Mark Pape first joined ARCSA and Texas Rainwater Catchment Association (“TRCA”) in November 2009 when he formed H2Options, Inc., (“H2O”) a rainwater harvesting design and installation company serving North Texas. He quickly became actively involved in both organizations, serving on the Boards of Directors for many years and attending all conferences and conventions. In June 2011, he founded Rain Harvesting Supplies, Inc. (“RHSI”) to sell equipment and supplies to the industry. Since this could have been perceived as providing preferential treatment to H2O, he decided to make H2O inactive and focus on retail sales to the rainwater harvesting industry through RHSI. This business was sold to a competitor in 2019.
In 2014, the Australian manufacturer of Pioneer water tanks withdrew from the US market for reasons of their own.  Since RHSI had much success selling Pioneer tanks, Mark immediately booked a flight to Perth, Australia to convince the tank manufacturer to continue to distribute tanks in the US.  The Australians agreed to allow Mark to serve as the North American distributor of Pioneer tanks through a new company that he formed, Acer Water Tanks, Inc. (“Acer”). In 2015, Acer opened up its distribution center in San Marcos, Texas. This reintroduction of Pioneer Tanks to the US market was so successful that in 2021, the Australians decided that they would prefer to sell directly into the US instead of through the Acer distributorship.  Accordingly, Mark sold the Acer business to the Australians who renamed it Pioneer Water Tanks America, which is still one of the leading distributors of high-quality water storage tanks in the US and Mexico.
In 2016, Mark lead the realignment and restructuring of ARCSA and TRCA, which at that time were unaffiliated, separate organizations with very different tax-exempt situations. ARCSA was a tax-exempt public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As a public charity, ARCSA was prohibited from engaging in certain political and lobbying activities as well as other typical trade association activities. These limitations placed tremendous restrictions on ARCSA’s ability to impact critical legislative and industry-advancement matters that affected the rainwater catchment systems industry. In essence, these challenges severely restricted ARCSA’s ability to both (a) seek grants and funding to support its educational/research programs and (b) be effective as a trade association or to engage in political or lobbying activities

TRCA was a trade association that was tax-exempt under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. As a trade association, TRCA was not so limited in its ability to influence critical legislative and industry-advancement matters that affect the rainwater catchment systems industry. Since its inception, TRCA had been active in political lobbying in Texas.

Through the realignment that Mark managed, the original ARCSA maintained its educational/research activities, changing its name to “ARCSA Foundation” while TRCA was officially renamed “American Rainwater Catchment Association” (“the new ARCSA”) which continued to operate as a trade association, fostering professional industry training and political lobbying. The original ARCSA membership was transferred to the former TRCA as the “new ARCSA”, and the “new ARCSA” Board of Directors appoints the directors serving the ARCSA Foundation, formerly the original ARCSA. 

The realignment was clearly very complicated for legal and tax reasons and required much campaigning and explaining of the project and the reasons for the significant changes in order to obtain the membership votes necessary for the restructuring to be achieved. Mark was the driving force behind the successful accomplishment of this restructuring and realignment that created the legal structure under which we still operate today.
Mark has served as the chief bookkeeper for both ARCSA and the ARCSA Foundation since 2016.

Not Available

Not Available

Not Available

Clair has been working for the Clackamas District for over 10 yrs. Clair's first position was as a Small Acreage/Rural Conservation Specialist and he is presently Senior Resource Conservationist. Clair has 35 years experience in farming operations and conservation education. He presently is specializing in rural conservation, which includes drainage, sediment control, weeds, mud, manure management, wildlife habitat design as well as consultations on increasing agricultural crop production and product marketing.
 
In his off time, he and his wife, Beverly, operates a small blueberry farm in the Columbia River Gorge. Clair also instructs conservation education on shipboard expeditions to all parts of the world. Clair is an ARCSA Accredited Professional that has assisted in ARCSA 100- and 200-Level classes and has instructed 4 hour "Introductory and Large Tanks rainwater harvesting” workshops for his conservation district. He is particularly well versed in use of Rainwater Harvesting for agricultural purposes.

