"I was taught that if you see a person drowning you must jump into the water to save them, whether you can swim or not."
Irena Sendler

RainCatcher - The name on the bottle tells the story of what our work is: to bring clean drinking water to everyone. Knowledge has value. We aim to capitalize on something we know to be a ‘Fact of Nature’: More than enough rain falls to earth each year to satisfy the drinking water needs of everyone.

We hear a lot about the “Global Water Shortage” but the Fact-of-Nature is this: There isn’t a shortage of water given, just a shortage of water received. This can be remedied simply by putting a bucket under a rain storm - millions of buckets, actually, all around the world.

If every school house across Africa, India, China, South America, etc were outfitted with RainCatchers (gutters, tanks & filters) children around the world would have their own source of pure drinking water.

Our goal is to bring RainCatcher systems to every corner of the globe. Here’s how we fund it:

Bottle rainwater everywhere and sell it to those who can afford it. This creates a revenue stream that will bring safe drinking water to those who can’t afford it. Every time someone enjoys a bottle of RainCatcher Bottled Rain they are also buying a drink for someone else. The simple act of sharing will solve the ‘World Water Shortage’.


The following proposal outlines how we do this.



RainCatcher

People in the United States drink over 8 billion gallons of bottled water each year, an amount equal to a few day’s rainfall on the side of one mountain in Hawaii.


PRESENT SYSTEM :

The current practice for servicing the $100 billion annual demand for bottled water is an environmental and economical dinosaur. Centralized bottling plants ship product over thousands of miles, across oceans and between continents. Costing more than the water itself, existing packaging and distribution technologies can, to a large extent be re-invented, replaced with something better.


PROPOSED INOVATION : RainCatcher

Catch rainwater directly from the sky with mini-rainwater collection plants along the West coast of the U.S. and throughout the islands of Hawaii, South Pacific and Indonesia. Instead of shipping drinking water from one part of the world to another, we collect, bottle and distribute drinking water within the same region it will be consumed.


BUSINESS CONCEPT :

The resource and the demand exist side by side, but have yet to be connected commercially in such an efficient, responsible and profitable way. The plan is to build the first prototype along California’s coastline, to be followed by plants all the way up to British Columbia. Next will be plants on the rainy side of each Hawaiian Island, then Tahiti and throughout the South Pacific and Indonesia. Each area will bottle and sell local rainwater using the same RainCatcher label.


MARKETING :

Global sales of bottled water = $100 billion a year.


Selling local ingenuity and products, while creating an international brand.

Promoting a new experience.

Introducing conscious consumerism.


What we are selling is water from heaven. Some ancient traditions consider rainwater to be an elixir. When people first see rainwater on the shelf next to all the others, curiosity alone will
move them to try it. Novelty will launch initial sales. Then the unique taste and properties of
RainCatcher, along with the environmental choice, will generate product loyalty and repeat business.

Cities are bottling and selling the same groundwater they have been pumping through pipes all these years. Coke and Pepsi realized they could generate a new revenue stream by bottling and selling the same water they’ve been adding caramel coloring to for decades. Yet all of the hundreds of brands of drinking water are essentially the same, coming from under the earth. . .

RainCatcher is the only one that comes directly from the sky. We are introducing an entirely new product and process, something unexpected and unprecedented.

The marketing possibilities are wide open, as you can imagine. The first company to provide rainwater on a commercial scale will have an immediate, unlimited audience. . .

The Product Will Sell Itself



TECHNOLOGY :

Combining existing and new, low tech, high efficiency rainwater collection technologies.

Fortunately we do not have to reinvent the wheel. Although the technology for catching and bottling rainwater already exists, no one has yet imagined and initiated this application.

Facilities will be located in areas where rainfall is plentiful and clean. Collection, bottling and distribution plants along the northwest coast will provide drinking water for the western states. The same will be duplicated for Hawaii and Tahiti.Indonesia has thousands of islands where rainwater can be bottled for China.

