.6 to something closer to 4 (see chart). The cause: atmospheric pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Acidity is not harmful in drinking water per se (after all soda has a ph of 3) but fish can't really survive. And we all knows what happens when the food chain starts to collapse. For this reason, the EPA has been monitoring the Ph of rainwater and it's also how we know Ph levels are starting to return to normal.

On a side note, we also received an answer to one of the questions we often ponder about rain acidity. Is there a way to decrease the acidity of rain, post-collection? The short answer: yes- limestone. Adding limestone to a tank in the right amounts can mimic the natural process which occurs in groundwater. Limestone BTW is also the key ingredient in those over the counter anti-acid meds because it is such a great acid reducer.

Triple Pundit Post

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:19:00 +0000

We appeared in Triple Pundit a few weeks back talking about our work in developing countries. We know we have supporters in India. Now we just need to get them the product at the right price.

No salsa with your tamales?

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:39:00 +0000

OK, so you are probably wondering what salsa has to do with tamales. Both are Mexican mainstays but one is made from cheap corn while the other from expensive tomatoes. And that's exactly the point. Farmers, especially those in the developing world, are often limited to raising drought tolerant dry crops such as corn because they have no regular source of water. They cannot farm tomatoes or other "wet" crops because such plants won't survive the irregularity of rain- they need a consistent source of water such as an onsite well or pond which are both expensive to build and pump from. So their incomes remain limited as they must live off of corn production instead of tomatoes.

Urban Farmers in the US also face this problem when their city water is considered too "hard" for real farming. Also known as SPIN (small plot intensive farming) farmers, SPIN practioners sometimes have to invest $1000s in filtration equipment and keep replacing filters each year to treat their municipal water and make it agriculture grade. Rainwater is the perfect low cost alternative, if only it was not so irregular.

But what if rainwater was available on-demand, right on site, no pumping required? Would it be possible to then grow tomatoes with nothing more than dirt, fertilizer, and a rain barrel? The answer, as we found out this past Summer during our drought resistant tomato crop experiment, is happily "yes".

The setup of our experiment was straightforward: 2 tomato plants (see picture above left) were exclusively hand-watered from one 18 gallon tote box (see picture right) with one of our standard 48" RainSaucers™ on board. We started harvesting rainwater in January and by the time we planted in mid-April, we had a full barrel ready to go. Then thanks to rain in March, April, May and June, our drawdown was minimized while our barrel kept getting topped off.

As expected things started getting interesting in July and August when there was absolutely no rain (which happens every Summer in California.) As the temperature increased, we had to increase the amount of watering, averaging almost a gallon per plant per week during those Summer months. But we were still able to make it to September 15th when we harvested our last tomato. Our total yield: about 4 pounds per plant, not great but not any worse than our control tomato plant which also yielded 4 pounds. The taste was also no different- succulent and sweet like a homegrown tomato should be.

The below chart provides the data from our experiment showing how we effectively made 2 tomato plants drought resistant during 11 weeks without rain. Now imagine if we used a 55 gallon drum combined with drip irrigation instead of hand watering. Also what if we did this on the East Coast of the U.S. where bad droughts may only be 4 weeks?

Based on the results of our experiment, we estimate a 55 gallon rain barrel with three 48" RainSaucers hooked up to a high efficiency, low cost drip system like one from Driptech could support up to 30 plants. Estimated cost: $200, which could probably be recovered in one season of tomatoes as those 30 plants bring in 3 to 5 times more money than the corn equivalent. The payback would be even faster for SPIN farmers who may be able forgo water treatment altogether.

Is it a fence, or rain barrel, or both?

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:02:00 +0000

Fans who know us well, also know about our Partnership with Rainwater HOG. We love the HOG's approach to redesigning the rain barrel into a more modular slim unit. Interestingly, the HOG is not alone in this endeavor as San Ramon resident and reporter Roz Rogoff recently enlightened us. In her recent blog post she discusses her plan to make a rainwater wall out of tanks from Contain Rainwater Systems (pictured here).

Come see us at the ARCSA show, 9/27-28

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:12:00 +0000

RainSaucers will be exhibiting at the ARCSA (American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association) show next month in Clackamas, OR.

Our booth will be on display September 27th and 28th if any of our fans are interested.

SmartPlanet coverage

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Latest article on water from the SmartPlanet blog features RainSaucers and our work in Gautemala. Check out the lively discussion which came out after the article.

Now available in Tacoma, WA

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:59:00 +0000

In business since 1999, Dan Borba is a true pioneer when it comes to rain barrels. Dan tells us when his company Natural Rain Water started selling Rain Barrels in the SeaTac area, he was the only one. Today, the area is quite competitive but Dan says he specializes in area farmers markets and he plans on marketing RainSaucers the same way. So please check him out if you are in the neighborhood.

Interview with TSP

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:27:00 +0000

Check out our interview with The Survival Podcast where we discuss the many uses of our stand alone rainwater harvesting system.

Back from Guatemala

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:37:00 +0000

Our Summer Hire is back from Guatemala now and we have prepared the results of our field trial. Enjoy!

AC you see, is a water machine

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:55:00 +0000

Growing up as a kid in the summer in sweltering NYC, I always used to get confused walking alongside apartment buildings. I mistakenly thought it was raining when it wasn't because of all the AC condensation falling on passersby.

Lately I've started thinking more about that wasted water and wondering whether it can be recycled. So far the few times that I've put my AC on this year (very mild heat this year in Northern California) I've been able to capture the condensation coming out our system with a 1 gallon bowl (which easily fills up) and use it on some of my plants. Earlier this year I was introduced to a soaker hose called catchadrip. which automatically does this for you.

