A Kelowna, B.C.-based company has just made Time Magazine’s annual top 200 list of best inventions, with their first-of-its-kind circular shower.
“It feels amazing. It also feels a little bit overwhelming just because of all the interest we’ve received since then, but we are super excited about this award,” said co-founder and CEO of RainStick, Alisha McFetridge.
“So many people have reached out; we’ve had contractors reach out that are looking to implement hundreds of RainSticks into their projects over the next year or so.”
In 2019, Alisha McFetridge and her husband Sean invented RainStick, North America’s first-ever Wi-Fi-enabled circular shower, designed to save up to 80 per cent of water and energy while providing double the flow rate of a standard low-flow shower.
“Just like your shower today, we bring in fresh hot and cold water, except instead of going down the drain, we capture, we circulate, and we clean that water all in real time to avoid waste,” said McFetridge.
“We use UV lights, and we also have a micron 200 level filter — its actually in situ, so it’s not dead in filtration; we don’t believe in that as a company.”
The product comes at a price tag of just under $4,900 USD. One woman who works for RainStick says the product gives her total peace of mind, because of the positive environmental impact it has.
“For me, I’m just able to enjoy the experience, knowing that I’m not really wasting water,” said RainStick marketing manager, Samantha Scott.
“It’s a beautiful product.”
This past August, Okanagan residents were asked to conserve water after the region was put under a level 5 drought, the highest level possible on the provincial classification system. McFetridge says their product will be highly beneficial in future droughts.
“If you look at RainStick shower, one install saves the same amount as a whole home grey water system,” said McFetridge.
“Just to put that into perspective, after one year of install, it saves over 11,000 gallons of water which is similar to that of a swimming pool.”
McFetridge adds users can track their water and energy savings from their smart phones, by downloading the RainStick app, which is set to be released later this month.