What the micro-brewery trend has done in the beer business, we are doing in the bottled water industry : Provide a locally generated product that is superior in terms of taste, quality and environmental impact. Instead of shipping all over the world between manufacturer and consumer, the idea is to meet local demand with local resources and ingenuity. Rainwater is a global resource that will be collected, bottled, distributed, marketed and consumed all in the same geographic region. The name RainCatcher will become synonymous with rainwater, the identical product appearing everywhere in the world without the costs and complications typically involved with international shipping, tariffs, etc.

Extensive research and applications of rainwater collection have been ongoing for decades.
Our role is to introduce this information and technology commercially.

Over Abundance

There is no number big enough to begin to quantify how much fresh rainwater is given to us each year. On just one mountain on the big island of Hawaii an average of 2 billion gallons of rainwater falls a day. That’s 700 billion gallons a year. This, and much more, happens all over the planet. It is an unlimited, untapped resource.

What is an over abundance called? - a flood. Alongside the weekly stories about the global water shortage are images of too much water, of floods everywhere. The opportunity for RainCatcher is to become the pioneer and global leader in tapping this resource and making it available to everyone.

RainCatcher Africa - Humanitarian Fast Track

Set up rainwater collection and bottling plants all over Africa, providing both water and jobs. This can be done fast by using giant plastic tarps on hillsides to collect and channel millions of gallons of rainwater into storage tanks and bottles. Profits from the sale of bottled water go to setting up RainCatchers on every school in Africa.

Duplicate this process in India, China, South America. There isn’t a shortage of water given, just a shortage of water received. All we have to do is put a bucket under a rainstorm. It’s that simple.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT JACK ROSE

jack@raincatcher.org

News Update: Funds for the next RainCatcher project in Western Kenya have been raised and donated by H.U.B. -'Humanity Unites Brilliance'. As a result of this action two schools with 700 aids orphans will receive new RainCatcher systems (tanks, gutters, filters). Stay tuned for photos and stories.



8 Billion Glasses of Water

We are told that everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water a day. When you and I show up anywhere for dinner, there is always a glass of water at our table setting. If a billion people don't have access to a reliable source of clean & safe drinking water, then the way I see it - each day, when humanity's table is set, we are about 8 billion glasses short. I am a waiter bringing as many glasses of water to the daily table as I can.

written by Jack Rose

Children are confronted with a lot of concerns today that, frankly, I never had to deal with when I was a kid. Paul Simon wrote a song to comfort his daughter at bedtime. He sang:

“I believe the light that shines on you will shine on you forever”

I believe the same thing - and my message to you today is this: The one resource we will never run out of is you – your imagination, your creativity, your wonder and hope. Each new generation has specific challenges to face, but just remember this: There are no unsolvable problems.

My father’s generation ate problems for breakfast. They built a road across the entire continent. When a giant canyon appeared in their path they did not whine or whimper – they invented a bridge. In every field of science and medicine and exploration, at the edge of every chasm, they built a bridge. This is your lineage . . . You will do the same. There is no limit to your imagination.

Many people will tell you there isn’t enough - that we are running out, that things are getting worse, that the future will be less than today. This is not true.

Some people have forgotten that a problem is something to be solved, not feared.

Have you heard the story about the truck that got stuck in a tunnel?. . . A big ‘ol truck was roaring towards New York City when it rammed into the Lincoln Tunnel at 70 miles per hour. The truck was too tall and got very extremely stuck and the cars backed up for miles. You can imagine the traffic jam.

The fire department showed up to help. Then the Army Corps of Engineers - along with many others. With cranes and saws and jackhammers all tried to get the truck unstuck from the tunnel. But to no avail. Finally, after several hours, an 8 year old girl walked up from the long line of cars and said, “Why don’t you let the air out of the tires?”

You are today – all kids all over the world – you are the brilliant ones who will say, “Why don’t you let the air out of the tires?” There are no unsolvable problems. Let me give an example: Every week we hear about the ‘World Water Shortage’ - yet alongside these stories we see photos of floods...?

