Bank-on-Rain: Designing a GREEN planet, one raindrop at a time!
The Bank-on-Rain mission is to create grassroots solutions for collecting rainwater for consumption and agriculture in developing areas of the planet.
Bank-on-Rain was conceived by Mike Williamson and me as we mentored a local startup business in the San Juan Islands. Rainbank is owned by entrepreneur Ken Blair, who to date has installed almost a quarter of million gallons of rainwater storage (with potable water filtration systems) since starting the business in 2006.
Mike Williamson is a serial innovator and inventor, and his company Williamson & Associates based in Seattle WA, is engaged in Marine Geophysics & Ocean Engineering. Mike was recently consulting in Rwanda at Lake Kivu, for an electric power project.
During this trip Mike sent me several images of the area, saying this was the perfect location for us to test our water system template (catchment & storage.) The area of Gisenyi is made up of many villages, some with as few as a dozen small houses, and all with shed-type metal roofs.
Mike said there were two reasons he thought a small village near Gisenyi would work well to prove the Bank-on-Rain “grass roots” solution: first, the rainfall in Gisenyi is about 32” per year, with two separate and distinct rainy seasons, equating to rainfall for a little over half the year. Secondly, he would be returning (politics allowing) with a half filled container, allowing space for about 12 or more catchment systems (24 totes) to travel with him to the Gisenyi area (the full half of the container having his own research equipment).
However, Mike said what got him the most excited was that collecting & storing rain for a good part of the year would allow the women who carry the water each day for household use, to go to school.
Additionally, a Bank-on-Rain collection and storage solution would provide far cleaner water than the village currently gets. The women in the particular village Mike selected, walk over three miles each way to collect dirty, polluted water from a natural water hole. Even though Rwanda appears quite agricultural, it is also very densely populated (9M people in 10,000 sq. mi. area, one of the highest population densities of any country in Africa), and the sheer numbers of people makes usable water a rapidly diminishing commodity.
The Bank-on-Rain solutions will focus on, but not be limited to, repurposing (recycling) existing products. We are doing small-scale tests of a couple of ideas, the first using locally sourced fish totes and a second using bulk food containers for rain collection & storage. Lucky for us, these are made of food-grade material.
Mike already uses fish totes for storing his marine test equipment on location, and a little research suggests there may be hundreds of thousands or more of the fish totes sitting unused around fishing industry locations worldwide, in no small part due to fishing fleets shrinking from lack of catch. So those pieces are just waiting to be repurposed for water storage in remote locations around the world? Add a few simple off-the-shelf pieces and you have a user friendly, workable basic rain storage system; easy to transport (the fish totes and food containers nest), easy to install, no power requirements, scalable, and viable wherever the rainfall is sufficient. This Bank-on-Rain solution can be flown into a remote airfield, and up to 12 totes stacked in a typical Mitsubishi-type pickup, and driven to the village.
We are in the beginning phase of formalizing Bank-on-Rain as a non-profit endeavor, researching several simple easy to implement solutions, and looking for partners whose goals align with ours. Please send me your ideas, comments and suggestions, on how you think we might proceed. I am passionate about designing green, but need all the help I can get.
Caroline Di Diego
www.inclinedesign.info
INCLINED TO DESIGN
Bank-on-Rain will be on twitter @BankonRain, and check out Bank-On-Rain.com for more images related to this post.
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March 12th, 2009 at 5:57 am
What an excellent idea! I can’t believe I’ve heard of Ken Blair, and here you are, finding a way to make his ideas work. My family has been invested financially and emotionally in Africa for a while now, and water is key to any other changes.
I can see a couple of challenges in communicating the value of this program. I think if we can illustrate the amount of water that 32″ of rainfall creates and compare that with water consumption here, we can help drive home how much water is necessary for living life in a healthy manner. (Already working on that!)
We can also work with the idea of what’s going to happen to these fish and food containers anyway. What are the costs involved in converting them to water collection and storage? How much do more conventional rain/water collection systems cost? Some of these basic ideas may seem rudimentary to those who are working on this problem every day, but they can be revolutionary to those whom we need to support a venture like this.
Please, let me know how I can best help Bank On Rain! This is worth the time and effort!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Thanks Christy for your comment. I have a response from Mike Williamson
(1) The typical yellow water containers are 10 liters (approximately 2.6 gallons) although larger ones are also in use . . . tough to carry larger one very far. The EWB estimates water requirements at 3 – 5 gallons per day, but I think this number is much higher than what I have observed. Figure half that, so family of 6 uses 15 gallons/day (still is probably high for potable use)
(2) 32” on a 200 sq ft roof = 3840 gallons, so theoretically 256 days worth spread over the 2 rainy seasons. Two of the fish totes will hold 500 gal, or 33 days supply without rain
(3) We hope to get the containers donated as used shipping containers. Retail cost of unused fish tote is US270 and fittings and mosquito mesh about US$13, 20’ of gutter (if using 4” LW PVC sewer pipe cut in half) $12 plus another 10’ of 2” for downspout at $5. SO, we have about $30 in parts, not counting the containers. If we go with smaller containers (60 gal bulk dry material) the number of fittings goes up.