I figure that that newer buildings must have some kind of condensate recovery system. But what about condensation coming our of apartments, office buildings, and hotels where each room has its own AC? I plan on doing further research to see if a RainSaucer can be used for this.

Towards a drought resistant tomato crop

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:01:00 +0000

These are no ordinary tomatoes. They are drought resistant tomatoes because they have a RainSaucers system in waiting for whenever it doesn't rain. In rainy weeks, they are watered naturally, of course. On non-rainy weeks, they are watered with previously harvested rainwater, collected on-site. Our goal with this is experiment is to demonstrate the potential for a RainSaucers system to completely address the water needs of a small plot farmer.

In the US, we know the urban intensive farming movement is desperate to make this work because city water is generally too hard (e.g. too much calcium) for commercial farming. Likewise, in developing countries, such a system could help poor farmers earn more money by upgrading some of their fields from low return corn to high return tomatoes.

We'll let you know how our experiment goes!

RainSaucers now available in DC!

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:25:00 +0000

We are proud to announce that RainSaucers is now available to residents in the Washington DC area though DC Greenworks, a non-profit which is both a green roof advocate and educator, as well as a purveyor of rain barrels and other low impact agriculture and landscape systems. DC Greenworks is an ideal partner with which to prove that RainSaucers can be highly useful in urban areas. One application is the use of a RainSaucers system on a green roof as a way to irrigate rooftop plants. Another application is as a clean alternative to asphalt or tar roofing, which is common in cities.

Cloud Storage

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:46:00 +0000

Detractors of rainwater harvesting point to the seasonality of rain as the main reason RWH can only be a temporary or partial solution to the world water crisis. Others who promote RWH use that seasonality to sell massive, expensive tanks. But what if we challenge some of these assumptions about rain? This includes not just the notion that rain is seasonal but that rain must come in large bursts followed by long droughts.

Cloud Storage, is a term we have recently started using as a play on the more popular data related term. Cloud Storage in the RWH context means that by using the natural frequency of rain combined with a constant usage model, one can potentially make RWH a near year round solution without the added cost of large storage.

Take Orlando, FL for example where it rains an average of 48 inches per year. In 2010, there was rain every month except for October. When the rain was heaviest (March, August and September) it did not come all at once. Downpours were almost always followed by rain again a week or two later. This data suggests that Floridians could make use of rainwater almost year round at minimal cost by using a small barrel- provided they constantly use the water.

We have been using the Cloud Storage term more with our developing world efforts because many poor countries have Florida like weather, raining at least 40 inches per year (with varying frequency patterns). Dry farmers in the developing world already put their trust in mother nature by planting rain dependent crops (corn,wheat,etc.): they understand Cloud Storage. Cloud Storage similarly has the potential to provide poor families with drinking water at very low cost: all they need is a RainSaucer with whatever storage medium they can afford.

Off to Guatemala

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:08:00 +0000

Last week our Summer Contractor landed in Guatemala and right away started implementing our Gautemala field trial. After much discussion about how to have the most impact, we decided to implement RainSaucers on a pair of 5 gallon buckets (prototype pictured here). The idea is that each time it rains the customer brings the unit inside for immediate consumption then swaps in a second 5 gallon bucket in the meantime. This not only keeps the price low but keeps the water fresh. The constant consumption and rotation can potentially turn 10 gallons of storage into 100's of gallons depending on how much it rains, the frequency, and the time in between rains.

The Gautemala RainSaucer is the same as the U.S. one with the exception of additional filration to improve the drinking experience. We created an additional filter chamber within the adapter assembly into which we place additional screening and a sediment filter.

Partnership with Rainwater HOG

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:31:00 +0000

RainSaucers will work with any tank or barrel. But there are some really unique froms of water storage that make our product more compelling. One of them is the Rainwater HOG, a 50 gallon tank which takes the shape of tall but thin building block. The idea behind the HOG is that by making water storage thin and rectangular, you unlock many possibilities for where you can put it without being an eyesore (like some barrels). Many of the ones implemented have been along the side of a house with multuple units linked together to act as one large tank.

As you can see from this video we are now partnering with Rainwater HOG, having officially established compatibility and are now cross-promoting a combined system. So what can you do with a HOG/RainSaucer combo? Sally of Rainwater HOG thinks it's great for remote potable water. We also think that it's perfect for the fence area near ones vegetable garden because the water will be right where you need it.

Ashphalt roofs and rain barrels

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:49:00 +0000

We've always known intuitively that rainwater off an asphalt roof was not something you want to drink or use on edibles. If you've ever been up on a roof, you know that its home to birds, pollution, not to mention what remains in the gutters year after year. First flush or not, the notion of using water that has first passed over shingles without being treated is less than appetizing (fine for nonedibles however).

Now there is some real data out there that least supports the notion that asphalt roof runoff is not a legitimate source of potable water. A recent study commissioned by the Texas Water Development Board and conducted by the Cockrell School of Engineering of rooftop water quality found that rainwater from asphalt fiberglass shingle roofs contains high levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Water with DOC is not necessarily dangerous on its own, but when it’s mixed with chlorine — a common product used to disinfect water — the two substances react to form byproducts that potentially cause cancer and other negative human health effects.