Not Available

Not Available

Responsibilities: provide oversight for all operations as well as the design, installation, and engineering of rainwater harvesting systems, focused on new product development and current trends, codes, and laws regulating rainwater use and stormwater run-off.
 
Mike became associated with ARCSA at the first ever conference in Austin, Texas in 2003. The first conference was a ground swell of motivation for Mike and Rain Water Solutions. Mike and his wife Lynn are life-time members of ARCSA. Mike was appointed as the first SE regional representative for ARCSA. He would later serve as Vice President from October 2010 until October 2012. He served as conference chair for the 2012 ARCSA Conference in Raleigh, NC. Mike has been an ARCSA AP since 2005 and is currently an ARCSA instructor. He has attended every ARCSA conference except for the one in Hawaii in 2007.
 
Junction, Texas August 2010: Mike attended the ARCSA train the trainer and was lead instructor on modular, below ground systems and demonstrated proper installation techniques for “Rain Tank” system.
 
Athens, Georgia May 23-27, 2011: 100. 200, 300 level training: Mike was assistant instructor with Billy Kniffen and was lead on several of the sessions during the week-long training at the University of Georgia.
 
Atlanta, Georgia May 28 2011: Lead instructor ARCSA 100 level training at Southface Energy Institute 241 Pine Street NC Atlanta GA 30308.
 
Port-au-Prince, Haiti November 13-15, 2011: Traveled to Haiti with Samaritan’s Purse as part of an effort to promote rainwater harvesting as part of their rebuilding process after a devastating earthquake struck the island in January of 2010. We started working with Samaritan’s Purse right after the quake (Feb 2010) supplying rain barrels and instruction on rwh as part of their relief efforts.

Brad Lancaster has been harvesting rainwater, greywater, stormwater, and condensate on his site since 1993. Rainwater is the only water he drinks and cooks with when he is at home. He is a lifetime member of ARCSA, and presented at the first ARCSA conference in 2003.
 
He conducts about 100 water-harvesting public talks, workshops, and interviews a year throughout the United States, as well as in the Middle East, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and southern Africa.
 
Brad’s main passion is creating and enhancing living water-harvesting systems that use materials free at hand, rather than purchased products. This way the systems can be replicated by everyone, regardless of income, profession, experience, or education level.
 
To that aim, Brad emphasizes passive water-harvesting earthworks that cost no more than the price of the shovel used to shape basins and sponges to infiltrate rainfall and runoff directly into the soil, investing in the soil’s “water future.” The soil and organisms living in it act as the living “tank” with far more capacity than a manufactured cistern.
 
The plants—and the beneficial fungi that are fused to their roots—act as living “pumps” cycling harvested water into fruit, shade, wildlife habitat, air filters, water filters, carbon sequesterers, shelters, building materials, and beauty. To “show the flow,” the basins are not hidden, but instead are highlighted. People can see how everything works when the rain falls, then they can do the same or better at their own sites.
 
Harvesting water is integrated with harvesting sun, wind, shade, fertility, and community by consciously placing basins and plantings to beneficially relate to these other natural flows. As a result, potential is lifted as water-harvesting strategies double as passive-cooling strategies in summer, passive-heating strategies in winter, and wind scoops or windbreaks. By working with—rather than extracting from—the ecological systems we all depend on, living harvesting systems simultaneously enhance the health and economies of everyone who interacts with them, enhance their watersheds, and enhance our shared world.
 
Brad shares his insights, passions, and experiences in his best-selling, award-winning book series “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond,” his website HarvestingRainwater.com, and through his work with Desert Harvesters, a non-profit he co-founded. His books have been translated into Arabic, and are expected to soon be available in Turkish. His next goal is translation into Spanish. (Please contact him if you’d like to help with that.)
 
Brad focuses on transforming “problems” into solutions, and “wastes” into resources. This focus has helped effect changes in policies to legalize, incentivize, and even mandate the harvest of rainwater, greywater, and stormwater; to allow safe, site-built compost toilets; and harvest passive sun energy and shade. Early successes originated in Brad’s neighborhood and then spread through the city of Tucson, the state of Arizona, and throughout the American west and northern Mexico.
 
