RAINWISE
RainWise is a four-month drought mitigation project focused on rainwater harvesting to provide better water security during the dry season to a community affected by drought. We have partnered with the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFLT) to create a rainwater solution for their community farming hub, The Root. Currently, The Root uses bulk water for all its water needs. We aim to design a more sustainable and efficient water supply to help irrigate their community garden.
TEAM MEMBERS
Remee Brown
4th Year Biomedical Engineering student, University of Victoria
After spending time in Tanzania learning about water security in the region, I became passionate about learning more about drought in Canada. I look forward to getting to learn more about drought mitigation during this co-op. In my spare time, I play club rugby, do CrossFit, and enjoy surf trips on the island.
Xavier Agustines
3rd Civil Engineering student, University of Victoria
I grew up in the Philippines, which is blessed to have some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. However, many of our ecosystems have been degraded, and the country itself suffers from natural disasters like typhoons and floods. Experiencing these things made me want to improve human-environment interactions, and the RainWise project from INSPIRE seemed like a great way to get experience in this area while having an impact. Some of my other interests include books, outdoor activities, and music.
OUR CLIENT: Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFLT)
SSIFLT, the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust, is a charitable organization dedicated to reducing Salt Spring Island’s dependence on imported food. They aim to bolster the island’s local food production.
The Root, is a community farm hub established by the SSIFLT to support local farmers in accessing an industrial-scale processing area and kitchen, enabling them to process their food for distribution more efficiently. The Root officially opened its doors in 2023 with a vision to create a permaculture display, showcasing the advantages of this sustainable and efficient agricultural technology.
OUR ORIGIN
Our project grew from the idea of four high school students from Shawnigan Lake School. During the drought in 2022, their school was forced to truck in drinking water, as its well had run dry. Faced with this experience, they realized that other schools might suffer from similar water shortages while being unable to bring in water. In response, they conceived the RainWise idea, which proposed a rainwater harvesting system for drought-affected schools. They entered their idea into the 2022 Westmont Design Prize and later partnered with Inspire to turn their idea into something tangible. Although RainWise has evolved as a project with Inspire, the students continue to be committed to it and are involved with the project regularly.
PROJECT JOURNEY
Preparing for Arrival
The past two weeks have felt very productive. After our third site visit to The Root towards the end of our previous...
Collaboration in Progress…
Our rainwater harvesting system for The Root, a property under the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFLT), will be...
We Enter the Design Phase
The past two weeks have been busy and exciting as we finally enter the design phase! With our partnership with the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (SSIFLT) finalized, we have dove head first into the property assessment and initial design for the rainwater harvesting project at The Root.
Friday the 13th Brings Good Things
RainWise is partnering up! As of today, we have received approval from the board of Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (a charitable organization) to work on their community food hub,The Root. The Root is currently using bulk water for all their water needs.
Touching Down
The past two weeks have really flown by! We’ve continued doing outreach and we’ve had more meetings than the first two weeks. We’ve been productive and we feel like we are getting somewhere. We’ve also gotten closer as a team.
Getting to Know RainWise
Our first two weeks at Inspire were busy! With two teammates initially located on opposite sides of the world – Xavier in the Philippines and Remee at UVic – our project kickoff was quite unique. Effective communication posed a challenge due to the distance and time difference, but we managed to find effective ways to overcome these obstacles.