The annual California Drought

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Sometimes they call California the "bread basket" of America referring to the abundant harvest of our crops. The moniker invokes images of a fertile rainy climate but in reality, our Agricultural capability is entirely man-made because it doesn't rain at all here during the growing season. The water for crops actually comes from the melting Sierra snowpack which is brought down South by the California aqueduct.
So while the East Coast folks and Southerners talk about drought as a couple of weeks without rain, to Californians drought is an annual 6 month ordeal.
The annual California Drought certainly diminishes the impact of Rainwater Harvesting. A rain barrel full in April can easily be depleted by May if you're not careful. More barrels is one solution. But a more elegant approach is the use of drip irrigation and drought tolerant plants. Tomatoes for example are on the low end of water usage. Some say they actually lose taste when they are overwatered.

Rain Barrels for Santa Monica

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Local News coverage of Santa Monica's rain barrel program. Shows yet another municipality subsidizing rain barrels in order to reduce stomwater. The video also contains some great pictures from the program's director Neal Shapiro who visited Israel and saw some of the earliest Roman rainwater harvesting techniques.

Rainwater Harvesting gets its own Theme Park

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:03:00 +0000

We knew rainwater harvesting was big in India but had no idea it was this Big. In the city of Bangalore, India a new theme park has just been launched which is dedicated to the practice of Rainwater Harvesting. Dubbed the Sir M Visvesvaraya rainwater harvesting theme park, the facility has 27 different methods of rainwater harvesting on display, an auditorium, a 70-seater amphitheatre where cultural programs will be conducted, rainwater filters and other materials, books related to rainwater harvesting and a help desk. The theme park was built by the local water utility, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Bangalore is one of many cities in India where RWH is now mandatory for new construction so it makes sense the utility should be involved.

Like Water for Fish (and Plants)

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:56:00 +0000

Orlando area residents can now buy RainSaucers through our first non- rain barrel focused reseller, Aquaponics Lynx. Aquaponics is the practice of raising fish and plants for consumption at the same time by using the plants to cleanse the water the fish live in. The closed system uses much less water and resources than either traditional fish farming and hydroponics. But evaporation and transpiration does still take its toll. To replace the water, tap water can be used but only when treated to remove the chlorine and cholaramine, which fish cannot tolerate. Rainwater on the other hand is natural distilled water and exactly what fish like. What fish (especially ones you are going to eat) don't want is contaminants from roofs and that's where RainSaucers comes in. Our system collects exactly what the fish can live in, passively, right where the fish are going to need it.

Gutterless Rainwater Harvesting

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:20:00 +0000

RainSaucers is all about enabling free standing rain barrels with an emphasis on water quality- it's why we use food grade plastic for our catchment. We're not necessarily against using the roof, its just that we think roof runoff is best suited to lawns and non-edible plants.

Yet even though we're not specifically designed for roof catchment we've had many people say a RainSaucer is an ideal way to harvest water off structures with no gutters. And when you think of the hassle and expense of gutter installation, a single RainSaucer represents a legitimate alternative.

Now many of you reading this post might think, there probably aren't that many structures without gutters these days. But if you think broadly it's quite a few. No gutter structures we've seen include:
- Older homes, which predate city storm system
- New homes, where builder opts not to install
- Homes where gutters simply aren't needed such as in low rain climates or homes with sloped foundations
- Garages
- Sheds
- Gazebos
- Cabins
- Poor family homes in much of the developing world.

RainSaucers Now Available Online

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:36:00 +0000

We just added Aquabarrel.com as a place where you can buy RainSaucers. Aquabarrel also sells compatible drums. Or if you want to buy local, we recommend you get a unit first and take the provided adapter with you when shopping for a barrel to make sure it has a standard 2" fine thread fitting. A Craigslist search for 55 or 60 gallon drums may help you find local providers.

Summer Job Opportunity

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:51:00 +0000

Thanks to our local partner in Guatemala, Alterna (a spinoff from AIDG) we have a fantastic Summer Job to offer, We plan on doing a field trial of RainSaucers in Guatemela as a solution for potable water. Many Guatemalans have to buy their drinking water, because the tap water is no good. When used as a subsitute for bottled water, a RainSaucers system would pay for itself in the first year and save large amounts of income over time. We also want to test RainSaucers as a solution for irrigiation particularly in the Mountains where there is often no water supply. Another possibility is to enable water as a business with local street merchants who can potentiallu harvest rainwater for sale at more reasonable prices. Details of the opportunity are posted at our investor's website.

Article in Contra Costa Times

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:31:00 +0000

For those fans of RainSaucers, it might be interesting to see the product written up by a local paper. This brief intro appeared in the Contra Costa Times' Home & Garden section. We suspect the Home & Garden section is where we will find the bulk of attention for our product in the US media.

The trusty Siphon Hose (or Pump)

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:17:00 +0000

Rain barrels usually come with a spigot to get the water out. But sometimes they don't. Say you have a closed 55 gallon drum you got for a few bucks off Craig's List and all it has is two holes in the top, no spigot. And say for whatever reason, you don't have the skill or inclination to install a spigot- what do you do?

One solution we suggest is a siphon device-either pump or hose. As you can see from this video, it requires no skill at all. It also removes the need to put the barrel on blocks. Better yet you can get these easily for less than $10.

This option may be good for some RainSaucers customers because a barrel directly on the ground is less likely to tip over when empty. In that scenario, you can use one hole for your RainSaucer (remember must be NPS fine thread) and the other hole for your siphon hose. If you want to use a siphon pump, you would need to remove the RainSaucer first and then use the siphon pump because the pump is generally too tall to have both. If you live on the West Coast, this is not a problem because the harvesting and use of rainwater are usually at completely different times of the year.