Brad constantly learns from doing and living what he teaches, researching ancient practices and traditions, and seeking out the knowledge and experience of subsistence farmers, permaculturalists, homesteaders, academics, leading-edge companies, professionals, non-profits, and government-led efforts around the world. He is grateful for community-building, information-sharing organizations and events such as ARCSA and its conferences because he strongly believes we need to keep sharing, learning, and evolving, in a way that enhances life for all.

Tim Pope has been active in water conservation since 1992, focusing during the early years on greywater recycling. In 1995, Tim moved to Friday Harbor, Washington, to help resolve ongoing water issues in San Juan County. He co-authored the county’s “alternative water source” guidelines that were implemented later that year. In 1997 he was instrumental in the San Juan County Commissioners passing new codes that accepted rainwater harvesting as a viable and legal water source including potable for new construction. Tim also worked with Washington State Department of Ecology in getting an exemption from water rights in 2003.
 
Tim built his first rainwater catchment system for potable use on San Juan Island in late 1995. Since that time, he has designed and installed more than 280 whole house rainwater catchment systems, of which 99% are for potable uses only. Tim is a Lifetime Member of ARCSA an Accredited Professional Master, an installer and a licensed water system designer in San Juan County. Over the years he has been active in training both individuals and groups in the proper construction of rainwater catchment systems through ARCSA's training program.
 
He taught ARCSA's first Accredited Professional workshop in September 2007 in Hilo, HI and has worked extensively with Billy Kniffen to make the Accredited Professional program more comprehensive. Tim has since taught over 30 accredited professional workshops in the United States and Canada.
 
Tim's expertise is in all phases of Rainfall Catchment, passive, active, potable, irrigation, cooling tower and storm water mitigation. As the industry has grown there has been a dramatic increase in number of systems being installed for commercial, industrial, and process uses.
 
Tim was the first elected President of ARCSA in Hilo, HI and has served on the ARCSA board for 8 years. He is currently the Educational Coordinator for ARCSA and is working on training additional instructors Tim is doing private consulting and design of Rainfall Catchment Systems nationwide.
 
Tim is 70 years old and semi-retired living in Vancouver, Washington.

Billy Kniffen is a Water Resource Associate in the Biological and Agriculture Engineer Department with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He has served as a Water Resource Specialist and county agent for TAMU for 30 years and is a TAMU Board of Regents Fellow Service Award recipient. His efforts have been directed towards rainwater harvesting, land management and watershed stewardship.
 
He is the past vice president and education committee chairman for the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), conducting educational workshops, trainings and installing demonstration rainwater collection systems all across Texas, the United States and provides support internationally. He co-authored the Rainwater Harvesting: System Planning manual used in training rainwater professionals and the technical trainings provided by ARCSA.

Mr. Boulware is President of Design-Aire Engineering, a Mechanical / Electrical Consulting Engineering firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Bob received his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and his Masters in Business Administration from Indiana University. He is a Past President of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) and an Accredited Rainwater Systems Design Professional; is a 30+ year member of ASHRAE; and past president of the Central Indiana Chapter of American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) and serves on the ASPE National Standards Committee. Mr. Boulware is a member of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials ( IAPMO) Alternative Water Sources Committee, helped to develop the Green Plumbing Supplement to the upcoming editions of the Uniform and the International Plumbing Codes. This supplement will determine the installation requirements for gray water, recycled water and rainwater catchment systems.
 
In 1994 and 1995 Mr. Boulware was a visiting professor at the Ball State University School of Architecture teaching mechanical and electrical systems. In Summer of 2007, his paper, Integrating Rainwater Catchment with Fire Sprinkler System Design, was presented at the National ARCSA 2007 Conference in Hawaii, and at the International Rainwater Conference in Sydney Australia. In November 2007, he was a featured presenter at the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) National Technical Symposium in Atlanta with his topic of Off Grid Plumbing Design. In 2009, he gave a presentation on Rainwater Harvesting and Present Plumbing Codes at the National IAPMO Convention in Ontario California.
 