A friend of mine says, “If we catch the rain that creates the floods, there would be no water shortage, there would be more than enough for everyone. He’s always reminding me that there isn’t a shortage of water given, just a shortage of water received”

If every school caught the rain that fell on it’s roof, kids all around the world would have plenty of clean water to drink. It’s as simple as letting the air out of the tires.We are told there’s a shortage of water, but what we really have is an abundance. . . a flood.

Enough water is freely given for all if we simply put a bucket under a rainstorm.
And enough energy is freely given from the sun and the wind and the ocean and the earth.

You do not need to fear the future, you are the future.

And I see no limit to the creative ideas that will come to you in this lifetime. It is a great and exciting time to be alive and I believe “The light that shines on you today will shine on you forever.“ Let it rain. . . Life is good. . . So be it

Starbucks is a good model for what we are attempting to do with RainCatcher - 11 stores 20 years ago - today over 16,000. Starbucks generates billions of dollars in sales by selling an ordinary product, coffee, in an extraordinary way.

We are proposing to do the same with drinking water. From Maui to Nairobi to Santa Monica people will be able to enjoy a local product. And every time they do this, someone less fortunate gets a drink as well. After people become familiar with the taste and quality and environmental positives of harvesting and using rainwater they will then be able to turn their houses into RainCatchers and, with the coming of the next rains, go from being a water consumer to a water producer. RainCatcher households will have cases of their own glass bottles to fill from a tap in their kitchen - and keep a full case in the car at all times - and the empties go through the dishwasher and get refilled.

Simply by turning the umbrella upside down we have already begun the water revolution here
in California - with plans to bring bottled rainwater to every corner of the earth. Our first RainCatcher Bottling Plants are being designed right now for sites in the Santa Monica Mountains and Kenya. Already, we have people in other states around the country waiting to become a franchise partner. People all around the world are waiting to work with us on this project.

Throughout Africa and India and China it’s a matter of life-and-death.

That’s why we are expanding our efforts now.When it comes to rainwater the cup is neither half empty or half full, it’s overflowing. With a great sense of joy we are catching and sharing this amazing abundant natural resource.

Jack Rose & Mark Armfield - 2008 – the year of gratitude

By George Bernard Shaw

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for it's own sake.

Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

H2O 4 EVERY 1
The RainCatcher Story


The One Cent Solution -


Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

by Jack Rose



While traveling through Africa I don't look around and say what's wrong, I only see what's missing. As far as solving the contaminated drinking water problem, all that's missing is the hardware - rain gutters and water tanks.


The big breakthrough for me, of course, was listening to Einstein, who said, "A problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created the problem in the first place"

A paradigm shift is a complete reversal of attitude and perspective – a change of heart and mind.

The problem of a ‘world water shortage’ exists in the perspective of "There isn’t enough – water or money - to solve the problem". From that point of view, as Einstein said, the problem will never be solved.

The following proposal offers another approach based on this obvious truth:

One of the easiest things a human can do is catch rainwater from the sky.

The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

The way I see it - every building with a roof on it is a potential RainCatcher. All that's missing are the gutters and water storage tanks. All that's missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds in this direction.

The cost of one military tank would buy 40 million water tanks. That's a lot of water for a lot of thirsty people. The billions that NASA is seeking for the search for water on Mars, if redirected back to earth, would secure water for everyone. Again, all that's missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds in this direction.

My primary job is to tell the story to inspire this decision to be made.
I will not stop until it is done.

Ironically, the story is one of abundance, not lack, for everywhere I traveled I noticed that there wasn't a shortage of water given, just a shortage of water received. That changes the focus entirely and lets everyone know that this is a solvable problem.

All that is missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds into buying and delivering rain gutters and water tanks.

After demonstrating that there is no shortage of water resources,
the next challenge is to do the same with financial resources.

Here's how I do that:

The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

Each person who can afford a drink of clean water shares a glass with someone who can’t: Allocating one penny per bottled water world-wide will generate billions of dollars. This will place gutters and tanks on every school house in Africa, India, China, everywhere.

