I have been working in the stormwater industry for almost ten years now. During this time, I have worked in several positions related to stormwater and water resources engineering. Late last year, I began a new job. The company I currently work for is involved in many rainwater harvesting projects. After learning more about rainwater harvesting and tanks, I became more interested in these types of systems. After reading a couple of books and several articles, I decided that I would like to take a rainwater harvesting course in the hopes of designing some rainwater harvesting systems in the future. After doing some research, I decided to take the online ARCSA Rainwater Catchment Systems Designers Online Workshop. In the following blog post, I will share my thoughts about the course.
What is ARCSA?
The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) is a global organization for students and professionals interested in rainwater harvesting. ARCSA’s mission is “to provide resources and information on rainwater and stormwater collection to promote the advancement of rainwater conservation and to work with government at all levels in promoting rainwater and stormwater management.” ARCSA offers training, webinars, and resources for its members (it costs $99 for individuals to join). In addition, the organization offers a yearly conference.
About the Course
I chose to take the online version of the ARCSA Rainwater Catchment Systems Designers Workshop because I did not want to take time off of work to attend the in-person course. One of my coworkers attended a live version of the course, and he liked it because the instructor was very engaging.
The ARCSA Rainwater Catchment Systems Designers Online Workshop is based on the ARCSA Rainwater Harvesting Manual. The course provides a PDF of each chapter in the ARCSA Rainwater Harvesting Manual. I chose to purchase a hard copy on Amazon for $50. I do refer to this manual regularly. Overall, it is well-written and contains helpful guidance for designing rainwater harvesting systems.
The course is accessed using Moodle. There are 16 modules that go through the chapters in the ARCSA Rainwater Harvesting Manual. The modules contain text, videos, and quizzes. On average, it took me 30 minutes to 1 hour to finish each module.
Pros
Overall, I would say the ARCSA course was good. It satisfies the training requirement for the ASSE Series 21120 Rainwater Catchment Systems Designer Certification. The online version of this workshop also allows you to move through the course content at your own pace.
Cons
The course matched the ARCSA Rainwater Harvesting Manual very closely and did not add much depth to the content presented in the book. Most of the models were comprised of text and YouTube videos. I wish the course had included more videos showing case studies and actual installations of a rainwater harvesting system.
The Exam
After completing the course, someone from ARCSA contacted me asking if I would like to take the American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) certification exam. I decided to take the exam because it is always nice to have a certification when you are trying to break into a new field of work.
It cost $190 to take the online exam. The exam for the ASSE Series 21120 Rainwater Catchment Systems Designer Certification is 100 questions, and you have two hours to complete the test. You do not need to schedule the exam, but you do need a web camera, microphone, and your driver’s license when you take the test. You must have the web camera on the whole time you take the exam.
If you are going to take the exam for the ASSE Series 21120 Rainwater Catchment Systems Designer Certification, I would recommend not waiting too long until after you have completed the course. It is helpful to have the course information fresh in your mind when trying to recall detailed information.
I would also recommend reviewing the ARCSA Manual in general before taking the exam. Specifically, make sure you understand the water quality standards described in chapter 14 of the ARCSA Manual, the safety items outlined in ARCSA/ASPE/ANSI 63-2013, and the calculations in chapter 4 of the ARCSA Manual. I did end up passing the exam. It was not a super difficult test, but I am glad that I studied. There were many calculation questions on the test, so it is important to be able to quickly and efficiently access the tables in chapter 4 of the ARCSA Manual.
Now what?
After taking the exam and becoming a certified Rainwater Harvesting Designer, I would like to become more involved in some of the residential rainwater harvesting projects at my job. In addition, I will consider taking the Watershed Management Group’s Water Harvesting Design Certification course, which covers rainwater harvesting and greywater. The Watershed Management Group’s class is an in-person course in Tuscon, Arizona, and is hands-on. This course will cost more and require more time than the ARCSA course. Finally, I’d like to attend the ARCSA conference someday and maybe install a system at my home.