Mike Williamson
March 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
These dowsers http://www.dowsers.org/Wfh.htm have done amazing work, for 28 years now. They do “wells and other aspects of water resources and recovery worldwide ” Could they be a possible connection or alliance for Bank-ON-RAIN.com ?
FYI Fall 2008 Water for Humanity news page 15 has information on installed ceramic water filters in various village projects in El Salvador.
I have been told that the ideal conditions for safe storage of water is that the container should be dark, cool (usually underground or interior of building), with fresh air flowing across the surface of the water. Vents should be screened against insects and dust, and oriented to prevailing winds. Your fishtotes should be kept in the dark and cool. Possibly painted on the outside, to provide UV protection for the plastic and to keep light-loving algae from growing within. SH
March 12th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Good points Stephanie.
We have installed screened openings on the fish totes and barrels to permit some limited evaporative cooling, and the installed color will be something other than white – that just happens to be the convention used for fish totes. If we were to purchase totes in bulk, they could be produced in black as easily as white, but we need to investigate something like paint that would adhere to the surface of recycled (and donated) totes. Dry bulk containers are available in various colors, but we will have to have the flexibility to utilize a variety of donated containers. Installation under a simple shade will take care of the uv and cooling aspects.
Algal control is pretty simple, but represents a maintenance issue we would prefer to avoid (a tablespoon of bleach once per week). Likewise the filters (reversible bag filters are less expensive than ceramics) add complexity. Rainfall catchment without filtering is a vast improvement over contaminated water from rivers and lakes.
Mike Williamson
March 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Was listening to the radio last night and Dr. Dean Edell was telling how many thousands of children in Africa were dying each year because of poor water……was an unbelievable number. Just think, you’ll be helping to ease this crisis.
March 17th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Since you asked for comments, I will need to warn you up front. I believe that a sustainable development framework is necessary for the continuing success of your effort. If the desire is just to bring water to the population that has been identified, then you may find my take on things off mark. I’m afraid that I will ask more questions than give good ideas, but maybe some give and take will be useful in this instance.
If you are looking for a sustainable approach you will need to look at the problem along three dimensions – social, environmental and economic. A model of sustainability alliances would build on the pieces that the Bank-On-Rain aspect does not. Each partner could provide pieces that the others can not or do not, thereby creating whole and powerful tools to solve the larger problems.
For instance, while the water collection would provide clean(er) water how could we help the women to do other money generating tasks now that their time is freed up ? Is there an economic dimension that would be a natural fit? For instance, certain trees held in common might provide an additional crop and economic resources — maintenance required would be water and then some equitable way of monetizing the tree (fruit or nut) crops. Or does it make sense to direct micro finance efforts to these women? Kiva might be a good partner.
Do the villages need larger water storage systems for agriculture? Are there natural partners who might want to fill this role?
Education is mentioned, but are there any allies who can work this dimension for knowledge and health issues?
So the additional difficult questions to ask along environment, economic and social lines have a lot to do with what else needs to be done and are you up to organizing a group of people to provide an integrated solution?
I look forward to exploring ideas with you.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:48 am
This is excellent feedback and exactly what we were hoping for with our introduction of Bank-On-Rain.com
We are aware of the components of sustainable infrastructure, and NO we do not have the expertise or resources to create such. Bank-On-Rain is one small part of a puzzle we think has been pretty much overlooked; A simple solution for water, very quick to implement, very cheap (compared to other solutions) & where rainfall is appropriate. Add the recycle or re-purposed aspect of the storage containers, another plus.
In an ideal world we would look to integrate Bank-On-Rain into an organization such as Heifer International, where the rain catchment & storage systems are just another small but important component of the whole. A donor could donate and buy a Rain catchment & storage system system for a family? Just as they do a goat, chicken or tree?. Our small scale Rwanda test, is for household use, however there could be appropriate scenarios to facilitate a number of storage units (or larger individual containers) for small scale agriculture in the right environment.
We are very aware of the social implications, as illustrated by Mike Williamson when he returned from Engineers Without Borders last week : I quote Mike ” Another NGO installed a well and pump in a village elsewhere in Africa that eliminated a long round-trip to haul water each day. The system was installed, tested and declared a success by the sponsoring organization, but soon after all of the NGO folks left the pump was sabotaged. Turns out the women of the village destroyed the pump because the trip to the river represented a significant social event in their day and got them away from the male dominated environment of their homes !”
The idea that the women who haul the water everyday could have an opportunity to go to school or start a micro- sustainable endeavor is what propelled Bank-On-Rain to implement the Rwanda project this year and to start the conversation.
March 18th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
A friend of mine was leading a program in Liberia. He visited many remote villages in his work and upon his return to Monrovia, peers from other NGOs asked if he would distribute materials on their behalf. He had been places that others had not been.
What if the people on the ground in Rwanda were to network with other NGOs to see if there are synergies that can be leveraged to provide systematic or whole solutions to problems identified on the ground. Cultural sensitivity, as you have noted above, is essential here.