“This year, Americans will drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water. We will drink more than nine billion gallons of bottled water, nearly all of it from throwaway plastic bottles.” - Jon Mooallem / NT Times.

It’s possible that those who can afford a clean bottle of water can help others get a drink as well.

Here’s how we do this:

The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

A dollar + for a 20 oz. bottle of water from the local gas station adds up to over $6.00 per gallon. My proposal is to allocate approximately one cent per bottle, or six cents per gallon, to buying clean water for those who can’t afford it. Nine billion gallons of bottled water x .o6 per gallon adds up to 500 million dollars annually to go directly to setting up rain catching systems all over the world.

Neither consumers nor corporations will ever notice the loss of one penny per bottle. If America leads the way and all other nations follow, there will be enough water tanks, rain gutters and filters for everyone who needs clean drinking water. This = H2O 4 EVERY 1 with the coming of the next rains.

Who could say no to that?

A simple and beautiful solution -

Each person who can afford a drink of clean water shares a glass with someone who can't.

Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

jack@raincatcher.org

From: David Nyabuto Ogachi

Hi Jack,
Thanks a lot for coming. People are already drinking clean and safe water. They want me to take photos as they drink water and send them to you. I am opening a RainCatcher office at the center where I stay. From here with your help I will make the Bosiango project a model project in Africa you will be proud of. The filters are a miracle, wonderful and perfect. I'm naming my truck RAINCATCHER. This region is wide and has a great potential.

I was born in a poor family 42yrs ago. My father died of amoebic typhoid,a water borne disease. Water diseases are a problem in this place. I'm enrolling for Msc.AGRICULTURAL and RURAL DEVELOPMENT, with an interest in rain water. Rain can be a great tool with which we can develop rural communities and improve lives of our people. You are my mentor. You have taught me alot about rain water. These days I check emails 2x every week. So send me any message directly. You are a wonderful friend. Together we will always catch rain. God bless. Your friend, David.

Water for Everyone
the RainCatcher story -
Dialogue between a boy and a girl
somewhere in the U.S.
by Jack Rose




What if the only water we had to drink came out of the LA River?

Or Laguna Creek? or any creek?

What if we lived In Africa and had to walk for hours everyday just to bring water from muddy streams back to our house?

What if we got typhoid or cholera. . . or dysentery?

What if 5 million of us died this year from drinking bad water?

Every year!

What if someone decided this was unacceptable?

What if we started to catch the rain that fell on our school house?

And channeled it through gutters.

And stored it in giant water tanks?



It isn't rocket science, is it?

But NASA wants billions of dollars to look for water on Mars.

And then during recess, instead of walking a mile or two down the canyon to get a drink from that funky stream. . .

We just opened the tap on the tank outside our classroom and took a big gulp of the best water we've ever tasted.


What if all the thirsty kids around the world could do this?

What if the $20 million spent on one military tank was used to buy 40 million water tanks?

Then all the thirsty kids around the world would have fresh rainwater to drink instead of the contaminated stuff.

What if we could make that happen?

We can. My friends and I are helping the RainCatcher project right now in Africa.

How?

It's easy. The people there really want clean water to drink, but they don't have the right rain catching tools.

Water tanks - rain gutters - filters. It's just a matter of hardware.

Yea - so the RainCatcher project is setting up the Global Hardware Store.

We are helping to buy the supplies and getting the RainCatchers set up, and before you know it, an entire village is drinking the good stuff.

What if everyone could do this?

We're working on that.

The goal of RainCatcher is 'Water for Everyone'

I'll drink to that

# posted by Jack @ 2:55 PM  |  (0) comments

Below is a RainCatcher story appearing on globalenvision.org - an initiative of Mercy Corps (Click on LEARN then SUCCESS STORIES then WATER FOR EVERYONE)

SUCCESS STORIES

Water for Everyone
How one individuals' simple discovery, the refreshing taste of pure rainwater, is providing solutions in the developing world.

