A team of Aquascape Foundation volunteers installed a 20,000 gallon rainwater harvesting system at the International Needs Network School in Kiyindi, Uganda the week of January 23, 2012. The newly installed RainXchange® rainwater harvesting system will provide clean drinking water for approximately 900 school children year-round and creates the ability to prepare one hot meal per day.

Ed Beaulieu, chief sustainability officer for Aquascape, designed the school's rainwater harvesting system to collect run-off from the roofs of 2 school buildings and a nearby medical office. Captured rainwater is passed through a sub-surface chamber where particulate matter is removed. The collected water is stored in a 15,000 gallon reservoir before passing through an ionization system into a 5,000 gallon tank where it can then be accessed by hand or electronic pump.

"We were proud to have contractors from across the country devote their time and labor to assist with the Foundation's third installation of a rainwater harvesting system in an area lacking access to clean drinking water," says Carla Wittstock, president of the Aquascape Foundation. "Our previous RainXchange® projects at schools in Colombia, South Africa and Ghana, Africa were met with great success."

The Aquascape Foundation worked once again with the I.N. Network in Zeeland, Michigan to locate a school in need of clean drinking water. The I.N. Network's mission is to connect partners in community development around the world.

Aquascape Foundation volunteers who participated in the rainwater harvesting project included foundation president Carla Wittstock, Wayne, IL; foundation vice-president, Ed Beaulieu of Aquascape, Inc. in St. Charles, IL and his wife, Ellen Beaulieu; John Adams of Modern Design Aquascaping in Friendsville, TN; Diane and Chris Baker of James Ponds in Doylestown, PA; Lisa Ballantine of Filter Pure in Elk Grove Village, IL; Odile Bartlett, Steve and Linda Kovacs, Dean Methorst, Gloria Musselle, and Timothy Muttoo of H2O for All in Canada; Kay and Mark Bleyer of I.N. Network USA in West Lafayette, IN; April Dugan of Nature Scapes in Grafton, NH; Danielle and Paul Edling of Bloodgood Landscape Corporation in Horsham, PA; Al Lentz of Lentzcaping Inc. in Warminster, PA; John and Ethan Seavers of Just Sprinklers Inc. in Albuquerque, NM; Kathy Smith of Tropical Water Gardens in Deland, FL; Chris Sturdyvin and Matthew Kinney of Chris' Water Gardens in Homer, IL ; and Robert Lange of Thawville, IL.

Aquascape, Inc, the innovative leader of water features in North America and inventor of the low-maintenance ecosystem pond has moved office operations back into its corporate headquarters, dubbed "Aqualand." A partial roof collapse 12 months ago forced the company to temporarily re-locate both its office and warehouse space.

In February 2011, the roof covering Aquascape's parking lot collapsed on a Sunday afternoon following a major snowstorm that blanketed the Chicago area with 20.6 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. "Thankfully no one was in or near the building at the time of the collapse," said Greg Wittstock, CEO and founder of Aquascape. "Our team worked quickly to re-locate both our office and warehouse operations and we were able to minimize the disruption of business to our customers. After a year of working from a temporary location, we're extremely grateful to be back at Aqualand."

Aquascape was granted office occupancy on January 30th. Warehouse operations are expected to move back to Aqualand in the near future. Construction continues on the company's atrium at Aqualand and the Aquascape Water Gardening Store is slated to open for business on March 20th. The store carries everything necessary to install and maintain a beautiful water feature. Aquatic plants and live fish are available for purchase in addition to pond supplies and water gardening books.