Rob Avis - Essentials of Rainwater Harvesting

This conversation is based on his new book from New Society Publishers, Essential Rainwater Harvesting. Rob wrote this book along with his wife and Verge Permaculture Partner, Michelle. Though they began their professional careers as engineers designing solutions in the oil fields, they now live on a productive permaculture homestead in Alberta, Canada, and use that experience to create and share all the formulas, calculations, and components needed to create a productive system for capturing clean, healthy water.

You can find more about Rob's work at VergePermaculture.ca, and his book, Essential Rainwater Harvesting at NewSociety.com.
 

In their book, Rob and Michelle break down what we need in order to install a rainwater harvesting system, and they back that up with their professional experience and the sources, that lead them to their conclusions. They also hold the additional need to understand the liability and risks of such a system as engineers who put their stamp on a design. I mention this latter part as one of my earliest lessons in rainwater capture was just how heavy a rain barrel, even a 50 gallon one, can get—over 400lbs/180kils—and what we need to consider when placing them, such as a solid foundation, so they can be productive and not create any hazards for the user or surrounding neighbors.

One of the mystifying parts of rainwater harvesting for me, in the beginning, was calculating just how much water would fall on a given area and the necessary size for a storage container to hold it all. Once you start doing those calculations you quickly find that a lot of water, whether you count the volume in liters or gallons, comes off of a roof or parking lot with just a centimeter or half-inch of rain. Accounting for that, how your surfaces or gutters divide and divert those flows, and where they’ll go can help to understand how to use this resource around your home or in your landscape. And with Essential Rainwater Harvesting, you’ll find all the details for that and so much more. This is a long way to say, I like this book and like the others in the Essential series from New Society Publishers, think you will too.

What did you think of this conversation with Rob? Do you have questions for him? Would you like to hear more about this work or his other projects at Verge Permaculture?

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Resources
Verge Permaculture - Rob and Michelle Avis
Essential Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater Harvesting Toolkit
Peter Coombes - Urban Water Cycle Solutions
Dr. Anthony Spinks PhD Thesis on Biofilms and Sludges
American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA)
North American Rainwater Harvesting Code