Rainwater Harvesting System Installed in Dominican Republic

A team of Aquascape Foundation volunteers installed a 15,000 gal rainwater harvesting system in the Dominican Republic at FilterPure Filters, a non-profit organization committed to providing safe drinking water to at-risk populations of the developing world. The captured and stored rainwater will be used to aid production of FilterPure’s ceramic water filtration device that is distributed throughout the region.

The newly installed RainXchange System captures and stores rainwater from the roof of FilterPure’s plant in a subsurface reservoir where it can be accessed for aid in production of the filters that are made from local red clay, sawdust and colloidal silver. Additionally, the water is available to the community for use in daily needs such as washing and showering. Ed Beaulieu, director of contractor development and field research for Aquascape, designed the system for the plant and led the construction process during the week of Feb. 18, 2013.

“Installing the RainXchange System for Lisa Ballantine’s FilterPure Filter’s organization was truly rewarding,” says Carla Wittstock, president of the Aquascape Foundation. “Lisa was an inspiration to me and motivated me to start the Aquascape Foundation. I’m so grateful to our group of volunteers who helped with this project and made it possible to increase production of the water purifying filters.”

Aquascape Foundation volunteers who participated in the rainwater harvesting project included Greg Wittstock, CEO and founder of Aquascape Inc in St. Charles, Ill.; Foundation president Carla Wittstock, Wayne, Ill.; Foundation vice-president, Ed Beaulieu of Aquascape Inc; Kathy Smith of Tropical Water Gardens in Deland, Fla.; Sean Frost and April Dugan of Nature Scapes in Grafton, Neb.; Paul Rubel of Northern Cascade Supplies in New Milford, N.J.; Pieter VanWestervelt and Debra Cianfrone of Premium Aquascapes in New Milford, N.J.; Al Lentz of Lentzcaping in Warminster, Pa.; Jaak Harju of Atlantis Watergardening in Rockaway, N.J.; Paul Edling of Bloodgood Landscape in Horsham, Pa.; and Paul Covarrubias of Aquascape, Inc. in St. Charles, Ill.

Source: The Aquascape Foundation