| Rainwater HOG |
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In medicine, “water on the brain” is a serious condition. In Australia, it’s a way of life—the world’s second driest continent (Antarctica is first) has very little free-flowing water and drought conditions that can last for years. For the country’s 20 million inhabitants, securing adequate water is always at the back of their minds. So it’s no surprise that Australian architect Sally Dominguez, now a resident of Corte Madera, would invent a simple passive rainwater collector that has builders in the sustainable construction industry and people in the green movement taking an instant liking to the first time they learn about it. Dominguez’s “Rainwater HOG” is a simple concept—but like all simple concepts, somebody had to be the first to think of it. The product, which can be installed in vertical or horizontal versions, collects rainwater in interconnected plastic tanks. The water collected usually is applied to such household tasks as watering lawns, washing cars or pets, and doing laundry. But if it’s filtered correctly at inlet and/or outlet, it can provide drinking water for normal or emergency use How did an inventive Aussie architect, who grew up in a mining engineer family and then studied at university and opened a practice in Sydney, wind up 7,500 miles from home? You might say it started when she first got the idea for Rainwater HOG, a product that was a natural for arid Australia. “When I began my practice, I specialized in passive designs that didn’t incorporate air conditioning or heating. That of course led to thinking about how home designs could conserve water, too.” One day in 2004, sitting on the deck of her house and looking at her garden, Dominguez hatched the idea of passive rainwater collectors that could be stashed beneath the deck and collect water from downspouts and the deck surface itself and stash it under the deck or in other tight spaces. But when she went to fabricate a prototype, she ran into Australia’s stodgy, male-dominated water technology industry. “They told me that they could not make a metal tank that small because of the right radius needed, and that plastic could replace a metal tank but that it would bulge at the center as water collected and temperatures rose. Also there would be problems supporting a deck because of the size of the tank.” (Dominguez’s tanks are non-structural, sitting between the deck joists that support the deck.) But because Dominguez’s concept involved plastic, not metal, her units have holes in the center that hold the big sides together and prevent them bulging. Using “through holes” as bracing means that the HOGs can be used in any orientation and water will flow without ponding, so there is no pressure build-up. Also, she envisioned smaller tanks, positioned side-by-side between deck joists so that there would be no great expense in re-engineering a deck to accommodate them. “Later on I thought, ‘Why not go vertical, too?’” At first, her product garnered great attention. But as time went on, Australian rainwater retention efforts began lagging. “Although the state of New South Wales encourages water retention, it offers a paltry $50 to $150 rebate. Other states—Queensland, Victoria and South Australia—shut down their rebate programs.” Alongside that development, Dominguez said that one Australian company maneuvered itself into a monopoly position on rainwater retention technology with the government and developers. “I didn’t like what I was seeing,” she recalls, which is when she began eyeing the United States. “Over here, people are much more experimental and progressive—they’re open to the use of innovative approaches and materials.” At first she was attracted to Santa Monica after attending Alt Build there in 2006. “It seemed logical to want to live there because of its low rainfall—about 12 inches per year—which would have made it the perfect place to introduce the product to the U.S. market.” But her husband, Simon, had other plans. “He was adamant about us living in the Bay Area, so we came further north. When we arrived, I had no idea Marin existed.” When a friend called her and raved about Corte Madera, she agreed to take a look and was immediately hooked. “The lifestyle is so healthy here, and of course there is the marvelous landscape. And even though it rains a lot here, rainfall is still unpredictable and people here are very conscious of the need to conserve.” However, she has found that in Marin authorities discourage the collection of rainwater, a stance she thinks is politically motivated by the desire to push pet desalinization projects. “They don’t see that having people collect rainwater cuts by keeping a lot of water out of the sewers, thereby lowering maintenance costs. There’s also less of a draw-down on reservoir water because people have their own source for gardening and non-potable uses.” Further afield, Dominguez is astonished that nobody has thought to put a roof on the 444-mile-long California Aqueduct. “The amount of evaporation must be enormous.” Sometimes people who are looking over the Rainwater HOG concept ask her, “Why not just use rain barrels?” “I tell them that a rain barrel lasts only about two years and then has to be discarded—you can’t reuse them. Also, they have no pressure.” Dominguez and husband Simon work and live out of their Corte Madera home, aspiring to have as small a footprint as possible. Much of their business is through resellers. “We like and need them. One reseller, the Urban Farmer stores, is turning out great for us. We’ve been strong in Ohio and the Carolinas, and have also sold quite a few units in New York, as well as online. Rainwater HOG has also brought home some awards. At the 2008 Green Build in Boston, the collector was named as one of the top 10 green products. The product has also won a Spark Award for its green, reusable design and California Home + Design’s 2008 Eco Product Award. In the upcoming April 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics, Rainwater HOG will be listed as one of the magazine’s top 10 favorite green products. By Patrick Totty Boomer Publishing, Larkspur, CA |