Date Posted on Global Envision: April 03, 2007

In
observance of UN World Water Day on March 22, I talked with an
individual who has made accessible drinking water and water
conservation his life's work. Jack Rose, the "RainCatcher" has been helping catch rainwater for use in African villages since 2004.
The rainwater experiment began in Kauai in the late 1990's. Rose, a native of Southern California, was inspired during an El Niño
winter that dumped constant rain on the island. That's where Jack first
began drinking rainwater and, a couple years later, the rainy coastline
of Mendocino, California became the "laboratory, from which theRainCatcher projects in Africa were born."

Since
that fated time, Mr. Rose has made it a habit to collect and drink
rainwater in his everyday life. He invokes the image of a crazed
scientist, drinking from a stainless steel cup as the rain falls. He
applied this passion for rainwater collection to his career, where he
designs homes in Southern California. Inspired by simple,
cost-effective design ideals, Jack began drafting and modeling
rainwater collection tanks for home use and landscaping.
Imagine the image of a crazed scientist, drinking from a stainless steel cup as the rain falls.
In
2004, Mr. Rose was invited to accompany a project called "Water for
Children Africa" to Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. He saw the dire
need for drinking water across the areas he visited and found simple
solutions could create extraordinary gains. He used his experience
collecting rainwater at home to set up a rudimentary system in the
villages that he visited usingRainCatcher tents and natural drainage areas. "Maji Ni Maisha
", a Swahili expression for "Water is Life" came to encapsulate Jack's
experience in Africa and reflect the dire importance of water access in
many African villages.

As the RainCatcher vision formed, Jack Rose began a partnership with Kenyan Fred Mango and a company called Kentainers,
which produces water storage tanks for distribution in Africa. They are
now installing their containers at schools across Kenya.
The schools
provide an excellent location for the water tanks. They are generally
at the center of villages and represent a source of pride for many
villagers. Teachers, students and parents are the administrators of the
water system once it is installed and are responsible for the security
and maintenance of the container and distribution of the water. A
complete system consists of a water tank, rain gutters, and a filter.
Each system can be installed in one day and one truckload, carrying
five tanks, can provide rain collection systems for five schools.

For Jack Rose, the RainCatcher
methodology is a simple solution to one of the world's most urgent
problems: "there are many problems in the world that seem unsolvable …
this isn't one of them." The materials necessary to install five
villages with rainwater collection systems cost approximately $4500,
including filters. The filters used are made by the Swiss CompanyKatadyn
and cost around $250 each. The filters are an added expense; rainwater
does not require filtration, but it can filter out contaminants
collected from dust or rooftop surfaces. Additionally, if filters are
installed in the rainwater collection devices, the system can also
provide a source of clean water during the dry season. After the
collected rainfall has been consumed, water from traditional sources
like nearby streams and creeks can be filtered through the tank and
cleaned for human consumption.
"There are many problems in the world that seem unsolvable … this isn't one of them."
It is the RainCatcher's
hope that the next generation across the globe will embrace the earth's
natural abundance of water and use it more efficiently to eradicate the
water problems of today. The biggest obstacle to this task is
awareness. The plight of over one billion people without access to
clean water doesn't receive the attention that is urgently needed to
address the situation. Despite efforts by the United Nations and World
Water Day activities, the frustration of unequal water distribution
remains the fundamental concern for the developing world. In this
struggle, Jack Rose describes himself as the world's waiter, declaring:
"We
are told that we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. Whenever you go
to a restaurant, or sit down for a meal, there is a glass of water
brought to the table. At humanity's table, however, each day we are 8
billion glasses short, I am simply a waiter carrying as many glasses as
I can."

Individuals like Jack Rose are the catalysts of
change. He is planning several projects which will help continue his
work in Africa and raise awareness about the possibilities of rain
collection in both developing and developed countries. One such project
is "Water for Everyone," a film documentary which will tell theRainCatcher story and convey the power of simple solutions globally.
You can read more about RainCatcher projects at RainCatcher.org.

Contributed
by Lindsay Benson, Project Intern at Global Envision. Lindsay has a MA
in International Political Economy from American University and her
research focus is in global food policy.