RainSaucers now available in Seattle

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:46:00 +0000

After several months of collaborative trials, we are proud to announce that RainSaucers are available for purchase through the Seattle Conservation Corps , a program of the Seattle Parks Department. We are excited to work with the Corps because they don't just make rain barrels and compost bins. They make them by employing formerly troubled people offering them viable, living-wage jobs.

Rain Barrels in the news

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:36:00 +0000

Yet another local news story about a city government promoting rain barrels along with other clean technologies. This town, like many across the country, sells the barrels themselves and the program is designed to pay for itself.

Attention SF Bay Area Residents

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:54:00 +0000

I am pleased to announce that we are now taking pre-orders for RainSaucers.

The RainSaucers units will initially be on sale on a first come first serve basis (thus we recommend you pre-order) at San Francisco's Urban Farmer Store (2833 Vicente Street) later this month for $55 (a demo unit is already in the store). You will need to purchase a rain barrel as well and Urban Farmer sells them with rebates included from the SFPUC.

For those outside the SF Bay Area, please feel free to fill out a pre-order form and we'll let you know when can be supplied to you locally or online.

It never rains in Southern California?

RainSaucers Inc. — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:23:00 +0000

Not according to recent events. In fact, Los Angeles can get over 30 inches of rain in a good year which happened as recently as 2005. The average is actually 15 inches which is not too shabby if one harvests all of that. This year's rain is causing problems with flooding but it is also resulting in polluted oceans as all the runoff results in contaminated water. Rainwater harvesting reduces that contamination impact- hence the government and EPA support. But one aspect which never seems to get attention is that only a small portion of the runoff is generated by roofs. Most of it comes from the paved streets and sidewalks, not to mention backyards. Needless to say, these non-roof areas are RainSaucers territory because we deploy anywhere.

First Full Barrel

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:15:00 +0000

Four weeks. That's about how long it took to fill one of our 55 gallon test barrels with fresh, free, Northern California Rain Water. It rained about 5 inches during that time and since we had two of our smaller Saucers deployed together (total surface area of 22.5 square feet) things happened rather quickly. But like many folks that harvest rainwater in California we are now wondering what to do next with that 55 gallons since we don't need it for plants right now (it's not the growing season). Yes, we would save it for April when we plant. But it makes more sense to use it now and refill. Its high quality makes it perfect for a lot of in-home uses like laundry, bathing, dish washing, hand washing etc.

The rains have come...

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:18:00 +0000

finally to Northern California! Over the past few weeks we have been actively testing our pre-commercial product and the results are excellent. Over the summer we completed trials in the US, Guatemala, and India. We are also currently testing our units in Seattle. In the coming months we expect RainSaucers to available in the U.S. for purchase through local rain barrel providers.

Mosquitoes in my Rain Barrel?

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:04:00 +0000

One of the interesting things we learned at the recent ARCA conference is how Mosquitoes can still wind up in rain barrels, even when the lid is tightly secured and filtration is in place. According to the scientists which presented at the conference, all the mosquitos need is a small accessible puddle of water any where along the route to the rain barrel to lay their eggs. Once the miniscule eggs are in place they can easily be washed into the rain barrel with the next rain. The typical example given was of a rain gutter stopped up temporarily creating a breeding ground Just one more reason standalone rainwater harvesting has appeal. It puts you in complete control of the water from the sky to the barrel.

CloudJuice

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:58:00 +0000

Having great fun and learning a lot this week at the ARCSA conference, This video I thought should be shared because it shows an RWH pioneer, Richard Heinichen, in action and his evolution from tanks into bottled rainwater.

Meetup at ARCSA Conference 10/4-6

RainSaucers Inc. — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:21:00 +0000

For those interested, we plan on attending the ARCSA conference in Austin, TX October 4-6 and would be happy meet with potential customers and partners to demonstrate our product. Please just use our contact page to get a hold of us and we'll set something up. See you there!

Yet another City added to the list

RainSaucers Inc. — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:08:50 +0000

As we've said before the rainwater harvesting trend appears here to stay in the U.S. as more and more cities subsidize rain barrels. Interestingly the trend covers major metros and even smaller towns and suburbs. This one caught our eye...

The Rainwater Harvesting Market

RainSaucers Inc. — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:08:00 +0000

We had to do a double take when we first saw it. Frost and Sullivan the venerable market research firm who for years has been the authority on emerging markets in the technology field released a report on the RWH market in Europe and India. Entitled "Analysis of Rainwater Harvesting Market in Europe and India" , the December 2009 report is extremely bullish on RWH saying that "a significant driver for the RWH market in India has been the state level legislations that have made RWH mandatory for all new buildings in certain states..the key driver in Europe has been the steep water prices with several European countries topping the global water tariff list.” The report doesn't mention the U.S. but judging from the rate of growth we see here, could inclusion be far behind? But more importanly, does coverage of RWH by Frost and Sullivan mean the RWH market has finally arrived? We certainly hope so.

ARCSA Membership

RainSaucers Inc. — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:49:00 +0000

It's official, we are now members of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association. Started in 1994, the group now has 700 member companies, half of which joined in just the last 3 years. That kind of growth shows an industry that is on the rise and we are honored to be part of it. Ironically, ARCSA (as you can see from the logo) mainly focuses on rooftop catchment. But we're here to shake up the dynamic a bit, and show the industry that there are complementary and in some situations, better alternatives. We also plan on attending the ARCSA national conference in October to begin the process of introducing ourselves.

Rain is Clearly Carbon Neutral Water

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:36:00 +0000

When we talk about rainwater harvesting at conferences and meetings we always highlight the advantages of Rain over municipal water . The obvious point is that it is free. We also talk about how it is fresh and better for your plants because it has no calcium (aka hard water) which can ruin soil over time.