He has published articles in Plumbing Systems and Design Magazine (Harvesting the Rain, Nov-Dec 2006, Off Grid Plumbing Design, Mar-Apr 2008) and Plumbing Africa (Integrating Rainwater Catchment with Fire Suppression Sprinkler Systems, June 2010). He is principal writer of the Rainwater Catchment Design and Installation Standard. His latest publication, Alternative Water Sources and Waste Management (McGraw-Hill) , is scheduled to be published January 2012. Mr. Boulware is a registered Professional Engineer in 23 states and the US Virgin Islands.
 
Mr. Boulware’s company, Design-Aire Engineering (www.design-aire.com ), specializes in providing solutions for off-grid mechanical and electrical needs, energy related retrofit of building mechanical / electrical systems; LEED certified structures design, and assists clients in obtaining funding assistance.

Heather has 29 years of experience in sustainable land use planning and landscape design. Her experience includes being a member of ARCSA for 12 years. During those years she has held just about every position with ARCSA from secretary to president. As ARCSA's 2005-2007 President, Ms Kinkade was instrumental in setting up the ARCSA AP program from the initial concept to coordinating the first exam.
 
Heather has written two books on rainwater catchment; Forgotten Rain, Rediscovering Rainwater Harvesting and Design for Water. Both books have won awards and Design for Water is now published in Chinese. She has been a rainwater advocate from her first discovery of the idea and attending her first international rainwater conference in Germany in 2001. Since that time she has added some component of rainwater catchment to all her landscape and land use planning efforts. Heather now teaches rainwater harvesting and alternate water reuse for irrigation at ASU and the class is a required credit for graduation with a Master in Landscape Architecture.
 
Heather has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Arizona, a Master of Environmental Planning from Arizona State University, and a Certificate in Sustainable Technology and Management from Arizona State University. She began her PhD in Geographical Studies/Sustainability and completed all class work, but had to stop due to the drop in the economy.
 
Heather has been an active member of the USGBC, a rainwater harvesting technical liaison for the Engineers Without Borders, and is currently a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows. She has donated numerous hours as a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc (ASHRAE)/USGBC/American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE)/American Water Works Association (AWWA) Standard 191 committee, a standard for the Efficient Use of Water in Building, Site, and Mechanical Systems. Currently, she continues as an ARCSA representative on the Plumbing Industry Leadership Coalition.

In the early 1990's, Bill Hoffman was an Assistant Director with the Texas Water Development Board and in 1997 helped develop the "Texas Rainwater Harvesting Guide" which later was revised and expanded to be the "Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting" or "blue book" as many knew it. They were also the first statewide publications on rainwater harvesting in the USA.
 
In 1999 Bill Hoffman became the Vice-President of ARCSA as Dr. Dennis Lye of USEPA became the second President of ARCSA after Hari Krishna, the first president. In 2000 Bill retired from the TWDB and took a position with the City of Austin, in the Water Conservation Program.
 
While there, he worked to promote development of on-site sources of water and administered rebate programs that included rainwater harvesting. During his period with the City of Austin (2000-2007), Bill worked with others to convince the Texas Legislature to provide sales tax and property tax exemptions for rainwater harvesting and other conservation provisions.
 
He joined the first Water Efficiency Advisory Group for the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) to develop LEED credits for water conservation including rainwater harvesting. He was on the original American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 189.1 Standard for High Performance Buildings, and he is currently a member of the ASHRAE 191 Water Efficiency Standard Committee where he promotes all forms of on-site use. And, he was also a charter member of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO)'s Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code committee where he currently chairs the committee on Alternate Water Resources.
 
Mr. Hoffman is currently the Senior Technical Advisor for the firm Water Management, Inc.(WMI). One of WMI's specialties is using rainwater harvesting in conjunction with its stormwater management designs.
 
Mr. Hoffman is a "Life member" of ARCSA, remains a loyal member of ARCSA and works to promote rainwater harvesting within the state of Texas, as well as across the nation.

Trisha has worked with ARCSA since its first national conference in 2003. Trisha served as a regional director in ARCSA's early years, hosted the national conference on the Big Island in 2007 and has provided guidance and support in the development of many of the educational efforts of ARCSA.
 
She wrote the "Guidelines on Rainwater Catchment Systems for Hawaii" in 1999 and around 35,000 have been distributed. This was the first manual devoted to the health aspect of rainwater harvesting. She organized the Hawaii Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, the first state organization.
 
