--- title: The company that turns rain into drinking water - The Hustle description: Richard’s Rainwater collects and treats rainwater, which it bottles and sells. The company began with one man’s “tank town.” image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1783708216-19-News-Brief_2023-04-17T234232.437Z.webp --- # The company that turns rain into drinking water ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: April 18, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 As a kid, did you ever stand outside collecting rain or snow on your tongue? Look, it’s OK if you still do. ![water](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1783708216-19-News-Brief_2023-04-17T234232.437Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1783708216-19-News-Brief_2023-04-17T234232.437Z.webp) Richard’s Rainwater turned it into a business, selling still and sparkling rainwater in recyclable aluminum cans and glass bottles. #### **The backstory** Frustrated with well water’s effect on his hair and laundry, founder [Richard Heinichen](https://www.richardsrainwater.com/about/) began collecting rainwater for personal use at his Austin, Texas, home in the ‘90s. He later built a “tank town” to harvest larger volumes of water and, in 2002, received a license to bottle and distribute what he called “[cloud juice](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/all-this-week-the-pbs).” Heinichen has since retired. #### **Today…** … in addition to Tank Town, Richard’s Rainwater has two brewery partners: Lazy Magnolia in Kiln, Mississippi, and Faubourg Brewing Co. in New Orleans. CEO Taylor O’Neil told *The Hustle* that collection systems, located on the breweries’ roofs, connect to existing stormwater management systems. Sensors note when a rain event begins and, because rain events [cleanse the atmosphere](https://news.mit.edu/2015/rain-drops-attract-aerosols-clean-air-0828), eschew the first 0.2 inches. The rest goes into collection tanks. A proprietary zero-waste, chlorine-free filtration system removes biological or particulate contaminants before the water is bottled on-site. - For every 1k square feet of collection area, an inch of rain generates ~550 gallons of clean water. - The company anticipates harvesting 4m+ gallons in 2023 for an estimated [$10m+](https://www.fooddive.com/news/richards-rainwater-bottled-water/639228/) in sales. #### **The goal…** … is to build collection sites nationwide, with immediate sights set on Oregon and North Carolina. Sites that offer ample surface area and precipitation are ideal. “Every new site will enable us to move water [shorter distances] from where it’s captured to where it’s consumed, create new jobs, and be a better example of renewable water in more communities,” O’Neil said. **BTW:** O’Neil said even dry places could collect rain for drinking water or other purposes. Because when it *does *rain, it can overload ill-equipped  systems, spread contamination, and [make my commute very soggy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEdt0BRlsF8). Topics: [Ecommerce And Retail](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/ecommerce-and-retail) [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) [Sustainability](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/sustainability) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) ### Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - ![Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908447747-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-dippindots_20231002233115.webp) ### Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business - ![When did the packaged food aisle get so cool?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2070592382-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Packaging_20231003215516.webp) ### When did the packaged food aisle get so cool? - ![The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/258270469-19-News-Brief_2023-09-24T200813.124Z.webp) ### The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar - ![One chip, several problems](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/161461033-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-paqui_20230914213352.webp) ### One chip, several problems - ![Excited about Bed Bath & Beyond’s return? You may feel pretty lonely](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1248390843-19-News-Brief_2023-08-20T225804.606Z.webp) ### Excited about Bed Bath & Beyond’s return? You may feel pretty lonely - ![The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1460885417-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Mushrooms_20230816224353-1.webp) ### The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle - ![A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1897903693-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-croc-tarts_20230814231514.webp) ### A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers - ![L’Eggo my… booze in a jar?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/858195133-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Eggo_20230822212534.webp) ### L’Eggo my… booze in a jar? - ![Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/62473941-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Beyond_Meat_stock_20230806234941.webp) ### Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "datePublished" : "2023-04-18T06:46:08.000Z", "headline" : "The company that turns rain into drinking water", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1783708216-19-News-Brief_2023-04-17T234232.437Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/04182023-rain-into-drinking-water", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:26:25+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-04-18T06:46:08+0000", "headline" : "The company that turns rain into drinking water", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1783708216-19-News-Brief_2023-04-17T234232.437Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```