But there is another important benefit which becomes quickly apparent with our solution- it is delivered right to your doorstep courtesy of Mother Nature. Half the cost of a municipal water supply is in the power required to pump water to customers . In other words, municipal water has a massive carbon footprint. Rainwater on the other hand, is carbon neutral, as long as it is used where it is no collected with no pumping. RainSaucers makes this possible because our solution is roof-independent and can be located anyhwere the rainwater needs to be deployed.

Coke, Pepsi, Recycling and RWH

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

One of the big topics of discussion in the Rainwater Harvesting business is the use of recycled soda syrup drums as rain barrels.

Detractors say that since the barrels are not designed for outdoor use they can eventually crack in the sun. Purpose built rain barrels, on the other hand, can withstand the elements, so are a better long term choice. Point taken.

But from a user's perspective, you simply can't beat the price which is anywhere from $20 (on Craiglist) to "free" when donated by the local coke or pepsi bottling plant (example here). Coke and Pepsi bottlers make the donation for the PR of being been seen as a good corporate citizen. The use of these drums is also viewed as a positive by municipalies because landfill is reduced at the same time water is conserved and stormwater is prevented.

Cities which subsidize RWH

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:40:00 +0000

An increasing number of cities in the U.S. are providing rain barrels at low or no cost to their constituents in order to promote the practice of rainwater harvesting. For many of these locations, the driver is the support (and funding) of the E.P.A which has made the reduction of stormwater from cities a top priority.

The most common type of rain barrel oferred is the repurposed 200 liter food container- which incidentally is the same type of storage RainSaucers is designed to work with. But some cities such as Oakland, CA subsidize brand new barrels.

Major cities on the West Coast with rain barrel subsidy programs include Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

RainSaucers CEO presenting at Acumen Event

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:24:00 +0000

For those that are interested in hearing more about our product and business plan, please come and hear our CEO, Tom Spargo present at the upcoming event "Social Enterpise from Scratch" sponsored by the Acumen Fund and the SOCAP10 conference. The event is on Thursday June 17th at 6PM at the SF Hub. Registation here.

The ROI of RWH in the USA

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:45:00 +0000

We admit the return on investment on a rainwater harvesting system is not great. As long as water remains cheap and subsidized by municipalities it is hard to convince homeowners to purchase an RWH system strictly on the water savings benefits (they can still be sold on water conservation however). In most places in the US, a gallon of water costs around $.01 meaning a system that produces 500-1,000 gallons per year (such as your typical rain barrel when emptied regularly) would only save $5-$10 per year. In other words, a rain barrel at $100 would take 10-20 years to pay off.

But new research from Circle of Blue shows that this in not the case in all cities. In Atlanta for example, water can cost up to $.025 per gallon. This would grow the water savings of a rain barrel to $12.5- $25 per year making the breakeven point occur in as little as 4 years. Other expensive cities for water include Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. We suspect that many more cities will join this list as municipalities increasingly start to pass the real costs of water on to the consumer.

Making Green Roofs Greener

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:15:00 +0000

One of the more interesting trends in green building design is the green roof. Green roofs can be as simple as a series of planter beds or as complicated as a whole plot of grass. But either way the evironmental and economnical benefits are numerous: less energy to cool the building, less stormwater which pollutes the oceans and rivers, less carbon dioxide, and greater sustainability especially if edibles are grown.

The only problem with green roofs is that they consume both water and energy because of the pumping required to bring water to the roof. Rainwater harvesting is great in that situation because the rain is delivered free right to where it can be used with no pumping. And RainSaucers can make that happen because unlike your typical RWH setup, we don't need to connect to a downspout at the bottom of the building. We can deploy anywhere on the rooftop itself right next to where the irrigation is required.

Water the next oil?

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:23:00 +0000

In investing circles, water is a hot topic. Some even say water is the next oil because as the population of the earth keeps growing, water will only become more precious because there is a finite amount that is fresh and within reach. T. Boone Pickens, the famous oil investor for example, believes so strongly in the economics of water that he has been buying water rights in Texas for resale at a later date. Many a movie (think Waterworld) has depicted a future in which fresh water is in extremely short supply.

In the water investing industry, much of the attention is focused on desalination on other technologies which increase the fresh water supply. Less attention is paid to recycling water and even more surprising is that rain water harvesting is mainly under the radar.

So what will it take to make rainwater harvesting a go to technology for increasing local water supply? RWH practitioners I've talked to all say that areas with water restrictions and high water prices are the early adopters. Yet in most other places the water itself is subsidized making the ROI on an RWH investment negligible. However, once these subsidies are removed and instead applied to RWH systems the overall result will be less consumption of municipal water and an increasing reliance on rain water. Many island nations have been operating this way for years and it is just a matter of time before the rest of us catch up.

RainCatchers

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:03:00 +0000

I came across this nonprofit, RainCatchers, recently and was impressed by their initiatives in Haiti. Our goal is try to help organizations like this to implement rainwater harvesting on a much greater scale. We are designing our system to be capable of setup in 10 minutes yet provide a household with enough drinking water to last the entire rainy season and beyond.

RainSaucers wins West Coast Village Capital

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Well we finally crossed the first milestone in the life of a venture- seed funding. Since January of 2010 we've been participating as Members in the West Coast Village Capital program.On April 14th, the finals of the program were held and RainSaucers came out on top in both the internal and external team peer review. The program, sponsored by First Light Ventures, is a social venture business plan competition but with a unique twist- investments are decided by teams of peers rather than by professional investors. Our next step with this seed funding, is to further validate our concept by conducting an in-country field trial. Please send us a line if you are an NGO interested in working with us during the trial.