She has worked on rainwater catchment projects and trained trainers in 3 other countries and has served as an officer on the board of directors for IRCSA for about 5 years and is a lifetime member.
 
Trisha has a BA degree in Biology and Masters in Public Health/Environmental Science; served as a Microbiology Lecturer at the University of Hawaii, Hilo; and, an Analytical Chemist and Rainwater Catchment Program creator at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.
 
She has received the University of Hawaii's Chancellor's Award for outstanding service, State Senate of Hawaii Recognition of Outstanding Service, and the IRCSA - Meritorious Service Award - Exemplified philanthropic volunteerism in promoting rainwater catchment systems as an ecological way of utilizing the world's water.

Dr. Hari J. Krishna flew Dennis to the University of the Virgin Islands to share his knowledge of microbial risks posed to catchment systems with his fellow researchers in 1989. Five years later, Dr. Lye and Dr. Krishna were among the influential half-dozen establishing the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association.
 
Dennis served as its president in 1999-2000.
 
Raised on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Dennis acquired an early appreciation for conserving what little precipitation fell – averaging less than 10 inches a year – among the sagebrush and local grasses of west-central Wyoming. With rivers and lakes miles away, the survival of the family's sheep and cattle depended on drinking ponds.
 
The weather got much wetter for Dr. Lye upon his arrival at Northern Kentucky University, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, in 1984. That region receives about 7 times the annual rainfall of his boyhood. With its 'Karst' geology, Dr.
Lye soon understood why the 125,000 homes there relying on rainwater for potable use constituted about half of all rainwater collection systems in the United States in the mid-80's: "...there are many underground caves, sinkholes and disappearing streams which make ground water generally both unreliable and unsuitable for drinking."
 
As soon as Dr. Lye began teaching microbiology at the University, he emerged as a sought-out microbial authority within the embryonic rainwater catchment community – someone who could evaluate water quality concerns beyond the superficial samplings run by local health departments.
 
Up to then, there had been little scientific interest on RWH do's and don'ts or published research. And, it turned out, most of America's other rainwater catchment systems not within its geographic bullseye along the banks of the Ohio River near Cincinnati were found in the surrounding states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.
 
Dr. Lye's professorship at Northern Kentucky University spanned more than 2 decades. His own research studies often required him to cross the bridge over the Ohio River into Cincinnati, where the nation's first water quality lab was established in 1912 and continues as a premiere research center even today. It is there where Dr. Lye joined other young and talented colleagues in a specialized department of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
 
"Our laboratory is assigned the task of monitoring and studying the bacteria that are commonly found in all types of water resources but especially in drinking water. Special emphasis is given to those bacteria that pose a risk of infection to humans through any type of contact with drinking water. We routinely characterize bacteria such as Legionella, Mycobacterium, E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, Aeromonas and many others too numerous to mention. Our laboratory also directs research that involves animal studies to further characterize the infection potentials of bacteria isolated from drinking water resources and other environmental sources."
 
Dr. Lye's expert guidance was instrumental to droughtstricken Atlanta's recent adoption of plumbing code changes that encourage single-family, residential installation of rainwater catchment systems for potable use. Yet, he remains pragmatic about fast-tracking any widespread adoption of RWH across the country. In the long-term, however, he's confident this technology will bear fruit as sustainable lifestyles become mainstream. In his words...
 
"Lack of experience/information/education about this water resource at the local, regional, and state level remains a major obstacle. These types of problems will need to be addressed by each state. Large public systems will be hesitant to adopt this alternative water resource unless they can be convinced of the economic viability of this process. We need to provide evidence that collection of rainwater is indeed a sustainable method of water/energy conservation."
 
For Dr. Dennis J. Lye's exemplary work throughout his career in the service of advancing rainwater catchment science, ARCSA's Board of Directors honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its September 2011 National Conference in Portland, Oregon.

The first person to be recognized by ARCSA for their contributions was Dr. Hari J. Krishna in Seattle at the 2005 ARCSA Annual Conference.
 
The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association was founded in 1994 by Dr. Hari J. Krishna in Austin, Texas, as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to promote rainwater catchment systems in the United States. Hari was the first President of ARCSA and dedicated 11 years to the association's establishment.