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Wow. There are so many social implications here. And so many things for people to understand. I’m glad you clarified that this is only one piece of a larger puzzle. How do we continue to put this piece in perspective? I know many people hold back donating to or participating with movements because they feel their contribution is just too small. (Or, as some would say, “a drop in the bucket,” but too cliche for this discussion.)
At what point do we start telling stories of villages impacted by the catchment systems? Who do we know (I’m thinking of Geno Church here) that can help communicate those things that will help villagers understand how to adapt to change?
So many thoughts… for now, I think I’ll take Mike’s numbers and crunch them into something that’s meaningful on this side of the pond… Maybe that’s more my place in this.
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Every drop in the bucket counts. A friend who works in Africa has a great motto: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito”
-African proverb
March 24th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Relevant to Flora Moon’s last post, I found this at scienceline.org:
One pilot Millennium Villages program is in Rwanda, a country that has been wracked by genocide and civil war. But the current government, at both national and local levels, has been very cooperative, which minimizes the corruption and lack of transparency that can sink development efforts.
“In Rwanda, it happens that we have a window,” says Josh Ruxin, a public health expert and project director for the Columbia Earth Institute’s effort. The project provides support in health, education, and microfinance throughout the country. But Ruxin notes that the local village committees decide which area receives priority. He also says that there is a “hands-off approach” when introducing new technologies—perhaps not entirely different from the barefoot idea.
“We’ve got a team of 45 people, and everyone is Rwandan…knowledge is available locally,” Ruxin explains. “People know what needs to happen, but what’s lacking is resources.”
By injecting those resources into Rwanda and using the country as a proving ground for the project, Ruxin and his colleagues hope to maintain an uninterrupted stream of funding. The goal is that communities gain enough traction to become self-sustaining in two years. Ruxin and others expect that once appropriate knowledge and resources are used efficiently, the project will expand rapidly to district, provincial and finally national levels.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Bank on rain looks like a marvelous idea! Based on some of my Malawi experience transportation cost can be a bit expense. Have you been able to determine what the cost would be to locate the product to individual villages/communities? What will be the cost for each system and or the first set of systems? Have you thought about how corporate or individuals could sponsor a single or multiple system in a village? Cheers.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
We are currently looking for an organization with on-going programs and infrastructure in a village that could benefit from adding a rainfall catchment element to their program. We originally focused on Rwanda because we have some experience working there on a commercial basis and could perhaps piggy-back shipment of catcment system components with commercial equipment going to the region, therefore greatly reducing cost and taking advantage of shipping agents and other facilitators in-country.
Transport from Kilgali to a demonstration village site could also be shared or provided in the same truck used to transport equipment to be used on an engineering project in the region. Linking with a non-profit that could provide on-goin local participation and assistance once the systems were up and running would be ideal. If such connections are available in other countries (Malawi?), we would certainly be interested in considering other options.
May 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
[...] dry areas of Africa. We were bouncing some ideas around on Caroline Di Diego’s blog, Inclined to Design and Mike Williamson quoted average daily water use at 15 gallons each day for a family of 6. [...]
May 6th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Caroline and Mike, will you check out my interpretation of the numbers and let me know if I have everything correct? If so, I can take this one step further and illustrate how a 200-sq-ft roof looks in a village, and use that to support how this is realistic in existing villages.
Here’s the post: http://christybrewer.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/bank-on-rain-catching-rain-for-clean-water-in-africa/
Thanks!! How are you all doing on connecting dots between getting shipping containers and delivery?
May 18th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Christy, your interpretation seems fine on the math. We are actively seeking partnering relationships with infrastructure on the ground in Rwanda. I am a member of Engineers Without Borders, a good organization but one with perhaps too much “organization” — it may take a year or 2 to get a project on track through EWB. Local content is very important. There are many horror stories of well intentioned projects failing because those trying to help have inadequate understanding of the local socio-political environment, mistakes we’d like to avoid. The firm I’m with will likely be working in Lake Kivu again this year and therefore will be shipping equipment from the US. We hope to piggy-back catchment containers, so the planets are starting to align. Still more dots, but progress is being made. Thanks for you interest and the good bit in your blog.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Thanks Christy for your comment. I have a response from Mike Williamson
(1) The typical yellow water containers are 10 liters (approximately 2.6 gallons) although larger ones are also in use . . . tough to carry larger one very far. The EWB estimates water requirements at 3 – 5 gallons per day, but I think this number is much higher than what I have observed. Figure half that, so family of 6 uses 15 gallons/day (still is probably high for potable use)
(2) 32” on a 200 sq ft roof = 3840 gallons, so theoretically 256 days worth spread over the 2 rainy seasons. Two of the fish totes will hold 500 gal, or 33 days supply without rain
(3) We hope to get the containers donated as used shipping containers. Retail cost of unused fish tote is US270 and fittings and mosquito mesh about US$13, 20’ of gutter (if using 4” LW PVC sewer pipe cut in half) $12 plus another 10’ of 2” for downspout at $5. SO, we have about $30 in parts, not counting the containers. If we go with smaller containers (60 gal bulk dry material) the number of fittings goes up.
Mike Williamson