Finalist Cornell Venture Challenge

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:54:00 +0000

Over the last few months we have been trying to spread the word and obtain capital by entering business plan competitions. Now that its concluded, we can announce that we made the Finals at the Cornell Venture Challenge. RainSaucers was among 5 companies which were hand picked by Big Red Ventures, the MBA student venture capital group which runs the event. Thanks Cornell for the recoginition!

Stormwater Reduction

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:24:00 +0000

It's easy to forget the dual role Rainwater Harvesting plays in improving the environment. One the one hand, RWH reduces the need for piped water supplies. This not only saves the customer money, but also saves municipalities money, water, and the power which is required to pump treated water to citizen's homes.

But there is another benefit to the environment- a reduction in stormwater. Stormwater is te rainwater that hits roofs and pavements before draining to the nearby storm drain. Stormwater is problematic because it carries with it all the oils, chemicals, and organic contaminants which cause pollution. This pollution usually winds up in earby creeks and bays causing all sorts of problems for wildlife. Stormwater also erodes the natural bodies of water it traverses particularly during flood conditions.

Water Storage and Rainwater Harvesting

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:13:00 +0000

One could argue that the cistern size is the key to rainwater harvesting. The bigger the tank, the more rain can be stored for use on days when it is not raining. But we also think it is possible to have too much storage particulary, if the tank is not getting depleted between rains. In that case, there will be overflow, which is a waste of harvested rain.

Our recommendation is that people always look at the usage requirements between rainfalls to get a sense of the amount of storage needed. That is why we are trying to standardize on 200 liters of storage. For a family of 4 drinking 12 liters a day, a full 200 liter tank should last 16 days. As long as it rains after those 16 days, there should always be some rain in the barrel for them to drink. Under normal conditions, rain is usually no more than a few weeks apart once the rainy season has begun. In fact, during our prototype testing in the Bay Area this past Winter, the longest dry spell from December to March was only 12 days.

Monsoon Rain- is it really all at once?

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:45:00 +0000

As we mentioned in our last post , one limitation of RWH is that it only works when it is raining. This issue is compounded when the rainy season is short or when the rain comes all at once thereby restricting the quantity harvested based on storage capacity. We often hear that in India the monsoon can be problematic for RWH because while it brings a lot of rain, it tends to come all at once. Since RainSaucers works better with a more regular flow of rain over a long rainy season, we have been examining Monsoon patterns to determine if this really is an issue.

The result of our research tells us that it really all depends on location. Looking at India for example, there are places like Bangalore in the South where the rainy season is perfect- lasting 6 to 7 months with only one month (November) that may fall short of expectations. On the other hand, places like Bombay have more rain but it all comes within a short 4 month window.

So does this mean RWH won't work in places like Bombay? 4 out of 12 months is good but not as good as 7 out of 12 months. This is where the need for ways to increase water storage come in. RainSaucers currently achieves this by daisy chaining barrels together. But even that has limitations. So we are continually thinking about ways for cheaply store water. Stay tuned for more on that topic.

Rainwater Harvesting vs. other Water Sources

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Within this blog, we have been mainly explaining why RainSaucers is better than traditional RWH. So if you've been reading this blog you already know we think our method is more scalable, cleaner, more flexible, and cheaper.

But outside this blog, we seem to spend just as much time explaining why RWH itself can be better than other water sources. For this post we thought it might be interesting to summarize that discussion.

RWH's most obvious imitation is that it is tied to the rainy season. A light rainy season means there is less water. And when the rain stops the harvesting stops. The storage capacity of the barrel then dictates how much water there is for the drought season. And storage can be expensive.

However, RWH makes up for these issues with some important advantages. The biggest is having a source of clean water in extremely close proximity. Poor people can spend hours a day in their quest for water thereby limiting their economic potential. Another important advantage is cost. A well can cost thousands of dollars while a community RWH project is usually just in the hundreds. Finally, wells, rivers and other sources of water are open to the air giving them greater potential for contamination. RWH is generally a closed system meaning there are less touch-points which could introduce contaminants.

Rainwater Harvesting for America

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:03:00 +0000

One question we sometimes get when we tell folks here in the U.S about our concept is "where can I get one"? It seems a low cost easy way to reap the benefits of rainwater harvesting is in demand everywhere, and not just the developing world. Thanks to a heightened awareness of sustainability issues and an interest in water conservation, RWH appears to be gaining traction in America.

RWH is nothing new to drought prone areas such as Texas and the Southwest where some families have been living off rainwater for decades. But recently, the concept has been gaining hold in cities that are concerned with the problem of storm run off. In our home town of San Francisco for instance, rain barrels are partially susidized by the city in order to reduce the pollution of the SF bay.

So does this mean RainSaucers should be made available to Americans too? We are considering it. One thing we know for sure is that collecting rain straight from the sky , rather from a rooftop, is without a doubt a cleaner method that results in higher quality water. We also think there are a lot of people out there who don't want to cut their downspouts just to hook up a rain barrel.

Importance of RWH in India

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:05:00 +0000

As we've mentioned previously, India is a prime market for rainwater harvesting because of the abundance of rain in contrast to the high degree of water contamination issues. But as we've recently been reminded, there is one other important reason- government support.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, rooftop rainwater harvesting systems are now mandatory for new buildings in 18 of India’s 28 states and four of its seven federally-administered union territories. Even more important is the Minister for Rural Development's position that about 50 percent of the funds for India’s rural employment act are being used for water harvesting systems.

RainSaucers, which is mainly going to be targeted at rural areas in India, should be able to benefit from this overall awareness and government promotion.

Zenrainman

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:44:00 +0000

The first thing we did when we came up with the idea for RainSaucers was to confirm our idea with an expert. After all, what good is a great idea if no one wants to buy it? Since our system is aimed mainly at countries like India where rainfall is heavy and yet the country experiences major contamination issues, we knew we needed to talk with an RWH practitioner based there.

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, also known by his handle Zenrainman, was immediately helpful to us providing invaluable feedback on the market, price points, system requirements, and even potential partners. "Vish", as he is known, is is a Civil Engineer and Urban Planner which has organized numerous Rainwater Harvesting projects in India and Bangladesh using traditional techniques. He is the founder or leading member of numerous rainwater harvesting support initiatives including the Rainwater Club, an online reference site to promote the practice. Vish continues to serve as an advisor to RainSaucers. This video highlights some of the projects he is working on, including RWH.

Cherrapunji, India

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:16:00 +0000

RainSaucers, and all rainwater harvesting systems for that matter, work better in some places than in others. Annual precipitation is the first criteria we look at- the greater the annual rainfall the more rain will be caught. But this is a positive for many developing countries where annual rainfall is quite high. India for example, is home to the "wettest place on earth" Cherrapunji , India (which borders Bangladesh) where it rains an average of 450 inches per year. The runner-up for most rainfall is also in a developing country- Lloro Colombia is said to get as much rain as Cherrapunji.

Yet just as important as annual rainfall is the length of the rainy season. India and most countries that experience Monsoon again have an advantage because the rainy season can easily last 6 months. During that time, RainSaucers users can live off their harvested rain thereby sparing them trips to the local well or river. To make the rain last the whole year, users just need to make sure they have sufficient water storage for those 6 months.

No nitrates here, can't say same for tap

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:30:00 +0000

One of our more interesting test results came from the test for Nitrates. In our three way run off between RainSaucers water, roof run off, and tap water (see previous post) both rain sources were nitrates free. The tap water however registered 5 parts per million (5 milligrams per liter). 10 parts per million is considered the threshold for safety by most standards. So the tap water passed the test but made our rain water look healthier by comparison.

Nitrates in the water is mainly the result of contamination from fertilizer and decaying plant material. The WHO says we eat 20-70 milligrams per day just from the vegetables we eat so it is considered to be unavoidable. But when daily drinking water adds to the exposure health problems can arise. Infants who are fed water or formula made with water that is high in nitrate can develop a condition that doctors call methemoglobinemia- also called "blue baby syndrome" because the skin appears blue-gray or lavender in color. This color change is caused by a lack of oxygen in the blood which can lead to coma and death if not treated promptly.

RainSaucers for Farming

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:54:00 +0000

One way to drastically improve the lives of the rural poor is by improving their farming productivity. In many developing countries, they cannot afford irrigation systems meaning farming must take place during the rainy season. This not only limits their growing season but also restricts the types of crops they can grow. Only the hardiest of plants are able survive the erratic nature of rain during the rainy season.

There is however, a trend towards making irrigation systems more affordable. Driptech for example has gotten a lot of attention for its low cost gravity-fed drip irrigation system. Kickstart is tackling the problem with its man-powered pumps.
Yet both of these systems rely on a source of clean water which can sometimes be out of reach. So we've often wondered whether RainSaucers can help.

The main limitation on RainSaucers, in the irrigation context, is volume of water. Our 200 liter barrel only represents enough water for a small plot for a month at most. But if emptied throughout the rainy season the output of a RainSaucers system can be over 2,000 liters, enough to keep a small plot thriving throughout the rainy season and beyond. The RainSaucers system (empty) is small and light enough to be setup right next to the plot. And since it is already elevated off the ground it would plug nicely into any existing gravity fed drip system.

So the net effect of a RainSaucers system combined with drip is that rural farmers can have all the benefits of irrigation without much of the physical task of getting water to the plot either by pump or fetching.

The Pesticide Test

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:48:00 +0000

We are often asked about the safety of drinking rain given all the pollution in the atmosphere. Pollution is indeed a concern not just for RWH but for the environment in general. From our research, it appears that Pesticides are perhaps the most dangerous of all pollutants. Pesticides in the water supply can cause all sorts of reproductive problems not to mention nervous system and liver damage.

Pesticide contamination is more pronounced in heavy farming areas and since our tests are being conducted in San Ramon, CA (about 1 hour from the California farm belt) we were curious to see if Pesticides would show up in our rainwater, Fortunately, our tests for Pesticides have all been negative.

One factor that no doubt contributed to this result was that we started collecting our rainwater after it had rained heavily a few times, As mentioned previously rainwater is much cleaner after the third or fourth rain when many pollutants have been washed out.

RWH for Disaster Relief in Haiti

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Even before the recent earthquake, Haiti was well known for its water contamination issues. 46 percent of Haitians do not have sustainable access to potable water, according to the UN. But now the situation is clearly worse and it has gotten us to think about RainSaucers and its application as a solution to this and other natural disasters.

Haiti is a moderately rainy country, getting around 10 inches of rain in the Spring and 10 inches of rain in the Fall. This makes Rainwater Harvesting in Haiti an appropriate solution when people have the roofs and gutters in place.

But now with many homes in ruins, the roof-less approach of RainSaucers would be ideal. RainSaucers is mainly made from locally available materials, with the exception of the funnels, which can easily be shipped. A disaster relief agency just needs to have someone on the ground to assemble the systems and they can provide instant relief.

The only catch is it needs to be raining in Haiti which unfortunately will not start in earnest until March. But since Haiti's water problems are only expected to worsen in the coming months, we think there is still value in a RWH solution which can help people get by until their houses and lives are somewhat restored.

The Ph of Rain and how it tastes

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:31:00 +0000

It’s interesting how we perceive the taste of water in relation to its Ph level. Pure distilled water is Ph neutral (Ph of 7) and yet it tastes a little odd to us because the water from our tap is alkaline due to minerals in the ground water (>7). Rain, on the other hand, can sometimes be acidic due to gases in the atmosphere (<7) giving it a sour taste. But “acid rain”, as it is sometimes referred to, is really not a problem as long as it is mild. After all, many of the things we consumer everyday are moderately acidic- orange juice has a Ph of around 4 and coffee has a Ph of around 5.

In our tests, the rain we collected had a Ph between 6.5 and 7.5, making is pretty close to pure distilled water. As for the taste: slightly metallic but entirely drinkable*. There was also the taste of Apricots owing to the nature of the recycled barrels which we are using-they come from a brewery which uses apricot syrup in production. In fact the rainwater was just as drinkable, in our view, as the “hard” water coming out of our tap which had a Ph of 8.5. Those of you with “hard” water know what I mean.

*In the interest of full disclosure, we did run the RainSaucers water through a Brita filter before drinking it. Our prototype collectors are currently painted with a non-food grade coating but our field test units will indeed be 100% made from food safe materials.

Is RainSaucers really cleaner than traditional roof based RWH?

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:53:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we conducted a three way run-off test between our water, traditional RWH Roof Run-off, and Tap Water. The bacteria test yielded the most exciting result- namely that while our water was bacteria-free, the traditional RWH water was not (details below). This initially provides support of our claim that RainSaucers is indeed cleaner.

Yet the results were not surprising given what we all know falls on roofs (bird droppings). In fact, a few times during our testing we've had the same issue in our RainSaucers collectors. However, since the collectors are removable and at eye-level and we access the prototype every day, it easy for us to catch this and clean things up before the next rain, thereby preventing contamination.

As part of our test, we ran a basic Coliform Bacteria test on three water samples (from left to right):

1. Roof Run-off- rainwater harvested from the roof
2. RainSaucers- rainwater harvested from our system
3. Tap Water

A purple color means "Negative" (No bacteria were detected).
A yellow color means "Positive" (It is highly likely that potentially harmful bacteria were detected).

The conclusion: Roof Runoff contained potentially harmful Coliform Bacteria

Our First RainSaucers Test- Volume

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:52:00 +0000

As promised, we will begin revealing the results of our prototype testing starting now.

One common misconception about rainwater harvesting is that you need an extremely large surface area and a huge storage tank for it to make sense. Well that’s true if you plan on covering all your water needs with rain such as cleaning, bathing, drinking, cooking, gardening, etc. But if you just want to have safe water to drink- the requirement is about 3 liters per person per day. For that, all you need is 3 square meters of surface area for every 1 mm of rain. As for storage, two weeks worth for a family of four comes to 168 liters. So a 200 liter barrel, such as the one we use, is fine as long as the barrel is partially emptied every few days during the rainy season (so the barrel never gets full).

Now for our volume test results…

During the 7 days ending December 13th , 2009 we harvested 22.5 gallons of rain (85 liters) in our prototype here in San Ramon, CA. During that time it rained 1.66 inches (42 mm). Since our prototype has a surface collection area of 2 square meters, that means we harvested approximately 2 liters per mm per square meter which is precisely what you would expect.

Is Rain Safe to Drink?

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:07:00 +0000

The short answer is “yes” as long as it is caught and stored cleanly. Rain is actually the purest form of naturally occurring water because it comes from the natural process of distillation. Rain only becomes unsafe to drink when it comes in contact with harmful substances in the air, but this can be avoided by not harvesting the rain during the first few days of the rainy season. By the third or fourth day of rain, much of the potential pollutants have been washed out, resulting in rain that is fresh and hopefully pleasant tasting.

To prove that rain is safe to drink, we will be incorporating a “taste test” into the series of tests we plan on running on our prototype. We’ll post the results here along with any other tests we are ready to publish.

Welcome to the RainSaucers Blog

tspargo@rocketmail.com — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:25:00 +0000

For the first post in our blog, we thought it would be wise to start with a little but more information about our product and the inspiration behind it. Simply put, we have devised a system that uses a series of funnels (saucer shaped, thus the name RainSaucers) that collect rainwater and feed it into a storage unit. The unique feature is that by using our own easy to install catchment instead of the roof, we can generate water that is cleaner, cheaper, and more convenient than traditional Rainwater Harvesting (RWH).

From a societal perspective the real benefit of RainSaucers over traditional RWH is scalability. By turning what is a normally a “project” into a manufactured “product”, RainSaucers has the potential to finally bring RWH to everyone that needs it.

So how did we come up with this idea? The inspiration came from the simple realization that rain is plentiful in many of the developing countries where safe drinking water is needed most. For example it rains twice as much in Bombay as it does in famously rainy Seattle. From there, we used a mix of mathematics and mechanical engineering to devise a solution that would have enough surface area to provide a reasonable amount of water, yet stay low in cost.

We were also partly inspired by much of the RWH activities already going on in India. The following video was interesting to us because it showed how with some ingenuity anybody should be able to harvest rain...